MPs welcome 7th Armoured Brigade

Service personnel who have recently returned from service on operations in Iraq will parade through central London on Monday, 23rd February, as they head for a prestigious Westminster reception.

Members of Parliament from all parties have invited members of 7th Armoured Brigade to attend the event to allow them to show their appreciation for the dedication and sacrifice shown by the troops on Operation TELIC 12.

Around 120 personnel will march from Wellington Barracks, led by the Brigade Commander, Brigadier Sandy Storrie OBE. The parade will depart at 1530hrs, via Birdcage Walk and Parliament Square to arrive at the Houses of Parliament.

7th Armoured Brigade returned from Iraq over a period of several weeks, beginning in Nov 08. Their tour was a story of success.

They arrived in Multi-National Division (South East) (MND(SE)) in June 2008, after the Iraqi Army Operation Charge of the Knights, having trained hard for a different situation to one in which they found themselves.

The Militias had been driven from Basra and an inexperienced though successful Iraqi Army was in charge, assisted by an Iraqi Police Force in poor condition. Basra was secure but very fragile.

Faced with a changed situation, the Brigade swiftly reorganised, adapted to the prevailing conditions and committed over 1,000 of its soldiers into small Military Training Teams (MiTTs) attached to the Iraqi Army.

The aim was to build resilience into the Iraqi Army. Starting with advice on basic tactics, the MiTTs rapidly moved onto command, logistics, administration and specialist training, moving gradually towards an Iraqi lead in each area once confidence and competence improved.

Trust between commanders was vital. At the same time, the remainder of the Brigade tackled the remaining threat from indirect fire to the contingency operating base (COB) through targeted patrolling and searches both on land and in the rivers.

At last, election day in Basra - BBC

By Paul Adams

In the sixth instalment of his week-long diary, BBC diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams reports from Basra on the day of the provincial elections.

Election day and for the first time, we leave the old naval base without our British minders. The British military transition team are confined to base on this critical day, so we head out with our Iraqi army escorts.

It is amazing: they have been at our disposal for an entire week now, with barely a grumble.

The Iraqis say they have picked up intelligence of a threat, by a group affiliated to al-Qaeda, to kidnap a British journalist in Basra, so we take extra precautions.

No-one seems to give the warning much credence, but the British tell me to call in every half an hour until we are safely back.

Serious business

We set off in the company of a dozen heavily-armed Iraqi soldiers, through a section of the city they control.

The streets are free of traffic, so our jeeps race along faster than ever. People are walking everywhere, heading for the polls.

The scene at the Farahidi polling station is one of ordered, serious business. Voters look for their names and ration card numbers on lists plastered to the wall outside. A quick security check (the women are led to a blue tent to preserve their modesty) and they are free to go inside and vote.

The army is out in strength. Colonel Haidar el-Azzawi, whose men we have been shadowing all week, is on hand to oversee the security operation. A man who served in Saddam Hussein's army, he is emphatic that Iraqis need to make their own choices.

Overhead, two British Apache attack helicopters circle the city, a reminder that help is at hand, should the Iraqi army need it.

But no-one looks up. The British presence in their city has ceased to be a source of aggravation (there are only 200 British soldiers inside the city, with a handful of armoured vehicles) and they have other, more pressing things on their minds.

Electricity, drinkable water, accountable politics. The raw sewage lying in puddles in the middle of Iraq's second largest city.

The Brits are watching them, though. A successful round of elections means that British troops are one step closer to coming home, according to objectives set by Prime Minister Gordon Brown last summer.

We return to our barracks, to find the lads of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment watching football, playing chess, pulling weights and working out on the treadmills. Their time here is drawing to a close.

Basra aiming to turn the corner - BBC

By Paul Adams

In the fourth instalment of his week-long diary, BBC diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams meets the people preparing for the weekend's elections.

Another chance to see the British mentors in action this morning as we visit an Iraqi army battalion headquarters downtown. The 1-50 are housed in a building that should have been a hotel but was never finished.

It is in a sorry state, roof tiles sagging, broken windows, whole rooms upstairs full of rubbish. The water in the swimming pool is an evil shade of green.

But Sgt Maj Jim Leech is not interested in niceties. He wants to know how the base is organised. He casts an experienced soldier's eye over the storeroom and clinic and makes suggestions on how things can be done better. He is unfailingly polite and never remotely patronising.

