10.2  |  Reconstruction: July 2004 to July 2009

978.  Mr Brown underlined the UK’s wish to help on key issues, including Basra port,

oil and the steel industry. Mr Brown said that UK forces would not stay longer than was

necessary to “finish the tasks we had started”, specifically:

• training 14 Division;

• preparing to make Basra Airport operational; and

• supporting local authorities with provincial elections.

979.  Mr Brown also visited Basra.575 His programme focused on SSR, although he also

visited Basra Airport and met key economic figures. The British Embassy Office Basra

reported that Mr Brown was “particularly struck by the need for rapid development of

the airport and ports”.

980.  Mr Brown told Cabinet on 22 July that the UK was pursuing four key functions

with Iraq:

• UK forces had moved from a combat to an overwatch role. UK troops’ primary

role was training and mentoring Iraqi forces, with a last resort intervention

capability, though that was also gradually being taken over by Iraq.

• Pursuing economic development, which was showing some evidence of

success, providing Iraqi citizens with work and a stake in their future.

• Local government elections would give former members of the militia the

opportunity to engage in democratic politics.

• Working to transfer Basra International Airport from military to civilian control.576

981.  Mr Brown said that the BDC would produce an economic plan in the autumn and

he hoped that local elections would take place by the end of the year; likewise the

handover of Basra Airport. Training of 14 Division should also be completed by the end

of the year, with additional training of headquarters and specialist functions required in

early 2009. Mr Brown “expected that we would be able to make substantial reduction in

the number of British forces next year, but that would depend on circumstances. He was

not going to make an estimate of the numbers now.”

982.  Mr Brown concluded that if the UK had left Iraq a few months earlier, the job would

not have been finished; with the improvements in security, momentum for economic

development and a move towards local democracy once the elections were held, the

Iraqi people now felt that they had a stake in the future.

983.  In his statement to Parliament on 22 July, Mr Brown described the impact of the

UK’s reconstruction effort:

• “British-led” projects in the South had helped to deliver electricity for

800,000 people and water for over one million people.

575  eGram 28460/08 Basra to FCO London, 20 July 2008, ‘Iraq: Prime Minister’s Visit to Basra, 19 July’.

576  Cabinet Conclusions, 22 July 2008.

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