Written question asked by David Drew (Labour) on Tuesday, 2 November 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 18 November 2004. It was answered by Adam Ingram (Labour) on Thursday, 18 November 2004 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Ministry of Defence

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of Human Rights Watch reports that British forces failed to secure containers filled with weapons near to the old airport in Basra in May 2003. - (Holding answer 8 November 2004).

Answer: Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of Human Rights Watch reports that British forces failed to secure containers filled with weapons near to the old airport in Basra in May 2003. [196585] Mr. Ingram: [holding answer 8 November 2004]: The alleged incident occurred less than one week after the end of the war-fighting phase of Operation Telic. It would have been reasonable at that time for the Commanding Officer concerned to make the decision that his current operational commitments did not allow him to release forces for guarding Iraqi ammunition stores. Human Rights Watch reported at the time that the International Committee of the Red Cross had found at least 30 locations in Basrah, which contained abandoned munitions. It would not have been possible to provide site protection for all of these sites while carrying out all the other urgent tasks allocated to British forces at that time. After the end of the conflict, British forces in south- eastern Iraq instituted information campaigns to educate the local population about the dangers of handling unexploded munitions. Explosive Ordnance Disposal teams also began the enormous task of clearing stockpiles such as the one reported by Human Rights Watch.

Secondary information