9.2 | 23
May 2003 to June 2004
271.
On 1 August,
Dutch troops assumed responsibility for the province of
Muthanna
272.
On 4 August,
Mr Hoon’s Private Secretary wrote to Mr Rycroft to advise
him that
MOD
Ministers had agreed that an additional (130-strong) infantry
company and a small
(30-strong)
riverine capability were required in Iraq.145
“Paradoxically
we are having to deploy more personnel partly because
our
reconstruction
efforts are being successful (there is more worth securing and
more
civil
activity to safeguard).”
274.
Those
additions would bring the total number of UK troops in theatre up
to 10,000.
275.
The
Operational Update given to the Chiefs of Staff meeting on 6 August
said:
“The levels
of consent in Baghdad and the Baqubah and Fallujah corridors
were
‘cautionary’,
while the rest of Iraq was ‘compliant’. Daily attacks continued
against
US Forces
in Baghdad; increasingly sophisticated IEDs were being used
more
276.
The Chiefs
were also told of “a slight increase in activity” in the UK’s Area
of
Responsibility.
277.
On 7 August,
Mr Adam Ingram, Minister for the Armed Forces, told the
AHMGIR
that UK
forces in Iraq would be “re-balanced” by the deployment of an
additional infantry
company.147
This would
mean a net increase of 120 personnel.
278.
The situation
was getting worse in the South, with riots in Basra in August over
lack
of fuel and
electricity.148
279.
Minutes of the
Chiefs of Staff meeting on 13 August recorded that:
“The toll
of civilian casualties (one dead and five wounded throughout the
AO)
may have
been higher had some 76 baton rounds not been fired to control
crowd
behaviour.
GOC MND(SE) had initiated a range of measures to secure the
delivery
of fuel to
the Basra area in the immediate term, and CPA subject matter
experts
planned to
visit Basra and discuss the issue with GOC.”149
144
Minutes, 6
August 2003, Chiefs of Staff meeting.
145
Letter
Latham to Rycroft, 4 August 2003, ‘Iraq: Force Level
Review’.
146
Minutes, 6
August 2003, Chiefs of Staff meeting.
147
Minutes, 7
August, Ad Hoc Group on Iraq Rehabilitation meeting.
148
Public
hearing, Stewart, Synnott and Lamb, 9 December 2009, pages 19 and
54-57.
149
Minutes, 13
August 2003, Chiefs of Staff meeting.
253