Peter Collecott
Simon Gass
Alan Charlton
William Ehrman
Edward Oakden
Graham Fry
Edward Chaplin
Dominick Chilcott, IPU
Charles Gray, MED
Secretary of State
IRAQ: FUTURE HANDLING
1.
Since mid-January, the Office's mechanisms for handling Iraq have been
based on MED's Iraq section (now semi-dormant while the staff have been
redeployed on shift duty in the Emergency Unit); and the Iraq Planning Unit,
which is, strictly speaking, an interdepartmental Whitehall-wide rather than FCO
body. This has worked well. But it is not sustainable indefinitely, and we need
to devise a stable structure which will enable us to sustain the considerable effort
which will now be needed for quite a while yet.
2. Peter Ricketts. Edward Chaplin and I have concluded that we should
amalgamate IPU and the former MED Iraq section into a new unit. We should
continue to build on the cross-Whitehall brand recognition IPU has acquired.
though to reflect the change of role should rename it "Irag Policy (rather than
"Planning") Unit". We should also work to maintain the present IPU's
DECLASSIFIED

Michael Jay
DECLASSIFIED