Erik Petersen with the British Army in Basra

In the British military's final weeks in Iraq, roads are being built, buildings are being completed, pollution is being cleaned. In the final story in a series on his visit to British troops in Basra, ERIK PETERSEN finds out how completion, and victory, is defined

FOR the combat engineers of the Chilwell-based 170 Infrastructure Support Engineer Group, the end of their time in Iraq is heavy on the "engineer", lighter on the "combat".

One recent day, Lance Corporal Lee Wagner and Sapper Matt Brown were surveying land where a missile had hit a large fuel supply, causing polluting fuel to seep into the ground. Sapper Osbourne Gabriel was designing a new road.

Around the office, combat engineers like Lance Corporal Phil Church and Staff Sergeants Mark Lott and Michael Bebbington worked on or oversaw similar projects.

For Lance Cpl Martin Simpson, the only Territorial Army soldier among the group and a building service engineer in civilian life, the work came naturally.

"The projects I'm working on with these guys require the skills that I use weekly," he said of the work the 170 is doing while attached to the larger 35 Engineers Regiment.

It's the sort of work that makes combat engineers indispensable wherever they go.

"I've been at Chilwell for three years," Lance Cpl Daniel Griffiths said. "As soon as I got there, I went to Afghan. Then Kenya for three months, then back to Afghan, then to Gibraltar, then here."

And while it might not be the most glamorous-sounding side of Army life, it's a huge part of what needs doing as the British complete their mission in Basra and prepare to depart Iraq.

The job is not easy - although as Second Lieutenant Jon Hassain of the 35 Engineers said with a laugh, lots of jobs can be tough. He used to teach physics and PE at Weldon School in Carlton.
"Being in Iraq," he said, "is still easier than trying to teach some teenagers."

If you want to get under the skin of a British soldier in Iraq, suggest that as they leave, their mission remains incomplete. Lieutenant Colonel Paul Buttery, the 35 Engineers' commanding officer, offered a concise rebuke to that.

Months ago, he noted, Gordon Brown stated the British mission as threefold: help facilitate free elections in Iraq, give control of Basra Airport back to Iraqis, and help the Iraqi military reach a battle-ready state.

Lt Col Buttery then ticked through results. Iraqis now run the airport. The last Iraqi election had more than 60 percent turnout, and a quarter of voters were women. ("When you compare that to local by-elections in the UK where we have 20 percent turnout," he said, "that's pretty good.") And the 35 Engineers themselves have been helping to train Iraqi soldiers in areas such as bomb detection - they can attest to how professional they've become.

"Our engagement with the Iraqi Army is becoming reduced as they become more effective," Lt Col Buttery said.

Of course, on the main base at Basra Airport, another army is making its presence felt. As the British leave, US soldiers are coming in. Lt Col Buttery is aware of how that might look. But, he explained, they're coming in for jobs such as training Iraqi border guards - jobs that were never in the British remit to begin with.

"It's not that we haven't finished," he said. "It's that they're coming down to do something entirely different."

Back home in Britain, debate in newspapers and on television may take the form of sweeping, vague ideas of what's happening. But when you're military, you look for specific results. And Lt Col Buttery likes the results he sees. He's walked in Basra - down the Corniche, along the riverfront - and he sees progress.

"If you were to go into Basra now," he said, "you would see an air of normality."

JACKfm's Greg Burke in Basra 19 & 20 March

JACKfm Oxfordshire's Greg Burke in Basra for the 6th Anniversary

Would you pack for Iraq?

A tourist group has just completed a 17-day tour there, which either shows the triumph of the human spirit or a serious lack of taste

Mary Warnock
No thank you. I detest travelling anyway. I mean the actual process of deciding what to take, packing, getting to the airport two hours early without what you could call a ticket, just a floppy piece of paper, taking off your shoes, having your nail scissors confiscated and then sitting about in the most squalid place imaginable until your flight is called. To put up with all that voluntarily is madness enough, even if you are not facing probable death and certain acute discomfort for 17 days. Besides, I'd be haunted by Bush and Blair.

• Mary Warnock is a philosopher and crossbench peer

Donald Macleod
Once the idea is put into your head, it becomes almost a moral obligation. If you don't go, it's because you don't have the bottle. You might then convince yourself that it would be fun to stand by a plaque in Basra - "Abraham left from here" - and even more fun to set off on a jolly hunt for weapons of mass destruction, but the idea of a war zone as a tourist venue is the ultimate in sick entrepreneurship: "Where there's war, there's brass." If we want a dose of realist tourism, why not a package holiday to one of HM's prisons?

