The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
1.
This Section
addresses:
•
the UK role
in the political development of Iraq, including preparation
for
Iraq’s
first post-Saddam Hussein elections in January 2005 and
subsequent
negotiations
to form the Iraqi Transitional Government under Prime
Minister
Ja’afari;
•
strategies
for tackling the Sunni insurgency, including the UK role in
preparation
for the
second major US offensive in Fallujah; and
•
plans for
the deployment and withdrawal of UK troops.
2.
This Section
does not address:
•
the UK
contribution to the reconstruction of Iraq and reform of its
security sector,
which are
covered in Sections 10 and 12 respectively.
3.
The Inquiry’s
conclusions in relation to the events described in this Section
can
be read
in Section 9.8.
4.
On 1 July,
Saddam Hussein and 11 other senior Ba’athists appeared in front of
an
Iraqi court
convened at the Camp Victory court martial facility in
Baghdad.1
5.
The judge
presiding told all 12 what crimes they were accused of having
committed.
Mr Chris
Segar, Head of the British Office Baghdad reported
that:
“… under
Iraqi law this was a first step in which the accused is informed
that there
are
allegations against him which deserve investigation, which allow
for continued
detention
and that he has a right to legal counsel.”
6.
The Annotated
Agenda for the Ad Hoc Ministerial Group on Iraq
Rehabilitation
(AHMGIR) on
1 July informed Ministers that the next seven months in Iraq,
leading to
elections
in early 2005 and the creation of an Iraqi Transitional Government
and National
Assembly,
would be the real test of the success of the transition and the
Interim Iraqi
Government
(IIG) to which the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) had handed
power
7.
The Annotated
Agenda also said:
“As
expected, the pre-handover period was marked by an increase in
attacks
on both
coalition and, increasingly, Iraqi forces.”
1
Telegram
006 Baghdad to FCO London, 1 July 2004, ‘Iraq: High Value
Detainees:
First Court
Appearance’.
2 Annotated
Agenda, 1 July 2004, Ad Hoc Group on Iraq Rehabilitation
meeting.
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