9.2 | 23
May 2003 to June 2004
301.
Sir Emyr
suggested in his message to London that “we need to clarify our
thinking
on what
precisely we want to achieve on the various areas”. He recorded
continued
interest
from the Security Council in the political timetable, and
proposed:
“Possible
ways forward might be to invite the Secretary-General to consult or
to
stimulate
the Governing Council itself to work up a timetable which the
Security
Council
could take note of.”
302.
On 26 August,
Mr Richmond reported from Baghdad that August had been
“a
difficult
month” and described attacks on the Jordanian Embassy and on the
UN’s
headquarters
as “major escalations”.182
He advised
that the UK needed to hold its nerve;
problems
were being identified and fixed, but “we are in for a bumpy
ride”.
303.
On 28 August,
the British Embassy Baghdad reported the number of
significant
security
incidents reported by Coalition Forces in August as:
•
17 to 19
August: 71 incidents;
•
21 to 23
August: 94 incidents;
•
24 to 26
August: 72 incidents.183
304.
The August
violence had not been confined to Baghdad. On 29 August a
bomb
attack on
the Imam Ali mosque in Najaf killed 80 people, including Ayatollah
Mohammed
Baqir
al-Hakim, the leader of the Shia political party the Supreme
Council for an Islamic
Revolution
in Iraq (SCIRI).184
305.
Sectarian
violence between Turkomen and Kurds broke out in Kirkuk, but
was
calmed by
community leaders.185
306.
Mr Miller
sent No.10 a brief on the GC’s membership, personalities and
progress
on 28
August.186
Out of the
25 GC members he wrote that 13 were Shia, and there
were
five Sunni,
five Kurds, one Turkoman and one Christian.
307.
In the
Annotated Agenda for the 28 August meeting of the AHMGIR, Cabinet
Office
officials
advised that, since its creation on 13 July, the GC
had:
“… made
only limited progress. Unable to agree on a single chairperson, the
IGC
agreed a
9-man leadership council.”187
308.
Cabinet Office
officials advised that internal wrangling was delaying
the
appointment
of ministers, and that ministries were being allocated along
sectarian lines,
identical
in number and balance to the GC itself.
182
Telegram
139 IraqRep to FCO London, 26 August 2003, ‘Iraq: How it Looks from
Baghdad’.
183
Telegram
129 Baghdad to FCO London, 28 August 2003, ‘Iraq Sitrep, 28
August’.
184
BBC
News, 29 August
2003, Iraq holy
city blast kills scores.
185 Annotated
Agenda, 28 August 2003, Ad Hoc Group on Iraq Rehabilitation
meeting.
186
Minute
Miller to Sheinwald, 28 August 2003, ‘Iraq: Key
Groups’.
187 Annotated
Agenda, 28 August 2003, Ad Hoc Group on Iraq Rehabilitation
meeting.
259