• Donald Macleod is principal of the Free Church College, Edinburgh

Diane Abbott
It is hard to get inside the head of anyone who would pick Iraq for their holiday. I cannot imagine that they are interested in the archaeological heritage. Otherwise they would know much of it was looted during the war. I assume they would think that they were going on some sort of seaside holiday. So I would take a bucket and spade, a deckchair, a candyfloss machine and home-made dirty postcards featuring ladies in burkas in order to write "wish you were here" to friends and family. And I would also take the collected speeches of Tony Blair.

• Diane Abbott is MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington

Rob Penn
Without hesitation. Muslim hospitality is unparalleled and it would be an important step for the people of Iraq. When I cycled through Bosnia in 1997, I met anger - a skinhead chased me out of a bar - and consternation. "Don't leave the road," a Serbian policeman said. "The farmers dump the land mines there." But then people began to realise I was a tourist, not a soldier, war crimes investigator, journalist or aid worker. They took me into their homes and wept. I was, I understood, a symbol of transition and hope. If there were tourists, the horror was over.

• Rob Penn is a travel writer

Sergeant Duane Edwards: you grow up fast fighting a war

Sergeant Duane Edwards was one of the first British troops to enter Iraq, and will be among the last to leave. Since arriving on the first day of the invasion in March 2003 he has been wounded during a riot in Basra, lost a good friend in a mortar attack and spent seven months under a terrifying barrage of enemy fire. But he still believes that the six-year campaign was worthwhile and is proud to have served his country.

Taking part in a war “makes you grow up a lot”, he said at the main British military camp next to Basra airport. “You can’t be immature about it, you can’t act silly, you have got to do your job. It doesn’t put years on you age-wise but it puts years on you in maturity.”

Sergeant Edwards, 27, from Shropshire, joined the Army aged 16 because he was “bored of Civvy Street”. He has lived through the evolution of the war from invasion, to initial calm, to insurgency and finally to a sense of stability.

His most dramatic moment was in May 2006 when he was based with a company of about 110 soldiers in a barricaded compound in the centre of Basra known as the Old State Building. A Lynx helicopter crashed a few hundred yards away, brought down by a surface-to-air-missile. All five British military personnel on board were killed and an angry crowd had begun to swarm around the flaming craft.

“It was a mess, to be honest” said Sergeant Edwards, who was dispatched to the scene in a Warrior armoured vehicle to help to retrieve the bodies.

The helicopter “landed on top of a civvy house. There were around about 1,000 locals . . . It got quite manic in the end. They were throwing stuff at us, firing in the air, RPGs on the street,” he said.

When they finally got back to base, 15 mortar shells crashed all around. At one point, he and his sergeant major were talking outside the cookhouse door.

“We walked back in and five seconds later a mortar landed right where we had been standing. The sergeant major got shrapnel in his leg and I got a little bit just here,” he said, pointing to his right ear.

The injured men were driven to a larger base with better medical facilities. However, “as soon as we left our camp they (the insurgents) started again. We had RPGs going over the vehicle so it was quite interesting.”

The invasion three years earlier had been a completely different experience. Sergeant Edwards, then 20 years old, remembers the nerves he felt sitting in his Warrior at the border between Kuwait and Iraq, awaiting the command to move forward. “We did not know what to expect. We did not know what Saddam Hussein had for us: will it be chemicals, will it be other things? We just hoped for the best and thankfully it was not as bad as it could have been.”

After two months, with Iraq under coalition control, the soldier and his unit were sent back to their base, Alanbrook Barracks in Paderborn, Germany, with instructions to prepare for another, six-month tour in November.

Southern Iraq, where the British military is based, was peaceful by that time, with soldiers patrolling in soft hats and without body armour. But he and his colleagues saw the tide beginning to turn as Iraqis grew impatient with the slow rate of reconstruction and the lack of jobs.

One day a riot broke out in the centre of Basra as about 2,000 unemployed men protested in the street. Sergeant Edwards was among 200 British soldiers trying to secure the area when an explosion, probably caused by a grenade, took 16 of them out. He was wounded by shrapnel in one of his legs.

“You do not feel the pain straight away because the adrenaline kicks in,” he said. He was taken to a hospital at the airport base for three weeks then flown home.

The first that his family heard of his injury was when his mother, Jackie, opened the door of their home on a council estate in Shrewsbury to find uniformed officers on her doorstep. Immediately she feared the worst. “My daughter saw them and just started crying,” she recalled. “It’s an awful moment.”

She had supported her son’s decision to join the Army, seeing it as an escape from the poor opportunities available at home. But she could not have foreseen what would happen.

“I never thought when he first went he’d be going back so many times,” Mrs Edwards said. “Every time you see on the TV that a soldier has been killed in Iraq, it’s just horrible. I really feel for every family who sees that on the TV, because you always think, is it him?”

Sergeant Edwards’s third tour to Iraq, May to November 2006, was the most violent of all. By that time, the Iranian-backed insurgency was in full swing. His base in the Old State Building was an easy target, with structures all around from which snipers could shoot. Mortar attacks were a near-daily occurrence.

