10.3 |
Reconstruction: oil, commercial interests, debt relief, asylum and
stabilisation policy
“So our
view of how this should be managed, accounted for, was different to
the US
view and
there was a lot of discussion around the drafting of the
resolution, and just
how the
resources would feed into the CPA and who would have control over
them.”
289.
Ambassador
Paul Bremer III arrived in Baghdad on 12 May, to lead the
CPA.
290.
The names ORHA
and CPA continued to be used interchangeably in
documents
seen by the
Inquiry for some time after the creation of the CPA.
291.
From late May,
Ministers received reports that the CPA was not consulting the
UK
on policy
issues in the oil sector.
292.
The Annotated
Agenda for the 22 May meeting of the AHMGIR stated that the
US
was driving
decisions on the management of the oil sector.152
The Iraqi
Ministry of Oil
was “run
by” a US-appointed Interim Management Team, headed by an Iraqi
official.
That
official was “effectively steered by” an Oil Advisory Board (OAB)
chaired by an
American
(though the majority of Board members were Iraqis). The OAB planned
a
strategic
review of the oil sector; the UK hoped that the recent arrival in
the CPA of a
DTI oil
expert would increase its knowledge of CPA plans for the
sector.
293.
Ms Hewitt’s
briefing for the AHMGIR set out the problem more
explicitly.153
The UK had
had considerable difficulty in getting hold of the OAB’s terms of
reference,
and was not
therefore able to establish whether it was legally constituted. A
UK national
was being
sounded out to sit on the OAB. That could bring a different
perspective and
help
encourage a transparent oil sector policy, but those advantages
needed to be
weighed
against the legal uncertainties surrounding the OAB and the
presentational
issues of a
more visible UK role in managing Iraq’s oil.
294.
The Annotated
Agenda also stated that TPUK’s ability to promote Iraq to UK
oil
companies
was constrained by “political sensitivities and lack of ground
knowledge”.154
UK oil
companies would only deal with a “legally acceptable authority” and
remained to
be
convinced that one was in place:
“But most
of this will change if there is a new UN
resolution,155
and we are
reaching
the stage
where we and UK companies must engage or lose out. We are
therefore
beginning
to encourage UK companies to become more closely involved in the
oil
sector in
the same way as they are in other areas of
rehabilitation.”
152
Annotated
Agenda, 22 May 2003, Ad Hoc Group on Iraq Rehabilitation
meeting.
153
Minute
Briggs to PS/Mrs Hewitt, 21 May 2003, ‘Sixth Meeting of Ad Hoc
Ministerial Group on Iraq
Rehabilitation:
22 May 2003’.
154
Annotated
Agenda, 22 May 2003, Ad Hoc Group on Iraq Rehabilitation
meeting.
155
A reference
to resolution 1483 (2003), which was adopted that day.
417