The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
403.
President Bush
made clear that the US goal was to see all 18 Iraqi
provinces
transferred
to PIC during the course of 2007.
404.
A few days
before his statement, President Bush had announced that
General
David
Petraeus would succeed Gen Casey as Commanding General
Multi‑National
405.
The operation
which resulted from the new strategy set out by President
Bush
is often
referred to in contemporary documents as the new Baghdad Security
Plan
or Operation
Fardh al‑Qanoon, Arabic for ‘Enforce the Rule of Law’.
406.
On 10 January,
as part of the planning for transition to PIC, Mr Asquith
proposed
to the IPU
that decisions on future diplomatic representation in Basra should
be based
on an
analysis of the UK’s interests five years ahead.219
He found it
difficult to see Basra
Air Station
providing the right location for a diplomatic mission even one year
ahead and
argued for
keeping open the option of re‑occupying Basra Palace:
“… it is
not feasible to think of a CG [Consul General] operating out of
BAS
[Basra Air
Station] in the medium term. No BP [Basra Palace] presence
therefore
almost
certainly means no Basra presence in a year or so …
“If,
whatever the merits of the case, there is not money to run an
operation at Basra
(because of
Afghanistan), then Ministers should also be told.”
407.
DOP(I) met on
11 January at 0800 and discussed the announcement made
the
previous
day by President Bush.220
Mrs Beckett
commented that the change in US
plans
should make little difference to the UK’s plans, although there
would undoubtedly
be media
speculation about the possibility. Mr Browne described UK and
US plans as
“entirely
consistent”; the idea of supporting an Iraqi lead meant that the
concepts behind
the surge
and Op SINBAD were “virtually identical”.
408.
DOP(I) also
discussed plans for military transition in MND(SE).
409.
An MOD paper
said that transition to PIC in Maysan was expected to
happen
in February
at the latest.221
Transition
in Basra would be reviewed in the light of
Op SINBAD,
which had “delivered promising results” and remained possible
within the
first half
of 2007.
410.
In preparation
for PIC, the MOD planned to reconfigure the UK forces
within
MND(SE) in
order to provide more effective support for the Iraqi Security
Forces.
218
White House
news release, 5 January 2007, ‘President Bush Pleased to Accept
Recommendations
from
Secretary Gates for General Petraeus and Admiral
Fallon’.
219
Email
Asquith to Casey, 10 January 2007, ‘Basra Future’.
220
Minutes, 11
January 2007, DOP(I) meeting.
221
Paper MOD
officials, 11 January 2007, ‘UK Military Transition Plans for
Southern Iraq: Update’.
76