“Whoever says it isn’t quite scary is lying because as soon as you hear those big bangs and you know it could kill you,” he said.

is close friend, Corporal Matthew Cornish, was killed after being caught outside during an early morning mortar attack.

“It affects you quite a lot,” Sergeant Edwards said about the death. “He had a wife and kids. I had known him since the day I joined the Army.”

Corporal Cornish was 29. His widow, Abby, had to tell her toddler son, Ethan, that his father was not coming home. “Daddy’s gone to Heaven,” she told him. “At night time when it’s dark you will be able to see him. Daddy will be the brightest star in the sky.”

Sergeant Edwards, however, believes that the sacrifices are worthwhile. Returning to Iraq for his fourth and final tour as part of A Company, 5th Battalion The Rifles, in December, he was struck by the improvement in security. He has been helping to secure the airport base, rather than patrolling the city. “It is a lot quieter,” he said. “There are not as many things happening that are bad . . . So I think progress has been made.”

The Iraq deployments forced him to grow up fast and forge lifelong bonds with fellow soldiers, some of whom are now his closest friends. Back home, his mother says, his old school friends treat him as something of a hero. But each time he returns he has less and less in common with them. “He doesn’t say a lot, he keeps it to himself,” his mother said. “If I say anything, he says, ‘Mum, you don’t understand’.”

The family are already planning for his return by mid-summer. They will gather together on a Saturday night and go out on the town for a meal.

“The first time after the 2003 war, when they came back, everyone put flags out,”Mrs Edwards said. It has not happened since and she does not expect it this time, as the Iraq War winds down quietly.

Her son is a hero — of that she has no doubt. “He’s done so well,” she said with pride. She has nothing but scorn for the Muslim protesters who disrupted a recent army homecoming in Luton, but that does not change her firm views on the war. “I think it was a waste of time,” she said. “I don’t think they should be in Iraq or Afghanistan. It’s nothing to do with us, is it?”

Nonetheless, Sergeant Edwards is bound for Afghanistan next. “It is part of the job,” he said. “We have got to go out there.”

'I took a picture to show my dentist' - the first package tourists arrive in Iraq

When tourism chiefs in Basra were assessing the prospects for western visitors four years ago, their verdict was not encouraging. "There is," they said, "a 70% to 80% chance you will be OK."

Things must have improved because yesterday the first group of western package tourists to visit Iraq's capital and second city finally arrived in Baghdad - tired, uninsured and a little exasperated, but happy - after a 17-day tour that would have been unthinkable 12 months ago.

On the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the irony was compelling: the last group of western foreigners to arrive outside the Sheraton hotel in Baghdad were invading US marines. Six years on, the assembled group of four Britons, a Russian who lives in London, two Americans and a Canadian wielded nothing more menacing than suitcases and dogeared tourism guides.

The adventurers arrived exhausted after a 10-hour road trip from Basra, which itself had its highs (three stops at noted sites of ancient Mesopotamia) and its lows (no fewer than 40 checkpoints).

Bridgett Jones, a retired civil servant in her 70s, had longed to see the ancient site of Ur, deemed by historians as a cradle of civilisation, ever since a stint 55 years ago at the Near Eastern Institute of Archeology in London.

With Jones was a retired postmaster turned entrepreneur from Northumberland, Gordon Moore, 75, and Tina Townsend-Greaves, 36, a civil servant from Yorkshire. All had been on at least one pioneering tour before, to either Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, or the Kurdish north of Iraq, with the same travel company, Hinterland Travel.

"I thought I would see a lot more damage," said Townsend-Greaves. "I have travelled to Afghanistan and there were rusting tanks everywhere. Here it's plastic bags and concrete blocks." En route to Baghdad, the group visited the tomb of the Hebrew prophet Ezra, about 40 miles north of Basra. Iraq is peppered with reminders that it is a fabled land to more than one monotheistic faith.

The tour was organised by Geoff Hann, who has been bringing groups to Iraq since the 1970s. He was last in Baghdad in October 2003 before returning for a travel conference late last year, then deciding security had improved enough to risk another tour.

Most clients were retired people with an abiding interest in the culture, rather than would-be war tourists, he said.
"Dealing with the former government was probably more ordered," he said when asked to compare than and now. "As long as you did what Saddam's guards asked you to, you were fine."

None of the group could get travel insurance and all turned up despite stern warnings from the Foreign Office.

Checkpoints and delays aside, life in the new Iraq has had other frustrations. A trip to the National Museum was cancelled late on Friday without any explanation. The party said they felt like pawns in a power play between feuding government departments which are still grappling with the novelty of foreign tourists.

"What can I do about it?" shrugged their Iraqi Tourism Board minder, Saadi Kashaf. "They wanted to go to some of the dangerous places, like Mosul and Samaraand.
"I got them there," he added.

