The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
•
UK funding
had helped the UN and World Bank to repair and
re-equip
1,000 health
centres and more than 5,000 schools, and to train
nearly
150,000 teachers.
•
With
British training and equipment, Basra International Airport was
now
handling
more than 20 flights a day.
•
British
mentoring and support had helped the Basra Provincial Council
access
US$400m in
central Government funds.577
984.
Mr Brown
stated that it was right that the UK completed the tasks it had set
itself.
It expected
the BDC to publish a detailed Economic Development Strategy in
the
autumn, and
for the Iraqi authorities to “take over development” of Basra
International
Airport by
the end of the year.
985.
Major General
Andrew Salmon took up post as GOC MND(SE) in August
2008.578
986.
Mr Nigel
Haywood, UK Consul General in Basra from April 2008, told the
Inquiry
that:
“When
[Major] General Salmon and I jointly went to call on the Governor
in his office
in August,
that was the first time anybody had called on the Governor’s office
for two
years,
nobody had been out really operating in the town [since] October
2006.” 579
987.
On 24 August,
in his first weekly report from Basra, Maj Gen Salmon reported
that
he was
having “very positive” discussions with the PRT on how to enable
the movement
of civilian
staff.580
He was also
developing with the Consul General a “realistic six to
nine
month
programme of works that will deliver tangible effects, based on
Iraqi need”.
988.
In his next
weekly report, Maj Gen Salmon advised that:
“… the
inability of central and provincial government to translate cash
into essential
services,
jobs and electricity could become a central security issue. A
re-oriented
reconstruction
strategy accompanied by imaginative information operations
should
help
mitigate this risk.” 581
989.
Maj Gen Salmon
also reported that Basra needed a “Business Support Facility”
to
cater for
the expected rush for potential investors to Basra as security
improved: “The
investor
phenomenon is accelerating exponentially.”
577
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 22 July
2008, column 661.
578
Public
hearing, 20 July 2010, page 1.
579
Public
hearing, 7 January 2010, page 7.
580
Minute
Salmon to CJO, 24 August 2008, ‘GOC MND(SE) Weekly Letter – 24
August 2008’.
581
Minute
Salmon to CJO, 31 August 2008, ‘GOC MND(SE) Weekly Letter – 31
August 2008’.
356