In a one-time bathroom, grenade launchers are piled in a wooden box. But the gun racks are clean and labelled - everything is checked in and out. Sgt Maj Leech seems satisfied.

Truck loads of 1-50 soldiers are loading sleeping bags and personal kit onto their jeeps. They are off to guard the outer perimeters of polling stations across the city, ahead of Saturday's important provincial elections.

'Critical point'

We drive off, along streets smothered in campaign posters, to a meeting with Hatem el-Bachary, who is heading an independent list and hoping to pick up a few of the 35 seats up for grabs in Basra.

A genial businessman, with company offices in Bradford, he says it is time to invest in the city's future because people are disappointed with what Iraq's politicians have achieved so far.

"This is a very critical point in the democracy of Iraq," he tells me. "They have already wasted five or six years."

Hatem looks out over a fetid canal that runs beside his park and says he dreams of turning Iraq's second largest city into something people can be proud of. He speaks with real passion, but the task is daunting. The city does not seem to have changed much in appearance since I first came here in late 2003.

This evening, we drive into the teeming heart of the city, into streets that have come alive. A year ago, with the city held hostage by fundamentalist militias, Basra was dead after dark. But the government took on the militias and now, despite Basra's myriad problems, the city seems to have turned a corner - for the time being at least.

Hatem is out campaigning. His young team have set up a projector on a corner of broken kerb stones, and a small crowd of curious onlookers is blocking the traffic.

For a man with big ambitions, it is an embarrassing affair. There are endless problems with the projector and the sound, and the screen keeps being blown over in the breeze. Hatem does not seem in the least bit fazed and says it is important for politicians to be out on the street, meeting real people.

It is hard to see how he can break the power of the larger parties in Basra, but he is full of optimism. We leave as the sound system is finally fixed and his campaign song - which seems to consist mainly of his name, repeated over and over - blends with the car horns and bustle of night time Basra.

Click here for BBC Online

Lessons learned on Basra streets - BBC Online

Paul Adams
BBC News, Basra

In the third instalment of his week-long diary, BBC diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams joins US military police as they mentor local officers.

A change of scene this morning, as we're taken to watch the Americans at work. Basra may have been at the heart of the British operation since 2003, but the Americans are here too, doing similar work.

At the Saudia police station in Brehah neighbourhood, we catch up with a squad of military police (MPs) from Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

They're mentoring local policemen, just as our British hosts, a Military Transition Team, are working with the Iraqi army.

'Getting out'

We follow Sgt Collier's men as they shadow an Iraqi patrol down the road to a polling station where members of the security forces - army and police - are already voting in provincial elections (the rest of the population votes on Saturday, and we'll be there to watch).

The streets of this residential neighbourhood are quiet. The American MPs have all seen much more dangerous neighbourhoods during tours elsewhere in Iraq. They seem happy enough to be down in Basra.

They know their British colleagues are getting ready to leave, but there's no apparent resentment.

"You guys are smart. You're getting out early," says a young MP.

Lt Aaron Webb is more circumspect.

"I think it's a false impression. Both our countries have their own timetable when they want to step out of Iraq."

In a spartan, smoke filled office at the police station, another MP is trying to get his head around a complicated crime involving rape, honour and revenge.

There are cultural issues to understand ("Do Christians do honour killings?") and basic policing to check ("Is the prisoner being properly protected?"). The young man from Fort Bragg struggles to take it all in his stride.

Professional pride

From here we drive through the teeming streets of downtown Basra for lunch with 1 Batt, 50 Brigade. Col Haidar is our host and they've pulled out all the stops. A long table groans with platters of rice, lamb and fish.

But the Colonel seems preoccupied. One of his many mobile phones rings constantly.

Almost all his men are out guarding polling stations days ahead of the elections. He knows that even if there is no violence, this weekend is a test of the army's organisational skills.

He also allows himself a little nostalgia. He doesn't express any views on Saddam Hussein (and I'm not about to ask), but he's full of professional pride and he misses being part of a real army.

Back at the old navy base where 50 Brigade and our British transition team share spartan accommodation, most of the men are relaxing. There's physical training to perform, and perhaps a game of volleyball on a malodorous patch of dirt behind our building.

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