The Brits are back
Less than half a year after UK combat operations ended in Iraq, British naval forces are set to return to the land between two rivers; but not in the way one might think. This time, Britain’s Royal Marines and sailors will redeploy to Iraq to leap into a different kind of fight: the arduous task of training Iraq’s fledgling maritime forces. Paused since June, the Royal Navy’s training efforts are now set to resume upon mutual ratification of a bilateral military assistance treaty between the British and the Iraqi governments. In a written ministerial statement to Parliament, UK Armed Forces Minister Bill Rammell said:
As the Prime Minister announced on 18 December last year, the Iraqi Government have requested our continued military assistance, particularly in officer training, naval training and maritime support. The two Governments therefore concluded an agreement concerning naval training and maritime support to Iraqi forces in June. Since then, the agreement has been considered by the Iraqi Council of Representatives and received its third reading on 13 October. The agreement will now enter into force once both parties have completed their parliamentary procedures and exchanged diplomatic notes. [...] Training of the Iraqi Navy has been paused since June, and it is important to resume this activity as soon as possible to ensure that they quickly develop the capacity to protect their own territorial waters and the offshore oil platforms which are so vital to Iraq’s economic revival.
In a recent article on the issue, The Times (of London) reported that most of Iraq’s navy was obliterated in the Persian Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom. All that remained was a handful of Soviet-built ships that Saddam Hussein managed to hide from U.S. and coalition forces by dispatching them to other countries in the region. At present, the Iraqi Navy has no more than 2,000 sailors in its ranks. The Iraqi Army, by comparison, now has 300,000 soldiers serving in its ranks. Considering, for a moment, that Iraq has the world’s third largest proven oil reserves, the need to grow its Navy as a means of protecting the country’s oil platforms and sea-lanes seems like a no-brainer.
Mindful of Iraq’s geostrategic importance, the successful conclusion of this bilateral training agreement represents another crucial step forward in the continued struggle for a stable, secure, prosperous, and democratic Iraq. At the core, this legislation will allow for the return to Iraq of about 100 British naval training personnel from Kuwait where they have been stationed pending ratification of the treaty. Moreover, the deal will also ensure the return of a small contingent of UK ground forces, whose purpose will be “to turn Iraq’s navy into a fighting force capable of protecting its oil terminals,” as Minister Rammell explained in his written statement to the UK House of Commons. The Wall Street Journal reported in May that the total number of British naval trainers intended for Iraq will amount to roughly 400 personnel. Whether this number is accurate and, indeed, sufficient to build up Iraq’s navy remains to be seen. But ultimately, Iraq’s economic recovery will rest upon its wealth in natural resources. Therefore, Britain’s effort to help build the indigenous capacity that will enable Iraq to protect those resources is a noble, necessary, and vital task.
