UK troops begin Iraqi withdrawal - BBC

Iraqis honour Brit - The Sun

A BRIT war hero named Salmon was given a golden award by Iraqi leaders yesterday — in the shape of a real salmon.

Maj Gen Andy Salmon, head of coalition forces in Basra, received the jewel-encrusted trophy as our troops prepare to withdraw from the region.

The ceremony was organised by the Iraqis to thank the British for their involvement in the South East region of the country over the past six years.

Iraqi dignitaries, including senior Army officers and religious leaders, praised Maj Gen Salmon, who will this week hand control of coalition forces in Basra to the US Army.

The event, opened by the Royal Marines Band, was held at Basra Operations Command.
Maj Gen Salmon said Iraq could be the “envy of the world”.

He added: “We look to the future with, I’ve got to say, a huge amount of optimism.”

The beginning of the end of Britain’s military mission in Iraq - The Times

Deborah Haynes in Baghdad

Striking up Glorious Victory, a Royal Marines band marched into the grounds of an Iraqi base in Basra yesterday to open a farewell feast that marks the beginning of the end of Britain’s military mission in Iraq.

The band from Plymouth, flown in for the occasion, performed seven numbers, including a spot by four drummers. Speeches and a spread of chicken, rice, fish and salad followed, washed down with fizzy drinks and bowls of ice cream.

Yesterday’s party is the latest step in a carefully choreographed handover that ultimately will end all foreign forces’ presence in Iraq. The jovial atmosphere was tinged with sadness as Iraqis bid farewell to their British counterparts who have been a part of Basra life since 2003.

Glorious Victory is not the usual phrase used to describe the outcome of the past six years, with much work still to be done, but British commanders are upbeat about the future and feel that they leave Basra a better place. “As we sit here now, having completed the UK’s military tasks, we look to the future with – I’ve got to say – a huge amount of optimism, which I think reflects the way people now view life in Basra,” Major-General Andy Salmon, the leading British officer in the south, told a crowd of British, Iraqi and US officials.

Major-General Mohammed Huweidi, the commander of Iraqi forces in the province, said: “I would like to thank the British nation for helping us rid ourselves of dictatorship and live in freedom and democracy.”

Britain’s mission in Iraq experienced undulating highs and lows, from troops patrolling the streets in soft berets and no body armour in the early days to soldiers diving to the ground to avoid mortars and rockets fired by extremist militias who overran Basra until as recently as last year. In total, 179 British personnel have died since the invasion and many more have been injured. Billions of pounds have been spent on equipment, manpower and reconstruction work, which continues.

In the most significant turning point, Iraqi forces, backed by US and British troops, finally regained control of the province 12 months ago in an operation launched by Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister. The offensive brought security, enabled reconstruction work to gather pace and allowed Britain to finalise an exit plan, with most of its remaining 4,100 troops due to pull out by the summer to be replaced by US forces.

As part of the transition, control of the British headquarters at a sprawling base next to Basra airport will be transferred to a US commander in the coming days. General Salmon and his division staff will then depart, heralding the start of a new era for the whole of the south.

From next month the US military will shut down a hub in central Iraq and merge it with the Basra operation, the nine provinces south of Baghdad falling under the new US mission out of Basra.

Although violence is down dramatically, a roadside bomb exploded yesterday in the path of a group of Iraqis in a reminder of the continuing potential for danger in the oil-rich south.

Two people were killed and six critically injured, according to Major-General Adel al-Ameri, the police chief. Ten arrests had been made, he said. “We don’t want to allow the enemy to make problems and kill the people.”

Colonel Richard Stanford, who is handing over his role as adviser to General Mohammed to an American officer, said that the US task would be “subtly different” from the that of the outgoing British military. “They have been invited down here to keep a very light hand on the tiller of security, but really help with reconstruction and economic development,” he said.

Some 500 British Forces personnel will also remain in Iraq after the summer, largely to help with training the Iraqi Navy and to work at an Iraqi staff college.

With one of the world’s largest oil reserves and Iraq’s only port, Basra has huge potential, provided security remains stable and a newly elected provincial council makes good on promises to improve essential services, such as electricity and water, and to create jobs.

Britain to start Iraq pullout on Tuesday - AFP

British forces will officially start to pull out of Iraq on Tuesday, signalling the end of six years of military operations that began with the US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

The British-led coalition base in Basra will lower its flag and transfer to US control as American soldiers arrive to take up a new role that includes the training of Iraq's fledgling police force.

"It will be a significant day because it signals the completion of Britain's military tasks here," Major General Andy Salmon, the outgoing British commander of the base, told AFP ahead of the pull out.

"We have had some difficult times but we look ahead to the future with a huge amount of optimism for Iraq."

Britain, under then prime minister Tony Blair, was America's key ally when president George W. Bush ordered his forces to invade Iraq in March 2003.

British troop numbers in the campaign were the second largest, peaking at 46,000 in March and April six years ago during the US-led invasion, and 179 of its servicemen and women have died in the country.

A deal signed by Baghdad and London last year agreed the remaining 4,100 British soldiers would complete their mission -- primarily training the Iraqi army -- by June, before a complete withdrawal from the country in late July.

The British contribution to the war and subsequent reconstruction effort was recognised by both American and Iraqi officers ahead of Tuesday's handover.

"British forces have been our strongest ally throughout this campaign," US Army Major General Michael Oates, who will become the senior coalition officer in Basra when the British-led unit ceases to exist on Tuesday, told AFP.

