9.7 | May
2008 to October 2009
UK was well
placed to assist.177
But it was
less easy agreeing the legal basis for that
to happen:
“… as I had
been involved in it in December 2008, I went back to Iraq in the
spring
of 2009,
saw Prime Minister Maliki’s key advisers, saw Prime Minister Maliki
himself,
and agreed
a package, which eventually became Iraqi law.”
432.
Mr Prentice
told the Inquiry that he saw this agreement as “meeting Iraqi
needs,
expressed
needs, and also being a natural part of a full bilateral
relationship with a
country
with whom we have historical ties with their
military”.178
433.
Mr Brown
reshuffled his Cabinet on 6 June and appointed Mr Bob
Ainsworth,
formerly
Minister for the Armed Forces, as Defence Secretary.
Mr Miliband and
Mr Alexander
remained in their posts as Foreign Secretary and
International
Development
Secretary.
434.
On 12 June,
Mr Brown told Cabinet that since the withdrawal of British
troops
was nearly
complete, “the time was right to announce an Inquiry into the war
in Iraq”.179
It would be
an inquiry by Privy Counsellors, following the model of the Franks
Inquiry
into the
Falklands War.
435.
On 15 June,
Mr Brown made a statement to the House of Commons on the
UK’s
future
involvement in Iraq.180
He
said:
“Our troops
first went into Iraq in March 2003 and now they are coming home.
In
total,
120,000 men and women have served in Iraq during the last six
years, so it
is fitting
that I should now come to the House to talk of their achievements
through
difficult
times; to chart the new relationship we are building with Iraq; and
to set out
our plans
for an inquiry into the conflict.
“In my
statement to the House last December, I set out the remaining tasks
in
southern
Iraq for our mission … I can report that those three objectives are
being
achieved
…
…
“Significant
challenges remain, including that of finding a fair and
sustainable
solution to
the sharing of Iraq’s oil reserves, but Iraq’s future is now in its
own hands,
in the
hands of its people and its politicians. We must pay tribute to the
endurance of
the Iraqi
people; we pledge to them our continuing support … As the House
knows,
our
military mission ended with the last combat patrol in Basra on 30
April. As of
177
Public
hearing, 5 January 2010, page 40.
178
Public
hearing, 6 January 2010, page 42.
179
Cabinet
Conclusions, 12 June 2009.
180
House of
Commons, Official
Report, 15 June
2009, columns 21-22.
455