Kashaf said the government hoped to lure more tourists. But at a minimum of £1,900 for 17 days, Iraq is a long way from being on the budget tour list.

The Mesopotamia tour, as the Hinterland Travel website calls it, would set you back well over £2,000.

The 17-day trip starts in Baghdad and takes in Samarra and Hatra before heading north to Irbil, in Kurdistan. After another stop-off in Baghdad the trail heads south to the shrines at Kerbala and Najaf. Southern sites covered include the ancient city of Ur, the fourth-millennium site of Uruk, and the old Marsh Arab area. There is a two-day interlude in Basra before the return to Baghdad.

This probably isn't for those who get upset at shoddy accommodation. Hinterland travel makes no secret of it: "Hotels have been badly treated by all concerned so our tour will be very varied in the quality of hotels that we can use," it says. The next tour is scheduled for April.

Wish you were here

Day 1 London to Damascus
Day 2 Damascus
Day 3 Damascus to Baghdad (flight)
Day 4 Baghdad
Day 5 Baghdad-Samarra-Hatra-Irbil
Day 6 Irbil excursions
Day 7 Irbil-Nimrud, Mar Benham-Assur-Baghdad
Day 8 Baghdad excursions
Day 9 Baghdad-Ctesiphon-Babylon-Bordippa-Hilla
Day 10 Hilla-Kish-Ukheider-Kerbala
Day 11 Kerbala-El Khifal-Kufa-Najaf
Day 12 Najaf-Nippur-Warka (Uruk)-Larsa-Nasiriya
Day 13 Nasiriya-Ur-Eridu-Tel Ubaid-Nasiriya
Day 14 Marsh area to Basra
Day 15 Basra with excursions
Day 16 Basra to Baghdad by plane or train
Day 17 Baghdad-Damascus-London

Absolute Radio - News Team in Iraq

This month, Absolute Radio dons its desert gear to spend a week with British troops in Iraq. Two of our crack newsreaders, Andrew Bailey and Tania Snuggs, are joining more than four thousand military personnel based in Basra to find out what life is really like in a war zone. They have been given unique access to all three services - Army, Royal Navy and RAF - and will be following the day to day lives of the UK servicemen and women working in the region.

For a raft of reporting, stories and radio reports click here

What will happen when Brits leave Basra?

A year ago, Iraq's security forces often had to fire on their own troops instead of fighting the supposed enemy.

Some 2,000 policemen defected to an Islamic militia and another 4,000 were sacked for alleged spying.

Yet, in just a few months, the burden of policing Iraq's second city will fall squarely on homegrown recruits as Britain's 4,000-strong force withdraws.

Many of their senior officers served under Saddam Hussein but they are described cautiously as 'Iraqi-good-enough' by Lt Col Jonny Price, one of 850 British soldiers advising the Iraqis.

He admits there is distrust between Iraqi soldiers and police officers but adds: 'They've come a long way. They're human rights-compliant, relatively well-trained, quite fit and reasonably well-paid.'

The trainees, based at Camp Saad outside Basra, have seized 2,758 weapons since June, making 441 arrests.

Col Price described their commander as 'a bit of a despot' but said he was generally 'a good man'.
Abdul, a lieutenant in the new army, told me: 'People can go out at nights now, walk the streets or markets in safety. Soon Iraq will be as normal as anywhere else.'

But many recruits face intimidation for joining up – and most will be glad to see the back of the Brits.

Policeman Akeel Abdel Hassan said: 'The British did a lot but we still look at them as occupation forces. We would like them to leave now so we can feel we're an independent country again.'

Iraq's Garden of Eden springing to life

Adam's 'tree of life' is dead but the Iraqi town that claims to be on the site of the Garden of Eden is just beginning to breathe again.

The journey to salvation for the ancient Mesopotamian town of Al-Qurnah, 75km (47 miles) north of Basra, has been a long one, though.

A Shia rebellion was crushed by Saddam Hussein near here in 1991 – apparently after a tip-off by politic­ians who still wield power here.

Its current role as an army base ill­ustrates the recent chaos – a far cry from its role as a holiday destination for Britons in the 1930s.

Al-Qurnah has also been a target – and recruiting ground – for al-Qaeda, with the Iran border just 23km (14 miles) away and the nearby meeting of the Tigris and Euphrates useful for arms supplies.

Until rec­ently, mortar attacks, roadside bombs and gun battles were a regular feature.
'Not so long ago, we couldn't stand on the streets like this. Everywhere you went, you'd find fighting and killing,' said Abdulla, 18.

But, today, shops are reopening and marketplaces are bustling as Iraqi and British soldiers construct new river bridges.

And a £350,000 indoor fish market is being built, providing relief from street traders' dusty, fly-covered off­erings. 'Most importantly, we feel safe now, though we do need new roads,' added Abdulla.

