The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
“Engagement
with US. The UK has no option but to use UK forces initially
committed
to Phase
III for Phase IV. However, accepting our intention to draw down to
below
medium
scale as rapidly as possible – which must be balanced against
achieving
our wider
political objectives in Iraq – the issue of UK responsibilities in
Phase
IV needs to
be concluded with the US. The UK would wish to concentrate in
one
area of
Iraq for ease of command and control and logistic support, this
division
of
responsibility has yet to be agreed formally. Agreement to an AOR
would allow
planning
for Phase IV to be taken forward in confidence.”
541.
The Chiefs of
Staff were “invited to agree that:
“a. Our
linkage with the Iraqis should reflect their system of governance
and should
thus be
arranged on a provincial basis.
b.
UK forces
should use the Joint Commission model.
c.
Forces
should be deployed on an intelligence-led rather than framework
basis …
d.
COS should
take a view on the number of provinces that the UK should
control.”
542.
More detailed
estimates of the forces required to deliver particular tasks in
the
UK’s
potential AOR were included in the 15 April Statement of
Requirement (SOR) for
South‑East
Iraq.
543.
Sir Kevin
Tebbit commented on the reference to Wasit province in the
draft
Operational
Concept:
“Don’t
assume we will accept an AOR as defined by the US. It has to be
what we
can cope
with (including other countries we might be able to bring along).
What are
force level
implications?” 332
544.
It is not
clear to whom those comments were addressed.
545.
The draft
Operational Concept was not discussed at the next meeting of the
Chiefs
of Staff on
26 March.333
Comments
were to be sent to Lt Gen Reith out of Committee.
546.
In his
Phase IV military planning guidance, also produced on 25
March,
Lieutenant
General Anthony Pigott, Deputy Chief of the Defence
Staff
(Commitments)
(DCDS(C)), addressed the need to plan for the possibility that
UK
forces
might have to stay in Iraq in greater numbers or for longer than
intended.
547.
Phase IV
planning assumed that levels of consent would rise from
“medium”
to “high”,
while recognising that there were some areas where “low” levels
of
consent
could persist for some time.
332
Manuscript
comment Tebbit on Minute COSSEC to PSO/CDS, 25 March 2003, ‘OP COS
Paper:
Subject –
Op TELIC
– Phase IV
Legal Issues’.
333
Minutes, 26
March 2003, Chiefs of Staff meeting.
98