The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
Lt Gen
Shirreff observed, however, that for soldiers on the ground, six
months was
“about
right”.
Maj Gen
Shaw told the Inquiry that he thought it was an “illusion” that the
six-month tour
lengths
created a lack of continuity:
“I think
the problem … is more a methodological one. It’s more that there is
no laid-
down
methodology. There’s nobody that owns the campaign and takes the
incoming
commander
and says, this is what we’re going to do, drive
on.”97
Maj Gen
Shaw said that, during his time in Northern Ireland, there had been
a clear long
term vision
so that commanders knew their place in the bigger picture but this
was lacking
from his
experience in Iraq. As an example, he said that what he and Lt Gen
Shirreff did
during
their respective postings as GOC MND(SE) “were diametrically
opposite things” but
that both
were supported by the system because they were “allowed to do what
we judged
was the
right thing to do”.
Lt Gen
Binns told the Inquiry that he thought there was a need to improve
“campaign
continuity”
and that one solution was for senior commanders to serve longer,
where
appropriate,
but:
“… we have
to be careful that this doesn’t become the default setting,
because
one can get
very tired, if you are being rocketed every day, if you have got
the
responsibility
of command during a very difficult period, then simply
extending
people’s
period there isn’t necessarily the answer.”98
Throughout
the course of Op TELIC, 11 individuals held the post of Senior
British Military
Representative-Iraq,
changing roughly every six months until September
2006:
•
May to
September 2003: Major General Freddie Viggers (also appointed
as
Deputy
Commander of CJTF-7)
•
September 2003
to April 2004: Major General Andrew Figgures
•
April 2004 to
October 2004: Lieutenant General John McColl
•
October 2004
to April 2005: Lieutenant General John Kiszely
•
April 2005 to
October 2005: Lieutenant General Robin Brims
•
October 2005
to March 2006: Lieutenant General Nicholas Houghton
•
March 2006 to
September 2006: Lieutenant General Robert Fry
•
September 2006
to July 2007: Lieutenant General Graeme Lamb
•
July 2007 to
March 2008: Lieutenant General William Rollo
•
March 2008 to
March 2009: Lieutenant General John Cooper
•
March 2009 to
July 2009: Lieutenant General Chris Brown
Some of
those who served as SBMR-I offered the Inquiry similar views to
those who
served as
GOC MND(SE).
Lt Gen
Brims told the Inquiry: “I would happily have stayed there for a
year, and I think I
could have
done a good job.”99
97
Private
hearing, 21 June 2010, pages 53-55.
98
Public
hearing, 15 January 2010, page 48.
99
Public
hearing, 14 December 2009, page 37.
242