Yet, basic problems, such as an unrel­iable water and electricity supply, rem­ain. 'Yes, we have food and medic­ine and the streets are safe,' said Mo, 40. 'But we're still missing things like power for lights, water and air conditioning.'

Maj Mohamad Hassan, whose 120 soldiers occupy the Eden Hotel, ins­isted life has been 'heaven' since the stranglehold of Shia militia the Jaysh al-Mahdi was broken.

'They used to kidnap our families if we went into the army,' he said. 'Lots of my friends escaped to Egypt or Syria. But, despite all the difficult times, I stayed – and I'm glad I did.'

Midland soldiers insist Iraqis can go it alone

In his final report from Iraq, reporter Paul Bradley discovers how Midland soldiers have prepared Iraqi marines and sailors to guard their two greatest financial assets.

Iraqi marines and naval forces are on track to guard their two main oil platforms from “probing enemies” thanks to the guidance of Midland troops.

Oil platforms KAAOT and ABOT, 60 miles away from the port of Um Qasr in Southern Iraq, produce 80 per cent of Iraq’s oil wealth.

But after the conflicts in 1991 and 2003 the security resources designed to protect them were decimated.Now, the Coalition Naval Advisory Transition Team, made up of nine US and British services including the US coastguard and the Royal Marines, are aiming to put things to rights.
They are training the Iraqi Marines and Navy to protect the oil platforms as part of a contract that will see them stay in South Port Um Qasr until 2011.

But a few hundred metres along the coastline at North Port, The Queen’s Royal Hussars, who are predominantly from the West Midlands, will be withdrawing, leaving the Iraqis to defend the area under the eye of the US Army.

Training Officer, Lieutenant Commander Grant Kelly, said: “It is no secret that different nations are constantly probing each other’s capabilities. It is important that the Iraqis protect the two oil platforms because they are the life-blood of the whole country.”

The Iraqi government aims to develop the port further. Coalition forces initially invested in a fleet of ships to protect it but now they have changed their stance and are advising Iraq how best to invest their own cash. The commercial port is progressing rapidly, with capacity increasing by 20 per cent each year.

And the Queen’s Royal Hussars, who will be the final British troops to withdraw from the port later this year, are confident the Iraqis are ready to take on the mission of keeping the port safe.

Lieutenant Harry Howard, aged 25, from Worcester, said: “Reconstruction projects will obviously take a long time but there is no reason why they cannot work. The port is ready now and everything is working fine. I believe this place will get better and better with time.

“We have been looking after important visitors such as foreign investors, military figures and politicians. But in the future that task will be passed on to the Iraqis. They are more than ready for it.”

Privilege and honour to serve in final tour of Iraq say Midlanders

Midland soldiers yesterday told how they felt “honoured and privileged” to be among the final British troops to serve in Iraq.

From their headquarters in Basra, which the locals call Thar Allah, or “Vengeance of God”, a band of soldiers revealed how they had seen the region develop over the past six years.

A local fair, complete with a sparkling Ferris wheel, can be seen across the city as a sign of its development.

British troops now share one of the city bases with the Iraqi Army who work alongside them to make the neighbourhoods safe from terrorist attacks, roadside bombs and rocket launchers. In a matter of months, the British soldiers will hand over to the Iraqis who will have to control the area without their guidance.

Lance Corporal Jason (Jay) Hartland, aged 26, from Northfield, who is on his third tour of Iraq, said: “It’s now a matter of waiting and seeing if the Iraqi boys can do the job on their own.

“They’ve really come on over the last few months but it is difficult to tell just how they will cope without us.

“To be honest, from what we have seen, they may struggle at first.

“But I’m sure they’ll get a grip pretty quickly.”

For L/Cpl Hartland, Basra has become a home from home.

Since 2004 he has spent 18 months in the city, fighting against terrorist factions, providing security for the bases and now mentoring the Iraqi army. But he has had enough of the war and is ready to return home to see his wife and eight-month-old baby daughter, Alicia.

L/Cpl Hartland added: “I’ll be glad to see the back of Basra, that’s for sure. When I was here on previous tours I had a lot to gain, it was busier and more exciting. But now I have got a lot more to lose.

“I’ve got a baby at home and a wife who worries about me.

‘‘I may be sent out to Afghanistan in a few years and all I really have to gain from there is extra pay. At the moment I’m missing Alicia growing up.

“I left her as a little egg and when I return she’ll be a little chick.”

But for others in the regiment, Iraq is a learning curve all of its own.

Trooper Ben Lane, aged 20, from Evesham, Trooper Simon Ryland, 21, from Worcester, and Trooper Peter Shaw, 24, from Kidderminster are all on their first operational tours.