"They have done an outstanding job and our task is to continue that work," Oates said.
The Iraqi army's senior officer in the province used a farewell feast at Basra's Shaat al Arab Hotel at the weekend to thank Britain for its support in the wake of Saddam's ouster.

"I would like to thank the British nation for the assistance they have provided to help rid us of dictatorship and live in freedom and democracy," said Major General Hawedi Mohammed.
"The Iraqi Army and the Iraqi public will remember the sacrifice by British forces for some time to come. Our thoughts and prayers are also with the families of the British soldiers who lost their lives in this country."

Basra, Iraq's third-largest city and a strategic oil hub, had been under British control since the invasion, but the province and its airport returned to Iraqi sovereignty three months ago.
As well as training the Iraqi army, Britain has also been key in the rebirth of the war-torn country's new navy.

A Royal Navy training team is based at the southern port of Umm Qasr and its role is expected to continue although a new agreement has yet to be reached between the two governments.
Relations between London and Baghdad should in theory revert to the same footing as those between other countries when British troops complete their withdrawal in the summer.

The British pull out comes as the US military also steps up preparations to leave Iraq.

Under a US-Iraqi security agreement signed in November last year, US troops are to withdraw from major towns and cities by June 30 and from the whole country by the end of 2011.

President Barack Obama has ordered an end to US combat operations in Iraq by August 31 next year, but says 50,000 troops will remain under a new mission to expire at the year-end deadline.

UK begins Iraq farewell by saying: so long, and thanks for the fish - Guardian

The beginning of the end came with a banquet, a marching band playing under grey skies, and a jewel-encrusted golden fish.

After six years in which Britain has been regarded as friend and foe, liberator and occupier, the army's formal withdrawal from Iraq began yesterday when it handed over its last remaining command post in Basra, the base at the Shat al-Arab hotel.

Tomorrow, the army will surrender its main base to the US army, clearing the way for a full withdrawal by early summer and bringing to an end one of the army's most testing operations since the end of the second world war.

Yesterday's ceremony included a Royal Marine band flown in from Cornwall, playing for an audience of sheikhs and security chiefs, and an exchange of gifts.

The magnificent golden salmon was given to Major General Andy Salmon, who transferred power to an Iraqi division, which the British army has mentored for the last two years. He paid tribute to the recent provincial elections in Iraq which were hailed as a democratic success, despite claims of vote-rigging and a new inquiry into the conduct of some candidates by the Iraqi integrity commission.

He also claimed British troops could be proud of producing a "successful conclusion" to the Iraq war and said the decision to topple Saddam Hussein was right. "We stayed the course and we endured and we partnered with everybody and seized our opportunities and adapted along the way," he said.

"I can put my hand on my heart and say we finished this right. I can also say that we've been through some difficult times and emerged from them. Everyone here has. But we can all hold our heads up high and say it was worth it."

The army has insisted over the last 18 months that the Iraqi army is a far different outfit to the military it took on during the invasion of 2003. It also claims Basra is safer and stable - two achievements that pave the way for an exit.

However, the American military will step into the void left by the British departure, a move that casts a shadow over claims by Downing Street and Whitehall that the job has been done.
The Iraqi army has been conducting patrols on its own for 10 months and will still host British forces at the Shat al-Arab hotel until July. Only a skeleton British crew will remain at the once grand riverside hotel which now stands in partial ruins.

As the British and Iraqi dignitaries gathered, a bomb exploded near a key oil installation in southern Iraq, killing three police officers and three civilians. Violence has decreased sharply throughout southern Iraq, but occasionally flares up to coincide with high-profile events.

A total of 179 British troops have died in the conflict. The new commanding officer for Basra, Major General Mohammed, paid tribute to them, claiming their sacrifices had made a marked difference in the south. "The British leave us as friends," he said. "They should be proud of what they have achieved. They have won our respect and are very much appreciated for their efforts by the people of Iraq."

The senior US military command will formally take control of the airport on Tuesday. Whitehall has said it will gradually withdraw all troops between now and then but has not provided timelines.

The handovers formally move the British army from a lead partner in southern Iraq to a secondary force, though combat units will remain battle-ready as the remaining 100 British troops trickle away between now and the end of July. They are the first key markers of the end of a campaign that has long fought for legitimacy in the British public's psyche amid ongoing doubts about its validity and outcome.

Be proud of success in Iraq, troops told - Metro

British forces in Iraq said the outgoing troops could be proud of achieving a successful conclusion, despite 'ups and downs' along the way.

Maj Gen Andy Salmon insisted the armed forces were leaving Basra a safer and more optimistic place than they found it in 2003.

'I can put my hand on my heart and say we've finished this right,' he said.

'It was a very difficult start. But this is a successful conclusion to a long campaign.'

Combat operations in Iraq will end on May 31 and nearly all of Britain's remaining 4,100 troops will leave by July 31.

The key turning point for Basra was a significant Iraqi army-led operation targeting militias last year.

Maj Gen Salmon admitted there was a lot to be done to make the city safe but predicted 'a very rosy future'.

He added: 'The threat that exists is very different from the threat a year ago.'

