9.3 |
July 2004 to May 2005
474.
Ministers
agreed that when sharing the paper, No.10 should also raise the
question
of US
funding for reconstruction projects in southern Iraq, which had
been diverted to
other parts
of the country.
475.
Mr Hoon said
that proposals in the paper should be applied “vigorously” in the
UK
area, where
the UK had not yet made enough progress and there was a risk of
providing
a pool of
supporters for Shia dissidents.
476.
Sir Nigel
Sheinwald sent a copy of the paper, updated to reflect the
discussion and
including a
list of niche contributions that other countries might be pressed
to provide, to
Mr Hadley
on 11 February.257
He
suggested that they might consider a video conference
between the
White House and No.10 to discuss it.
477.
In early
February, Mr Asquith reported to Mr Straw’s Private Secretary
that
US
priorities for the political process included ensuring that the ITG
did not remove
personnel
or structures (such as Committees) that worked well, outreach to
the Sunni
community
and establishing effective co-ordination with Provincial
Councils.258
478.
Mr Asquith’s
own view was that “the security policies will be rendered
ineffective
unless the
political process is adequately handled now”.
479.
Sir David
Manning reported from Washington that President Bush’s policy was
that
the US
would not support specific parties or individuals in the process of
forming the
480.
The election
results were announced on 13 February.260
481.
Mr Abdul
al-Hakim’s United Iraqi Alliance won 48 percent of the vote and 140
of the
275 seats,
two more than were required to achieve a majority. In second place
was the
Kurdistan
Alliance, led by Mr Jalal Talabani, with 75 seats and nearly 26
percent of
the vote.
Mr Allawi’s Iraqi List secured 40 seats and just under 14 percent
of the vote.
The Sadrist
group National Independent Cadres and Elites secured three
seats.
482.
The British
Embassy Baghdad told the FCO:
“We don’t
yet know the final number of Sunnis who will be taking up seats in
the
TNA. But in
addition to Sunni Kurds, there are significant numbers of Sunnis on
the
UIC (some
six to eight Sunnis in their top 140 candidates) and Allawi lists,
as well as
Ghazi’s
five seats [Iraqis] and the Liberation and Reconciliation
Gathering’s one seat.”
257
Letter
Sheinwald to Hadley, 11 February 2005, ‘Iraq’ attaching Paper
‘Iraq: Strategy for 2005’.
258
Minute
Asquith to PS/SoS [FCO], 10 February 2005, ‘Visit to Iraq, 3-8
February 2005’.
259
Telegram
17181/05 Washington to FCO London, 11 February 2005, ‘Iraq: US
Views; DG Political’s
Visit to
Washington’.
260
Telegram 99
Baghdad to FCO London, 13 February 2005, ‘Iraq: Provisional
Election Results’.
471