Trooper Shaw, a former Wolverley High School pupil, said: “We trained pretty hard before we came out here but you never really know what it’s going to be like until you are here.
“The tour’s been good so far and very busy.

‘‘It has been a real privilege and an honour serving on the final tour of Iraq, knowing that we are putting all the finishing touches to the work that went on before us.”

Basra lives in hope, but with sparse thanks for British forces - Times

British troops in Basra are packing up their kit and bidding farewell to Iraqi colleagues as they prepare to pull out of a country in terrible disrepair but hopeful for the future.

Britain’s legacy will be far removed from the lofty ambitions of nation-building of 2003. Shoots of recovery are starting to emerge, but Iraqis say that they will more likely remember the British presence for the Iranian-backed insurgency that raged in southern Iraq until last year.

British commanders, in contrast, say that the mission was a success. Saddam Hussein was removed from power, a democratic Government was installed and Iraqis have the means to rebuild their country.

A triumph or a failure, the Iraq campaign has, since the 2003 invasion, cost the lives of 179 British military personnel (136 killed by hostile fire), more than 4,000 US soldiers — and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Billions of pounds of British and American taxpayers’ money have been spent — much of it on failed projects.

Abu Muhammad, a middle-aged man who runs a snack stall at the Shatt al-Arab waterway that winds through Basra, has few kind words for the outgoing British Forces:
“What will we remember them for? The destruction and damage they caused.”

The aftermath of Britain’s involvement in Iraq bears little resemblance to its two previous occupations over the past century, which left behind railways, bridges, hospitals and refineries.
British officials say that the objective this time was different: to give Iraqis the knowledge and capacity to do the work themselves through, for example, building up its armed forces and empowering the Government.

This nuance is lost on most people, who credit Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, for reviving their fortunes when he began an operation last March (backed by US and British forces) to rid Basra of the militias — something that they believe Britain had been unable to do for lack of resources and political will.

“Security is much better than a year ago,” said Forkan Imad, a 21-year-old geography student at Basra University. Militiamen “used to forbid girls from wearing trousers but they have gone now”, she said, referring to one of the strict Islamist codes imposed during the years of militia rule.

Whether history recalls the British role in southern Iraq with disdain or kindness, huge gains have been made in Basra over the past 12 months. Streets once shuttered in fear now bustle with commerce, roads throng with cars and people speak with cautious optimism. Britain can take some credit: British troops helped to train the Iraqi soldiers who maintain security. Yet they also recruited and trained many of the policemen who turned out to be members of the militia.

“People will write whatever they want to write. They will airbrush us out if they want to,” said Brigadier Tom Beckett, deputy commander of British Forces in Basra. “The reality is we were three nations involved in this — there were the Iraqis, there was us and the Americans — in different ways.”

The calm is allowing meaningful reconstruction finally to take place. British officials are also wooing foreign investors and helping the Iraqis to understand dull but important concepts such as budget control.

“I don’t think our role has been or should be to make Iraqis grateful to Britain,” said Keith MacKiggan, from the Department for International Development, who heads a joint British-US reconstruction team in Basra.

“I think our role has been and should remain supporting the structural and economic development of Basra in the best way, not the most dramatic way.” At the same time, British Forces have tried to make quick, visible improvements to people’s lives, to win “hearts and minds”.

The problem in the past was that they dealt with unreliable Iraqi contractors who failed to give value for money in projects to paint schools, refurbish courtrooms or mend roads. Security, until last April, was so bad that British officials could not check on progress, leaving their Iraqi beneficiaries disappointed.

“The projects were unconstructive and did not serve Basra well,” said Mustafa Atier Risan, a member of the newly elected Basra Provincial Council, which will be responsible for much reconstruction work.

“The money being spent simply went into the pockets of the contractors,” he said, an allegation supported by Abdulrutha al-Timeemi, 42, who owns a construction company in Basra. “If you calculate the money spent, there is no way so much could have gone on such little work. It was enough to build a whole city, not a small bridge or pavement,” he said.

Keen to make the most of Britain’s closing days as part of an occupying force in Iraq, the military has pursued initiatives to clear rubbish-strewn streets and create jobs. Officers are also able to monitor reconstruction projects more closely thanks to the absence of militiamen armed with rockets.

Most importantly, Britain has the help of the much bigger and better-funded US Army, which has been rotating into the main British base just outside Basra in recent months to take over from the British once they leave.

At a teeming market in a small town north of the city, Iraqi carpenters are building a drainage channel through the centre of a structure that is to become a fish market.

Local traders think that the £350,000 British-US initiative is a great idea but say that it is too little too late to salvage the reputation of the coalition, which — they say — has brought little else to the town of al-Qurna since 2003.

Assad Abid Ali, 24, said that people had hoped the British would start a sports club, “but our hair grew white waiting for something to happen”. Another pet project for the departing British is an £8.3 million scheme to build a bridge across the Shatt al-Arab waterway that feeds into Basra’s seaport, the only port in Iraq.