UK thanked for its role in Iraq - PA

The head of Iraqi security forces in Basra has thanked Britain for its help in ridding his country of dictatorship and bringing freedom.
General Hawedi Mohamed paid tribute to the 179 UK personnel who have died since the 2003 invasion at a feast in honour of the outgoing British commander in the southern Iraqi province.
"The Iraqi Army and the Iraqi public will remember the sacrifice by British forces for some time to come," he said.

Major General Andy Salmon, who will hand control of coalition forces in Basra to the US Army later this week, said Iraq could be the "envy of the world" if its leaders looked after their people.

The feast, at Basra Operations Command at the former Shatt Al Arab Hotel in Basra, was attended by local Iraqi dignitaries including senior Army and police officers, sheikhs and religious leaders. Among them was US Army Major General Michael Oates, who is poised to take over command of coalition troops in Basra on Tuesday.

Speaking through an interpreter, General Mohamed said: "I would also like to thank the British nation through the general for the assistance they have provided to help rid us of dictatorship and live in freedom and democracy. Our thoughts and prayers are also with the families of the British soldiers who lost their lives in this country."

Maj Gen Salmon said: "As we sit here now having completed the UK's military tasks, we look to the future with, I've got to say, a huge amount of optimism, which I think reflects the way that people now view life in Basra."

He added: "I think the challenge is simply that if you look after the people, you deliver their needs, they will support you and they will work together with you to make Basra and Iraq a very stable place which will be the envy of the world."

Maj Gen Michael Oates said the American military would "pick up where the British forces have left off" in Basra.

"British forces have been our best allies throughout this campaign, and our relationship in several tours that I have had here, has been nothing short of outstanding partnership," he said. "So it's a bitter-sweet day for me to have them leave, but I'm enormously proud of them, and I think the people of Great Britain should be very proud of their Army. They've done an outstanding job in Basra."

Commander hails successful mission

British troops can be proud of having achieved a "successful conclusion" in Iraq as they prepare to withdraw, the UK's most senior commander in the country said.

Major General Andy Salmon, head of coalition forces in Basra in southern Iraq, acknowledged there had been "ups and downs" since the 2003 invasion and paid tribute to the 179 British personnel who lost their lives during the conflict.

But he insisted that UK forces were leaving Basra a much safer and more optimistic place compared with the darkest days of the insurgency.

In an interview ahead of his imminent departure from Iraq, he said: "I can put my hand on my heart and say we've finished this right.

"I know that it was a very difficult start - we all know that. We know that actually we went through some difficult times. So did the US Army, we all went through difficult times.

"We stayed the course and we endured, and we partnered with everybody, and seized our opportunities and adapted along the way."

British combat operations in Iraq will end on May 31 and nearly all of the UK's remaining 4,100 troops in the country will be withdrawn by July 31.

Maj Gen Salmon, of the Royal Marines, will leave Iraq ahead of this after standing down as general officer commanding the coalition's Multi-National Division (South-East) and handing control of Basra Province to US forces.

He listed a series of achievements by the British Armed Forces in Iraq, from deposing Saddam Hussein and training the new Iraqi Army to helping to deliver successful provincial elections in January and attracting investors to Basra.

British commander in Iraq declares 'mission accomplished' - Telegraph

The commander of British forces in Iraq has said that all 179 UK troops killed fighting in the war sacrificed their lives for a good cause.

By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent in Basra

Despite the controversy surrounding the conflict, Major General Andy Salmon said that the servicemen and women who had been killed in Iraq since 2003 did not die in vain.

Gen Salmon declared "mission accomplished" for British forces, adding that now was the right time to return to the UK.

Gen Salmon, a Royal Marine Commando, who first served in Iraq 18 years ago, also said he believed that the insurgency had been defeated.

He added that the Iraqi Army now held the "monopoly of violence" and the power vacuum, which had been exploited by the militias, had now disappeared.

The general, who commands the coalition's multinational division south east, also predicted a bright future for Basra and said that with hard work and the right investment there was "no reason" why Basra could not become as successful as Dubai.

The general, who will be Britain's last commander of British troops in southern Iraq, said he was proud of what has been achieved but added that there were important "lessons to be learnt" from the six year operation.

He said that Britain played a significant part in bringing a nation out of the "darkness" of a totalitarian dictatorship.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, the general said it was always difficult to judge whether any military operation was worth the sacrifice of soldiers' lives.

He is understood to be the first British officer to publicly state that war was worth the sacrificing the lives of British troops.

The general said: "It's always a very difficult question to answer. Different soldiers will give you different answers, depending on their experiences. We all know that being a member of the Armed Forces on operations is not without risk.

"The picture in Iraq is very positive right now. We (the coalition) got rid of a dictator, we have given freedom to Iraqis, we have seen the start of a democratic process, we have seen things get better. The Iraqis are very friendly towards us and they are actually very appreciative of what we've done and the sacrifices that have been made so we have given something precious. So the sacrifices of our mates have not been in vain, so in that respect it has been worth it."

The general added: "These are not just my views but the view of the majority of the soldiers. I ask them 'Do you think it was worth it?' and they say 'yes our mates didn't die in vain'."

Gen Salmon, who has been in the post since last autumn, also believed now was the right time for the British to pull-out because the military task had been achieved.

The general added that the militias had been defeated and lost the support of the population, although he admitted that they still represented a threat.

He said: "For the UK military, it is a case of mission accomplished. We have achieved what we set out to do. We have got the Iraqi 14 Division up and running to manage security by itself. We have handed over Basra International Airport; we have created a secure and stable environment for social and political development to take place."

