The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
Museum in
Boston.504
In it he
said that “global problems required global solutions”
and
called for
new international rules and institutions to assist. One force of
globalisation,
he said,
was:
“… the
sobering reality … that we are exposed – unpredictably but directly
– to the
risk of
violence originating in failed and rogue states around the world.
Once we
feared
rival nations becoming too strong; now the worst threats come from
states
that are
too weak.”
1024.
Phase III of
the Charge of the Knights – an operation in the JAM stronghold
in
the
Hayaniyah district of Basra – was launched on 19
April.505
Although
MND(SE) had
expected
the operation to be problematic, it went “remarkably smoothly,
largely due
to some
very thorough joint planning and an insistence on unity of command
and fire
control
measures which were welcomed by the Iraqi Army”.
1025.
During the
course of the operation, over 35 large weapons caches
were
found,
containing 1,000 mortar rounds (some marked IRAN 2008), over 500
rockets,
450 rocket-propelled
grenades and a large number of IEDs, EFPs and small
arms.
The most
notable finds were four man-portable air defence missile
systems.
1026.
Lt Gen Cooper
reported that on the same day that Phase III launched,
Muqtada al-Sadr
issued a threat “to declare war” if the Iraqi Government did not
back
off
continued targeted operations such as those in
Basra.506
The threat
was being taken
seriously
but the Iraqi Government was not going to be forced into
negotiation,
“OMS/JAM
will need to be de-escalatory in advance of any further
talks”.
1027.
Lt Gen Cooper
also reported to ACM Stirrup that the “US view of the
Bush/Brown
discussion
on Iraq is that it confirmed the move towards a shared venture in
MND(SE)”.
1028.
Gen Dannatt
visited Basra during Phase III and “found everyone in the
Division
in an
extremely positive, but cautious mood about the potential for
delivering success on
the
ground”.507
At the end
of his visit, Gen Dannatt reported that he:
“… came
away from Iraq confident that we have another
opportunity
to be
successful
in Basra – we must not let this one go. In order to do that we must
ensure
that we are
giving GOC MND(SE) the resources that he requires, not just in
terms
of numbers
but in the capabilities. Most crucially, however, we must ensure
that our
message is
proactive, aggressive and co-ordinated.”
504
Maxims News
Network, 19 April
2008, UK Prime
Minister Gordon Brown’s Kennedy Memorial Lecture
on Foreign
Affairs.
505
Minute
White-Spunner to CJO, 24 April 2008, ‘GOC MND(SE) Weekly Letter –
24 April 2008’.
506
Minute
Cooper to CDS, 21 April 2008, ‘SBMR-I’s Weekly Report (297) 21 Apr
08’.
507
Minute CGS
to CDS, 22 April 2008, ‘GCS Visit to Basra – 19 Apr
08’.
374