Dreamt up by an American officer, backed by Major-General Andy Salmon, the top British commander in the South, and paid for by the Iraqi Government, the bridge will be constructed by an Iraqi steel company, with a little help from Mott MacDonald, a British consultancy firm.

“This is just the start, but when you are fulfilling dreams you have to start somewhere,” General Salmon told a meeting this week to discuss the bridge.

Britain had stamped a rather unfortunate legacy on Ibn Majeed, the steel company making the structure. Haitham Aouda, the quality-control manager, said that British tanks had struck the factory during the invasion because Iraqi soldiers were near by. All the employees fled, leaving the premises open to be looted and burnt.

But Mr Aouda seems happy to be working with British and US forces now: “Everything has changed. You must forget these problems.”

Another focus for British troops has been rebuilding the Iraqi Army and Navy. “The biggest success by the British was the skills they imparted on us,” said one Iraqi commander in Basra. Asked what he felt had been their biggest failure, he echoed a common complaint: “They were not very strong with the militias.”

By the end of the month, General Salmon will hand command to an incoming US general. Most of Britain’s 4,100-strong force — down from 45,000 at the start of the invasion — will head home over the following four months. Thousands of US troops will be geared up to start working on a legacy for Basra of their own.

Staying on

— First occupation, 1914-32 British Forces invaded the land now known as Iraq while it was part of the Ottoman Empire

— Second occupation, 1941-47 British Forces, which had maintained bases in Iraq, invaded again to ensure the continuation of oil supplies during the Second World War

— Third occupation, 2003-04 British and United States forces invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003, in the hunt for weapons of mass destruction. Sovereignty was officially returned to the Iraqi Government in June 2004 but many Iraqis believe that the occupation will not end until all foreign forces leave

Midland soldiers in Basra prepare to pull out

MIDLAND soldiers have told how they felt “honoured and privileged” to be among the final British troops to serve in Iraq.

From their headquarters in Basra, which the locals call Thar Allah, or “Vengeance of God”, a band of soldiers revealed how they had seen the region develop over the past six years.

A fair, complete with a Ferris wheel, can be seen across the city as a sign of its development.
British troops now share one of the city bases with members of the Iraqi Army, who work alongside them to make the neighbourhoods safe from terrorist attacks, roadside bombs and rocket launchers.

In a matter of months, the British soldiers will hand over to the Iraqis who will have to control the area without their guidance.

Lance Corporal Jason (Jay) Hartland, aged 26, from Northfield, who is on his third tour of Iraq, said: “It’s now a matter of waiting and seeing if the Iraqi boys can do the job on their own.
“They’ve really come on over the last few months but it is difficult to tell just how they will cope without us.

“To be honest, from what we have seen, they may struggle at first. But I’m sure they’ll get a grip pretty quickly.”

For L/Cpl Hartland, Basra has become a home from home.

Since 2004, he has spent 18 months in the city, fighting against terrorist factions, providing security for the bases and now mentoring the Iraqi army.

But he has had enough of the war and is ready to return home to see his wife and eight-month-old baby daughter, Alicia.

L/Cpl Hartland said: “I’ll be glad to see the back of Basra, that’s for sure.
“When I was here on previous tours I had a lot to gain, it was busier and more exciting. But now I have got a lot more to lose.

“I’ve a baby at home and a wife who worries about me.

‘‘I may be sent out to Afghanistan in a few years and all I really have to gain from there is extra pay.

“At the moment I’m missing Alicia growing up.”

But for others in the regiment, Iraq is a learning curve all of its own.

Trooper Ben Lane, aged 20, from Evesham, Trooper Simon Ryland, 21, from Worcester, and Trooper Peter Shaw, 24, from Kidderminster, are all on their first operational tours.

Trooper Shaw, a former Wolverley High School pupil, said: “We trained pretty hard before we came out here but you never really know what it’s going to be like until you are here.
“The tour’s been good so far and very busy.

‘‘It has been a real privilege and an honour serving on the final tour of Iraq, knowing we are putting all the finishing touches to the work that went on before us.”

Our man witnesses how life in Basra is improving for its residents

AS I walked through the streets of Basra with the Queens Royal Hussars it soon became clear just how much the city had changed.

Soldiers told me that, if I had been walking with them on the same route two years ago, I would have been shot at as a matter of routine.

But instead of the crack of bullets, I heard the sound of children running around the 20- strong patrol, giggling and laughing at the men in strange uniforms.

The universal language on the streets was football and it didn’t take long before children in Manchester United and Barcelona shirts started shouting players’ names at me. The names Ronaldo, David Beckham, Raul, and even Villa’s captain Gareth Barry, were bellowed at me as if the kids were trying to pass on some absurd secret.