The general said that last month's provincial elections were a "litmus test" for the Iraqi army, which it had passed.

He added that the withdrawal of the British Armed Forces did not represent complete disengagement.

"Our leaving doesn't mean that the UK isn't here to stay. It will remain in a number of ways. There will be some diplomatic presence here, there willl be some trading relationships, some commercial activity. There is still a lot of work to help investment to take place and we need to help British investors to get in.

"There will still be defence relationship too. The work that we have been doing with the naval training teams, to help build capacity in the Iraqi navy and marines, will continue to take place and we will probably help with some of their officer training. So it's the end of this particular mission for the UK military but it's not the end of the UK partnership and relationship with Iraq as a nation state."

When asked what the future held for southern Basra and Iraq as a whole, the general admitted that significant challenges lay ahead.

He said that Basra needed billions of pounds of investment and reconstruction and redevelopment of the city could take up to 20 years.

He added: "Basra is a city which has been denied investment for more than 30 years and Iraq, as a whole, has major problems with corruption."

But despite the challenges, the general said that he believed the future was bright.

He said that the "geo-strategic" position of Basra - it is Iraq's only sea port - meant that it could become a major international city.

The general added: "Basra has a rail link to Baghdad, which has rail linked to Turkey, so in two steps you are at the borders of the European Union and that should not be lost on investors.

"There is social, economic and political development that needs to take place and we often use names like Dubai when we try and give people an idea of what Basra could become. I know that speaking to some of my Iraqi colleagues they talk about tax-free zones, like elsewhere in the Middle East. It is that sort of vision the Iraqis all have for Basra."

Iraq offers new lessons in counter-insurgency

British counter-insurgency doctrine, honed in Malaya, Aden, Oman and Northern Ireland, used to be regarded as the blueprint for other Western armies. But the experience of Iraq and Afghanistan and the rapidly evolving methods adopted by the Americans in particular have forced the British Army to reappraise its approach to guerrilla warfare.

Senior officers based at the Defence Concepts and Doctrine Centre at Shrivenham in Oxfordshire are poring over the lessons learnt from Operation Telic in Iraq, soon to be wound up, and Operation Herrick in Afghanistan which still has a long way to go.

In many ways, the fundamental framework for counter-insurgency campaigns remains as valid today as it was in Malaya and Northern Ireland. The principles of counter-insurgency were outlined by Lieutenant-General John Cooper, the outgoing British Deputy Commanding General Multinational Force Iraq in an interview with The Times in Baghdad last week: “You need a political not a military solution, the consent of the people, a long-term solution that’s sustainable, a neutralised enemy, achieved either kinetically or non-kinetically, and top-quality intelligence.

“The difference between Malaya and Iraq, however, is that Malaya was a classic counter-insurgency campaign but on a small scale, whereas Iraq has been a classic counter-insurgency campaign on a grand scale,” General Cooper said.

Afghanistan is proving to be in the same league, and while the two campaigns are very different in terms of security conditions and terrain, one of the abiding lessons from each is that to win the support of the local people it is imperative to provide visible signs as quickly as practicable of improving conditions, whether it be an increasingly available supply of electricity and clean water, or new roads, schools and health clinics.

Above all, of course, is the need to ensure the safety of the people, to protect them from the worst excesses of the insurgents and to separate them as far as possible from the violence and mayhem which are an inevitable consequence when foreign armies occupy a nation to subdue or eliminate the cause of the insurgency.

General David Petraeus, the former commander of the multinational force in Iraq and now head of US Central Command, placed this principle at the heart of his campaign after the surge of 30,000 extra US troops into Baghdad and Anbar. “If you bring the people with you, insurgencies can’t survive,” General Cooper said.

Al-Qaeda proved this point. The terrorist organisation applied the reverse principle. Instead of wooing the locals they committed atrocities to try to terrify the inhabitants into submission. The Taleban with their foreign fighters are doing the same in southern Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda’s approach failed but only after General Petraeus had poured his troops into the most unstable neighbourhoods and made them live among the people to demonstrate that they were their protectors.

The British in southern Iraq never had the troop numbers to live permanently among the people and when they moved out of Basra in September 2007 and took up residence at the airport base northwest of the city, they not only lost situational awareness but they left the inhabitants to the mercy of the Shia militants who were trying, despite the best efforts of the British-trained Iraqi Army 10th Division, to control the streets, with much of the corrupt police force on their side.

It took thousands of troops from Iraq’s 1st Division from Baghdad, linking up with the 14th Division which had replaced the 10th in Basra — a total of 27,000 soldiers — backed by 900 American minders, to seize back the city from the militia in Operation Charge of the Knights nearly a year ago. Since then, 850 British troops have returned to Basra and are embedded with Iraqi 14th Division units, mentoring their patrols and checkpoints before Operation Telic comes to an end on May 31.

Operation Charge of the Knights, an Iraqi government-inspired mission, succeeded because it had the full support of the citizens of Basra, and while the British contribution was limited, the overall impact on the city has been dramatic. So, not exactly a battle honour for the British Army, but a resounding success for the counter-insurgency principle of protecting the people from violence.

With the militia gone, Major-General Andy Salmon, in command down south, has begun implementing a programme in Basra which he hopes will improve the average Iraqi’s life in the city. General Salmon, commander of Multinational Division Southeast, has formed joint reconstruction action teams to clear the city of rubbish and focus on delivering essential services — electricity, water and a proper sewerage system. It took him four months to find an Iraqi engineer who knew about the water system at the Shia flats in Hayania, the worst slum area in the south of the city.

