The Report
of the Iraq Inquiry
358.
Cabinet Office
officials told Mr Brown on 27 February that the confirmed
provincial
election
results had been published:
“PM
Maliki’s party did well and will have a working majority in both
Baghdad and
Basra
councils. But it will have to rule in coalition in the seven other
provinces
where it
gained the most votes. Female candidates won 103 of 440 seats. The
new
Provincial
Councils will be working by end March.”144
359.
On 27
February, President Obama gave a speech at Camp Lejeune, a
Marine
Corps base,
in which he announced that most US troops would withdraw from Iraq
and
the US
combat mission would end by 31 August 2010.145
After that
point:
“… our
mission will change from combat to supporting the Iraqi government
and
its security
forces as they take the absolute lead in securing their
country.”146
360.
Up to 50,000
troops would remain, leaving by the end of 2011, as:
“… a
transitional force to carry out three distinct functions: training,
equipping, and
advising
Iraqi security forces as long as they remain non-sectarian;
conducting
targeted
counter-terrorism missions; and protecting our ongoing civilian and
military
efforts
within Iraq.”
361.
Sir Nigel
Sheinwald, British Ambassador to the US, reported from Washington
that
President
Obama set the announcement in the context of “a wider strategy
towards the
Greater
Middle East”, stating that the US would work with partners to
establish a new
regional
framework and would “pursue principled and sustained engagement
with all
of the
nations in the region”, including Iran and Syria.147
362.
The need for a
“comprehensive approach” was the reason the US was
“refocusing
on Al Qaida
in Afghanistan and Pakistan; developing a strategy to use all
elements of
American
power to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon; and
actively seeking
lasting
peace between Israel and the Arab world”.
363.
President
Obama had said that the US would work to promote a
“just,
representative
and accountable” Iraqi Government but cautioned that the US could
not
“let the
pursuit of the perfect stand in the way of achievable goals”. He
recognised that
it would
not be possible to rid Iraq of all who opposed the US or
sympathised with its
enemies,
but a new US Ambassador, Christopher Hill, would lead a new
strategy of
“sustained
diplomacy”.
144
Minute
Cabinet Office [junior official] to Prime Minister, 27 February
2009, ‘Iraq: Update’.
145
BBC
News, 27
February 2009, Obama
outlined Iraq pullout plan.
146
BBC
News, 27
February 2009, Obama’s
Iraq speech: Excerpts.
147
eGram
7456/09 Washington to FCO London, 28 February 2009, ‘Obama
Announces Iraq
Drawdown Plan’.
442