9.7 | May
2008 to October 2009
“We should
also focus on the long-term relationships between Basra and the
UK.
I have
asked my team to draw up a mini strategy focusing especially on
areas such
as
co-operation in the educational field, including universities,
local government
co‑ordination,
city twinning (perhaps focused on oil, eg Aberdeen; or as a
centre
for a
religion eg Canterbury), co-operation in the field of the arts and
museums.”
345.
Mr Baker
reported that security in Basra continued to improve, and observed
that
the city
was “increasingly reminiscent of Erbil: a good thing”. He
added:
“While it
is true that the key enabler for recent progress was Charge of the
Knights,
it was our
reaction to those events which was critical. It would have been
easy to
have taken
that opportunity to disengage with Basra. Instead, we recognised
that
we could
take advantage of the improving security situation and formulated
and then
delivered a
Basra policy which focused on empowering the Iraqis through
(military)
training,
(PRT) service delivery and (CG) political
reconciliation.”
346.
Reflecting on
what had gone well, Mr Baker wrote:
“… the last
year in Basra has been a model of co-operation between the
GOC,
Consul
General and the Head of the PRT. This excellent example of joined
up
government
has allowed us to reach our objectives across the board, which in
turn
means we
will be able to leave a lasting positive legacy, something that
would not
have been
the case even six months ago. When preparing our next lessons
learned
paper, we
need to factor in the success this team effort has had in shifting
the policy
focus and
improving our reputation – and thus our legacy – on the
ground.”
347.
The Permanent
Secretaries of the FCO, the MOD and DFID – Sir Peter
Ricketts,
Sir Bill
Jeffrey and Dr Nemat Shafik – visited Baghdad on 23
February.137
They
met
several
Iraqi ministers and UK officials based in Iraq to discuss how the
“whole Iraq”
policy
could be taken forward over the next 15 months.
348.
Mr Prentice
reported that all their interlocutors had welcomed the UK’s
commitment
to move to
a broad-based bilateral relationship. Foreign Minister Zebari was
reported
to have
said that there “had been some hard feeling towards the UK as a
result of our
operations
in Basra but these should not negatively influence our future
relationship …
The GoI was
open to strategic partnerships.” Sir Peter Ricketts assured him
that the UK
“planned a
continuing presence in Erbil and Basra”.
349.
Although
“normality” was returning to Baghdad, Mr Prentice commented
that the
visitors
“will have been reminded, by what they saw … and by what they heard
on all
sides, that
Iraq remains a country in transition with continuing political,
economic and
security
challenges”.
137
eGram
7003/09 Baghdad to FCO London, 25 February 2009, ‘Iraq: Visit to
Baghdad by FCO, MOD and
DFID
Permanent Secretaries, 23 November [sic]’.
439