The Royal Marine general has succeeded in energising the members of the Basra provincial council to spend time and money on sprucing up the city. He and the quiet behind-the-scenes diplomacy of Nigel Hawyard, the Consul General, and the British Provincial Reconstruction Team, led by Keith Mackiggan, who have been able to get out and about in Basra far more since Charge of the Knights, are helping to give the people of this city renewed hope for the future.

Regional Courthouse Ready to Serve Justice in Basra

Hundreds of people celebrated the dedication yesterday of a new six-court regional justice courthouse, slated to become the highest court in Iraq's Basra province.

"This courthouse will be a monument of justice," Medhatt al-Mahmoud, chairman for the Iraqi Judiciary Commission, said. "Iraqi justice is very strong. It will not allow outside influences to keep it from serving justice."

The regional courthouse is a $10 million, U.S.-funded project, and is scheduled to become operational in about 10 days. It will serve as the highest court in the province, handling civil and criminal cases.

It took Iraqi contractors about a year to complete the building, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers providing oversight.

In addition to courtrooms, the facility includes investigation rooms, legal offices, a conference room and staff training facilities.

"This is a symbol of the establishment of the rule of law and an increase in the judicial capacity," British Royal Marine Maj. Gen. Andy Salmon, commander of Multi-National Division - Southeast, said. "This is exactly what is required at this stage on the road from where we've been to where we've got to get to, which is a stable and peaceful Basra."

Heavy Metal Heroes - Daily Star

ARMED to the teeth, the “heavy metal” infantrymen from The Rifles leap ashore from Combat Assault Boats.

Their target: The insurgents who have dedicated their lives to bringing about the deaths of Our Boys.

The lads from 5th Battalion, The Rifles, have traded in the Warrior armoured vehicles and Challenger 2 main battle tanks in which they usually go into battle for tiny flat-bottomed boats – as they learn new ways to win against the bad guys in Iraq.

Their key task is to stop terrorist teams raining down high explosive rockets on to Basra’s Contingency Operating Base (COB), home to the 4,100 UK troops still here until summer.

Last year Iraqi rocket gangs made our lads’ and lasses’ lives a living hell, with round after round of 107mm rockets crashing down on the base.

Massive and expensive efforts were made to safeguard British troops – cinder block “Baghdad bed” bunks with 4in steel roofs, dinner halls built with 2ft concrete walls and automated machine guns trained to radars to shoot mortars and rockets out of the sky.

But the best answer turned out to be old-fashioned boots on the ground.

The boys live by their old motto – Swift and Bold – touring the waterways and marshlands of southern Iraq in their 30mph Mark Six boats to snuff out the rocket menace.

And they need sharp eyes, too. Rocket gangs patrol these waters disguised as locals, using traditional fishing boats to transport deadly 107mm Katyusha rockets and even more terrifying 240mm anti-ship missiles.

They tee up their evil weapons on sloping ground aimed at the COB, arming them with sophisticated 59-minute timers which were most probably designed in neighbouring Iran.

But now the fight is being taken to the enemy. Our Boys have built Forward Operating Base Oxford – little more than a row of tents on a muddy island but a vital stronghold in the battle to save UK and coalition lives.

The men there live on food-in-a-bag rations, sleep on the floor and go to the toilet in plastic bags.

One of the few leisure options is the collection of weights benches that the lads have put together to work out and build their muscles. They call their home-made gym “Operation Massive”.

Based in the marshlands north of the main base, the lads spend nine days at a time in these very spartan conditions as they patrol the watery countryside, silencing the rockets and mortars.

And their success is measured in one simple statistic – the last major volley of Katyushas hit home six months ago.

Now the enemy, known as the Northern IDF Team – which stands for the up-and-under indirect fire of mortars and rockets – are on the run. And they are the lucky ones.

When asked if any rocketeers had been killed or captured, one source simply told us: “Well, there used to be a Southern IDF Team. But there isn’t one any more.” Lt Mike Foster Vander Elst, 25, told us: “A lot of indirect fire attacks have come from the area to the north, which is pretty sparsely populated.

“We are here to stop that fire happening and we have been very effective."

With Brit forces due to quit the country by the end of July, some of the Rifles have served FOUR tours of duty – starting with the 2003 invasion, through the bad times and now seeing security for ordinary Iraqis improving.

Cpl Mark Calvert, 27, from Durham, said: “This is my third tour here and it does feel a lot different now. It’s a lot
quieter – we haven’t seen any baddies since we’ve been here!”

The boys also work hard to get the locals on side. “Hearts-and-minds patrols” dish out footballs, pens and trendy wristbands to Iraqi children.

We accompanied a patrol to a school where engineers came up with a scheme to bring in water and electricity. If their plan works that’s another 165 six to 14-year-olds with a reason to thank the Brits for coming to Iraq.

And the troops say the cuddly tactics work – villagers’ tip-offs about insurgent activity are now up to 900 a month.
With the British pull-out from Iraq so close, soldiers here are convinced that they have made a difference.

Major General Andy Salmon – the man in charge of UK and US forces in South-East Iraq – told the Daily Star Sunday: “The British people can feel proud of the efforts of everyone out here who stuck it out through thick and thin – even when their friends were killed. They all rolled up their sleeves and got on with it.

