The Report of the Iraq Inquiry

Introduction

1.  This Section addresses:

• the development of the UK’s Security Sector Reform (SSR) strategies, policies

and plans;

• the decision to disband the Iraqi Army;

• the UK contribution to US‑led SSR strategy developed in Baghdad;

• the implementation of SSR in the South of Iraq; and

• the deployment of UK police officers to Iraq.

2.  This Section does not address:

• broader planning and preparation for the conflict in Iraq and its aftermath, which

is described in Section 6.5;

• the decision to remove some members of the Ba’ath Party from public office

after May 2003, a process known as de‑Ba’athification, which is described in

Section 11.1;

• the UK contribution to the reconstruction of Iraq, which is described in

Sections 10.1 to 10.3; or

• the wider deployment of civilians to Iraq, which is described in Section 15.1.

Definition of terms

Security Sector Reform

The term “Security Sector Reform” (SSR) is used in this report to refer to work

to rebuild and reform Iraq’s security and justice institutions. The Organisation for

Economic Co‑operation and Development (OECD) defines SSR as development work

that helps societies to “escape from a downward spiral wherein insecurity, crime and

underdevelopment are mutually reinforcing”.1

The OECD defines the security and justice sectors to include the following:

• core security actors (for example, armed forces, police, gendarmerie,2 border

guards, customs and immigration, and intelligence and security services);

• security management and oversight bodies (for example, ministries of defence

and internal affairs);

• justice and law enforcement institutions (for example, the judiciary, prisons,

prosecution services, traditional justice systems); and

• non‑statutory security forces (for example, guerrilla armies and private militias).

1  OECD DAC, Handbook on Security System Reform, 2007.

2 A gendarmerie is a military force charged with policing duties in a civilian population.

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