Steps being taken to protect CPA, UN and NGO personnel in theatre. JC to
produce broad assessment on the security situation in Iraq next week.
Detail
2.
COBR met again this morning to review the security situation in Iraq.
Graham Fry (FCO) was in the chair. FCO, MOD, DFID, Met Police, DfT,
Cabinet Office, JTAC and the Agencies attended. This note records the key
points.
Latest intelligence
3. The security situation in both Baghdad and Basra remains volatile.
Security arrangements
4. DFID and FCO Security advisors; who returned from Iraq over the weekend,
briefed COBR on their assessment of the security situation:
5.
In Baghdad, the picture is relatively reassuring. Overall security and staff
awareness within the CPA zone, where the British Office (BOB) will be located
for the foreseeable future, has improved. Steps were being taken to address recent
lapses and to strengthen emergency response procedures (such as drills), but there
was still more to be done to re-enforce a climate of security awareness more
generally. DID and the FCO agreed to take this forward as a matter of urgency.
The position was not helped by US reluctance to share their assessments. FCO
are pursuing.
6. In Basra, security advisers agreed that the situation was more alarming and,
DEGLASSIFIEB ONAL.

UN and other Agencies
7. Existing security measures at UN and NGO sites in both Baghdad and Basra
were assessed as inadequate and their desire for openness to the Iraqi public
judged incompatible in the current climate. It was important to devote more time
and resources anticipating attacks rather than reacting to them. DFID was in
discussions on these issues to identify what immediate steps could be taken to
address security concerns; including the movement of UN personnel to the secure
zone. A balance had to be struck between the political desire to be independent
of the coalition presence and the need to be protected from terrorist attacks. The
FCO in consultation with DID would convey this message to the UN in New
York and underscore the need for significantly improved security around its sites.
COBR agreed the following:
• FCO and DFID would meet tomorrow to consider a timetable for early
implementation of the recommendations in the Security Advisers
reports. A combined action-sheet with timescales would be produced
and circulated
• FCO would consider the designation of permanent security managers
for both Baghdad and Basra who could provide a rolling review of the
threat; act as interlocutors and keep the relevant people on the ground
informed. They would also be better positioned to re-enforce the
seriousness of the threat and assess the need for additional physical
security measures as and when necessary.
• FCO would press the US (at the local and strategic level) for an
assessment of the security situation outside the CPA secure zones in
Baghdad and Basra and, in particular, encourage them to develop
appropriate measures for enhanced security for NGO's and UN
personnel that will allow them to operate effectively
DEGLASSIFIED ONAL

0.
• There were a number of concerns remaining on the UK's legal
obligations for flights into Basra, not just for UK carriers. The Cabinet Office
would therefore convene a separate meeting tomorrow to urgently consider this
together with the implications of, and likely timescales for, a resumption of
commercial flights to Basra.
Next meeting
9. It is not intended to hold another COBR meeting on this issue but rather to
take forward and keep under review security measures within the existing
Whitehall mechanisms for dealing with Iraq. The JIC will be producing a formal
assessment of the security situation next week.
O.I am copying this note to Geoffrey Adams, Graham Fry and Neil Crompton
FCO), Andrew Campbell (DfT), Peter Watkins (MOD), Jonathan Sedgwick
and
(Home Office),
(JIAC), and
(DFID),
Sebastian Madden,
Julian Miller, Jim Drummond and
(Cabinet Office).
DEGLASS FAERONAL