“We can see the consequences here of all our work and know that the sacrifices, particularly of the 179 dead and all the wounded, were not in vain.”

Basra gets better beds and burgers as US takes over from the British - Times

By Michael Evans in Basra

The last of the Challenger tanks are in the cargo bays and the Basra airport base has been renamed Camp Charlie. After six years and 136 deaths from enemy fire, the British are packing up in Iraq and coming home.

Although Britain's mission does not end formally until May 31, when American forces take over, all the heavy equipment, including 500 vehicles, has been shipped back to Southampton.

The first British troops from the 4,100-strong force will return home next month as part of the transition programme, known as Operation Archive. There are already 2,000 Americans in Basra preparing for their own mission.

The withdrawal operation was described by Major-General Andy Salmon, the British commander of Multinational Division Southeast, as “radical housekeeping”.

“This is one of the largest military transition programmes undertaken for many years,” General Salmon, a Royal Marine, told The Times. “There's a lot of tidying up and auditing to do. I need to make sure that we move stuff out in good order. It's a big logistic challenge. Everything has to be sent back home, properly manifested and labelled.”

The activity has brought a distinct end-of-an-era feeling to Basra. The American troops have changed the name of the Basra airport base from Contingency Operating Base to Camp Charlie and introduced their Mail Post Exchange shopping malls and burger bars.

The Americans have even rejected the concrete-roofed, bomb-proof beds inside basic huts and produced plans for more salubrious sleeping arrangements, happy in the thought that the chances of being rocketed or mortared in their beds are now negligible.

The Americans are taking over the base with a divisional headquarters to run the new Multinational Division South (all provinces in the south), absorbing what has been Britain's area of operations into a nationwide network of forces.

Life is so quiet in Basra that the US chiefs in Baghdad have not yet decided whether it is necessary to send a top general down to Camp Charlie to take charge. Conscious of the relative tranquillity of southern Iraq, the Americans have also reduced their southwards deployment to about 2,500, about half the British presence.

Apart from guarding their rear — protecting the convoys from Kuwait to Baghdad — the Americans have military police taking on the training of the Iraqi police force and will also have special Customs advisers serving with the Iraqi border force along the frontier with Iran.

The realisation that the British are leaving seems not to bother the people of Basra city, who now no longer worry about security. They do complain that they still have limited electricity supplies, jobs are scarce and the sewerage system is dire.

The British-trained Iraqi Army 14th Division units charge around the city in American Humvees, displaying supreme confidence in their new independence — albeit with a singular lack of appreciation of other road users. The British just watch and advise.

As Britain Leaves, Basra Dares to Dream of Peace - Time Magazine

A picture of a genial Tom Cruise hangs above the door to the King beauty parlor in downtown Basra. For more than a decade, Sameer Abdalhadi has been snipping and shaving and primping in the cramped salon with its display case of Dr. James Freckle and Acne Soap and Muscular Man perfume.

On this February afternoon, he has given street vendor Mustafa Abdalsada a modish en brosse haircut and shaved his beard, leaving just a hint of designer stubble. Local men tend to cultivate beards or luxuriant mustaches of the kind that make even despots look avuncular, but Abdalhadi encourages his clients to try something new. The barber, driven like many Basrawis to erase reminders of a painful past, is giving his battle-scarred city a makeover, one man at a time. (See pictures of Iraq's revival.)

The challenge to remake Basra is daunting. Caught in the cross fire of the Iran-Iraq war and Iraq's occupation and retreat from Kuwait, brutally punished for uprisings against Saddam Hussein only to see his tyranny give way to the mob rule of Shi'ite militias, both the city and province of Basra have sustained deep wounds over almost 30 years.

British forces and government agencies based in Basra after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion became a magnet for militia attacks and struggled to deliver on promises of reconstruction and development. But in March 2008, the Iraqi army launched an operation code-named Charge of the Knights to disperse the militias. Since autumn, violence has been replaced by an uneasy calm, and with Britain preparing to withdraw all but a small rump of its 4,100 troops in southern Iraq by May 31, Basra is daring to dream of peace.

"I'm probably being wildly over the top, but I do find this an incredibly encouraging place to be right now," says Nigel Haywood, Britain's consul general in Basra. The transformation from battleground to bustling municipality has been so rapid that it's natural to question whether a return to violence might not be as swift. Major General Andy Salmon, the commander of the multinational forces in the region, believes that widespread optimism — among Basrawis as well as their soon-to-depart overlords — is justified and itself a force for change. His mission, he says, has been "to protect that optimism, shape it and build it. I am confident Basra is not going to go back to the previous darkness."

For barber Abdalhadi, the change has brought immediate benefits. He works late and without a bodyguard. When the militias held sway, he employed security and had to shut up shop at 4 p.m. "If I had stayed later, they would have come to kill me," he says. The militias declared that shaving was un-Muslim, but some gangs were simply running protection rackets, says Abdalhadi. In 2007, his friend and colleague Shareef was tortured and murdered with a drill, but Abdalhadi continued to ply his trade. "I'm the breadwinner. Who would feed my family?" he asks.

