Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Bob Spink (UK Independence Party). It was answered on Monday, 21 July 2008 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

British Forces (Attacks)

Question: What assessment does the Secretary of State make of the linkage between Iranian military and Iraqi militia groups, which have been trained—by the allied forces, of course—armed and put on the street to help the security forces?

Answer: There were at one stage some concerns that militia had infiltrated Iraqi security forces. The hon. Gentleman and others will know that when General Mohan was in charge of troops in Basra steps were taken to ensure that the majority of recruits to the 14th division, which grew out of the 10th division of the Iraqi army, did not come from the Basra area. The fact that the troops could not be intimidated may well account for the dramatic effect of the deployment of the 14th division to Basra.

Secondary information