Multi-National Division (South-East) (MND (SE)) was a British commanded military division responsible for security in the south east of Iraq from 2003 to 2009. It was responsible for the large city of Basra (or Basrah) and its headquarters were located at Basra Airport. The division was initially responsible for the governorates (roughly provinces) of Al Muthanna, Maysan, Basra, and Dhi Qar.[1] MND-SE was a subordinate division of Multi-National Corps Iraq. Multi-National Corps Iraq was itself part of Multi-National Force-Iraq.
History
In the aftermath of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which had the British codename 'Operation Telic,' the British 1st Armoured Division[2] and 3rd Mechanised Division[3] were successively responsible for the command and control of the occupation forces in south east Iraq. After the 3rd Mechanised Division's tour of duty came to an end it was replaced by a composite headquarters still known as MND (SE).[4]
General officers commanding
December 2003 – July 2004: Major-General Andrew Stewart, British Army
July – November 2004: Major-General Bill Rollo, British Army
December 2004 – June 2005: Major-General Jonathon Riley, British Army
June – December 2005: Major-General James Dutton, Royal Marines
December 2005 – July 2006: Major-General John Cooper, British Army
July 2006 – January 2007: Major-General Richard Shirreff, British Army
January – August 2007: Major-General Jonathan Shaw, British Army
August 2007 – February 2008: Major-General Graham Binns, British Army
In the months following the end of the invasion, the division expanded to include UK, Dutch, Norwegian, Italian, Japanese, Australian, NZ, Romanian, Danish, Portuguese, Czech and Lithuanian troops. As of February 2007, the Australians, Romanians, Danes, Czechs and Lithuanians remain (see Multinational Force in Iraq for further information). The UK itself had about 5,500 personnel serving in Iraq, separated into the following battlegroups, as of 1 June 2007:[8]