Few Basrawi families have escaped the years of upheaval unscathed. The militias targeted women they deemed guilty of loose behavior. That meant that until recently, sisters-in-law Yusra Mahmoud and Saleema Abdalhussein hurried home before dark. Now, on a balmy February evening, they linger in the amusement park overlooking the Shatt al-Arab waterway and discuss their children. Mahmoud has five, ranging in age from 19 to 7; Abdalhussein has just one, a son born in 1981 not long before her husband, an Iraqi conscript, was killed fighting Iran. "We're always talking about the future of the children and what it holds for them," says Mahmoud. "We have been through many wars as a generation. We hope our children will have happier lives."

Mahmoud voted in the regional elections in January for candidates she felt could best realize her dreams for "sustained security, jobs for young people and a better Iraq." Voting went off without violence in Basra (the only incident to mar the process came when an overenthusiastic Iraqi policeman fired a gun into the air to encourage voters into a polling station). The bloc affiliated with Iraq's Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, reaped benefits from his strong action against the militias; in Basra, messages of national unity played better with the electorate than did religious or sectarian appeals. "We have a new breed of politicians who can take Basra into a new phase," says Emad al-Battat, the representative to Basra of Iraq's most senior Shi'a cleric, Sayyed Ali al-Sistani. "The fact that Iraqis chose secular politicians over religious ones does not mean Iraq has become any less religious. But the top priority of the Iraqi people is national unity."

"The politicians made promises in their manifestos. Now they have to walk the walk," he adds.

That walk is strewn with trash — stinking tangles of plastic and organic matter and decaying animal carcasses fester on sidewalks. Until recently, the Basrawis' focus was on security. Since autumn, private polling undertaken by the British government has seen the poor state of public services and infrastructure leapfrog that concern; phone-in programs on the local Al-Mirbad radio station are dominated by discussions of sewage and the electrical brownouts that hit the city several times every day.

Tackling these problems is essential if the economy is to continue to grow and provide jobs. Unemployment currently stands at 17% and reaches 30% among younger Basrawis. Major General Salmon says the provision of jobs and services is key to stability. "The only people who listened were [the militias]," he says. "That's why Hizballah did well elsewhere. They promise to tend to the needs of the people."

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" At a multifaith school run by the Chaldean church in Basra, a class of 4-year-olds is addressing that universal question. Several kids want to be doctors; there's a would-be teacher too. Allawi plans to be a businessman. Moqtada intends to join the army "so I can give protection." If the optimists are right, his services won't be required to keep the peace in his city.

City 'more dangerous than Basra' - Manchester Evening News

Politicians and police in Manchester have laughed off a military commander's comments that the city is more dangerous than Basra.

Major General Andy Salmon, the commander of British troops in Iraq, said violent crime had fallen to such an extent in the country's second city that it was “less dangerous” than Manchester.

Maj Gen Salmon told a newspaper: “On a per-capita basis, if you look at the violence statistics, it is less dangerous than Manchester.”

The comments sparked bemusement from members of the Making Manchester Safer partnership - made up of organisations such as the city council, Greater Manchester Police and the fire and probation services.

A police source said the force's top brass laughed at the Royal Marine Commando's comparison and described it as “nonsense and unrealistic”.

The force did not want to make an official comment but issued figures showing from 1 January 2008 to 16 November 2008 there were 46 murders across the patch.

Police added that a “significant” proportion of those were committed by people who knew their victims.

According to British military estimates, there were 11 murders in Basra last month alone - with only one linked to extremist groups.

Deputy leader of Manchester City Council, councillor Jim Battle, said: “We hold our military personnel in high regard and recognise they are doing a fantastic job.“Making any comparisons with a conflict zone and a British city is not helpful at all.”

Click here for the Manchester Evening News

Tannumah bridge work starts

A significant step in the development of Basra started today when work began on a new bridge over the Shatt al Arab waterway, connecting the city centre to the At Tannumah district. A brick laying ceremony marked the start of the project and was attended by a raft of dignitaries, government officials and local media.

“This is a statement that Basra, as far as the future is concerned, is going to be exciting and rosy,” said General Andy Salmon, General Officer Commanding Multi-National Division (South East).

The At Tannumah bridge will replace pontoon-style bridges, providing far better access and higher volumes of residential and commercial traffic

The bridge has also been designed to be raised to allow shipping access to the port of Al Maqil in the northern part of Basra. Access to the port will provide a considerable boost to the local economy, creating up to 1000 jobs at the port, increasing trade and enabling further investment in the city.

Construction of the bridge is expected to take approximately 18 months and will be run by an Iraqi contractor, Ibn Majid.

Iraqi forces taking lead in Basra - Stars & Stripes

Official: British won’t need U.S. replacements

By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes

U.S. troops will not have to replace British troops, who are expected to leave southern Iraq later this year, said British Maj. Gen. Andy Salmon on Monday.

Salmon’s comments come after the top U.S. commander in Iraq said last month that he was considering sending U.S. troops to Basra to replace the British.

Army Gen. Ray Odierno said in December that he might move a brigade or division headquarters to Basra followed by an undetermined number of combat troops, according to The Associated Press.

"We think it’s important to maintain some presence down here just because we think Basra is an important city, and we think it’s important to have some oversight here," he said.

Multi-National Force–Iraq was unable to say by deadline Monday whether Odierno had changed his mind.

"I know that the commander on the ground here will want to make sure he has some situational awareness, but it won’t be replacing U.K. troops man for man," Salmon told reporters.

British troops are expected to pull out of Iraq by July 31, Salmon said. Iraqi security forces in the region are already in the lead, with the help of some U.S. training teams.

"In terms of the Iraqi security force’s capabilities to manage internal security issues, I think that’s really good," he said, adding that both Iraqi troops and police still need work.

As security conditions have improved, the mission in Basra has changed to ensuring the rule of law, providing stability and helping local government to be effective, Salmon said.

Iraqi security forces are able to handle any "low-level violence" following Saturday’s provincial elections, and British troops are expected to complete their mission by May 31, he said.

"So essentially there is no relief in place," he said.

"This is a different mission that we’ve been building up; new security conditions; Iraqis are in charge; Brits finish their job off and they redeploy leaving no vacuums."

Read the article on Stars & Stripes

UK troops have met Iraq exit conditions - Reuters

British troops in Iraq have largely met the conditions required for their withdrawal and are on track to begin leaving the country by May 31, a top British commander said on Monday.

Major General Andy Salmon, commander of coalition forces in southeastern Iraq, said the holding of peaceful provincial elections on Saturday met the latest of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's goals for removing Britain's 4,000 troops from Iraq by the end of July.

"In the main, we've completely met the conditions," Salmon told Pentagon reporters in a video link from Basra.

"With that in mind, then, we will see British troops start to transition. They will finish the mission by the 31st of May and British troops will be out of Iraq by the 31st of July."

Two other goals set by Brown were the transfer of Basra's international airport to Iraqi control, which occurred earlier this month, and the rejuvenation of the region's economy.

Salmon said Saturday's elections showed that Iraqi forces are capable of tackling any political violence that might erupt as newly elected provincial council members select new regional governors by the end of March.

He also said the violence has fallen to levels not seen since the start of the war, which has encouraged investment interest.

Regional business leaders have received 17 firm offers of outside investment interest for projects worth $12.8 billion (9 billion pound). Potential investors include British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline and oil giant Shell, he said.

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Vicki Allen)

Basra Polling Was 'Litmus Test' for Security Forces

Iraqi police and soldiers in Basra performed well during the Jan. 31 provincial elections, a senior British officer posted in Iraq said today.

Basra's citizens "were safe and secure" when they casted their ballots, British Royal Marine Maj. Gen. Andy Salmon, commander of Multinational Division Southeast, told Pentagon reporters during a satellite-carried news conference.

Salmon's command includes elements of the British and Australian militaries and it operates in the southernmost part of Iraq, including the city of Basra. The elections in Basra passed without major incident, said Salmon, who cited the "impeccable" performance of Iraqi soldiers and police.

Nearly 1.5 million people had registered to vote in Basra and its environs, Salmon said, adding that overall voter turnout in his area topped 50 percent. The elections took place in 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces.

Basra's voting-day success "was really important for the Iraqi security forces" there, Salmon said. "It was a litmus-test for them, and the fact that they passed with very minor incidents was a testament to the way they've developed" over the past few months.

Salmon said he was impressed by the Iraqi security forces' demonstrated performance and professionalism. For example, an Iraqi policeman was promptly "sacked" or fired on the spot by his commander, Salmon said, after the officer inappropriately fired his rifle in the air to move along a queue of voters.

Iraqi security forces in Basra will continue to improve, Salmon said, noting he predicts more joint cooperation and partnership between Iraqi soldiers and police. "Now, it's really a question of making sure that police reform continues," Salmon said.

Efforts to enhance border and port security in southern Iraq also are being enhanced, he said. With the much-improved security, Salmon said, Basra's citizens now rate crime, jobs, and the delivery of essential services as higher concerns. Those issues, he said, are "the sort of thing that anybody would be worried about in any city in the world, frankly."

Meanwhile, Basra's people are "determined not to go back to the previous 30 years of darkness," Salmon said, referring to the past brutal, corrupt rule by deceased dictator Saddam Hussein.

"They've tasted freedom recently; they like it and want more of it," Salmon said of Basra's citizens. "They want decent politicians that can deliver; they want more transparency, they want corruption dealt with. "And these elections are really the start of all of that," Salmon said.

See the article on the Australian web site here

UK troops hand back Basra Airport - BBC

British troops have taken a step closer to withdrawing from Iraq with the handover of one of its main airports.

Basra International Airport had been used as a UK military base during the conflict but the Iraqis have now resumed full control.

It came as the UN mandate for US and UK troops - put into place after the invasion in March 2003 - expired.

Iraq will now take greater control of its own security, but US and UK forces will remain under a new deal.

The transfer of the airport at Basra, the country's second biggest city, was one of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's remaining key tasks in southern Iraq.

It is clear Basra International Airport is now an international airport with good potential for future growth Major General Andy Salmon Iraq takes control of Green Zone

The transfer of control, marked with a handover ceremony in the airport's VIP lounge, followed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding by British military commanders and Iraqi transport officials in Baghdad.

Military and civilian aircraft will continue to operate side-by-side at the airport but Iraqi civilians are now in control.

Major General Andy Salmon, general officer commanding of British troops in Iraq, said: "The Iraqis have been operating their own airport in Basra with minimal involvement from the UK for several months," he said.

"From today they will gain further autonomy, taking over the running of the air traffic control tower.

"It is clear Basra International Airport is now an international airport with good potential for future growth."

In December, Mr Brown said British troops would leave Iraq by the end of July 2009.

Military operations are due to end by 31 May and the remaining 4,100 UK service personnel will leave within two months.

For the full article on the BBC website click here