In return I mustered “Salam”, Arabic for hello, before reeling off every player’s name I could think of.

Unfortunately Lee Bowyer and Alex McLeish were greeted with blank faces.
The reaction on the streets to the joint Iraqi and British patrol was a sign of the huge leaps forward made by both forces.

The Iraqis looked professional, determined and well drilled and needed only minimal guidance from the Hussars, many of whom come from the West Midlands. The British soldiers, wearing 15kg body armour and soft hats, chatted to the locals and offered small gifts such as wristbands.
The threat of roadside bombs and even kidnapping was still very real but the feeling on the streets was that life was getting better and more improvements were on the way. But there are still hundreds of people living in poverty with litter filling the streets and children as young as three playing just metres away from open sewers.

The army has done a lot to improve things compared to the days of Saddam Hussein but the city desperately needs rebuilding so its people can live in comfort and safety. The Iraqi soldier I was shadowing, a 20-year old man, told me the Iraqis liked the British due to the historical link dating back to the 1920s.

The British troops hope they will not now be needed in the country for at least the same period of time again.

Warwick and Birmingham parades for Iraqi returnees

Birmingham troops serving in Iraq are set to have a series homecoming parades in the Midlands despite security fears, it emerged yesterday.

The Queens Royal Hussars, who mainly recruit from the West Midlands and Northern Ireland, were refused a homecoming parade in Ireland amid fears over counter-parades and protests.
Security levels were heightened after Sapper Mark Quinsey, aged 23, of Yardley Wood, was murdered outside the Masereene Baracks in Northern Ireland along with another British soldier less than two weeks ago.

But yesterday top-ranking army officers revealed that the Hussars would receive a homecoming in Warwick and the Royal Artillery, nicknamed “The West Midlands Gunners”, will be greeted with a freedom of the city parade in Birmingham. Both regiments are serving in Iraq and will be among the final British troops to pull out of Basra this summer.

Queens Royal Hussars Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Chris Coles, of Tenbury in Worcestershire, said: “In 2007 our regiment paraded through Birmingham and we received a magnificent welcome.

“It is a huge morale-booster for our troops knowing that they will come home and be able to share their experience with people from their home towns. It is a fantastic sight to see the boys with their chins up and their chests puffed out in front of so many people. You can see just how much it means to them.”

It is believed that planning of such parades begins months in advance as Birmingham City Council has to arrange road closures and traffic diversions. But the exact details of the parade, including the route, date and time, are kept secret for as long as possible in a bid to curb potential protests. Soldiers who paraded through Luton this month were met by protests from the Muslim community.

A small band of people held up placards saying “Butchers of Basra” while shouting and jeering at the troops as they marched through the city.

But reaction to British soldiers in Basra has been overwhelmingly positive.

Brigade Commander, Brigadier Bilal, of the Iraqi Army, said: “The good reputation that the Iraqi Army has in Basra has come from the joint work of both armies. We have learnt a lot from the British mentoring and we will continue to be a professional outfit when they leave.

“There are tribal differences in Iraq but when it comes to the law and security everybody is equal.

Midlands soldiers, who work alongside Iraqi troops on a daily basis from the brigade headquarters in Thar Allah revealed how important it was for them to have the support of people at home, Trooper Peter Shaw, aged 24, of Kidderminster, said: “We should be treated like we have done a good job so when we are away we can look forward to coming home.

We want to be able to go out and hold our heads high without worrying about protests. Homecoming parades make it all worthwhile.”

Notts soldiers build a legacy in Iraq

Notts soldiers are coming home from Iraq. But before they do, ERIK PETERSEN visited to see the work they're finishing as the British military's time in the country comes to a close. In the first of a four-day series, he meets Notts soldiers who have worked in Basra, helping to build and rebuild a once-broken city.

BACK home in Notts, Stacey Devine-Bradbury works in a law office. In her role as legal secretary, she has not once been asked to spend Christmas camped on a roof at a building site.
But at the moment, she's not Stacey Devine-Bradbury, legal secretary.

She's Sapper Devine-Bradbury of the Territorial Army's 73 Engineer Regiment.

She's in Iraq. And she's got a job to do. Along with the fellow Chilwell-based soldiers of the 170 Infrastructure Engineers, the 73 Engineers is now attached to the 35 Engineers Regiment, and the larger group is keeping busy.

British troops may be preparing to leave the sprawling city in the Iraqi south, but it's the engineers who get the call to build the legacy projects that Iraqis will use for years after.

Which helps explain what Sapper Devine-Bradbury was doing on a Basra rooftop on Christmas Eve. The building in question was a new police station. Thing is, when you're a builder and a soldier, you don't leave the building site in the evening. You stay on to guard it.

So Christmas morning for Sapper Devine-Bradbury, from Mansfield, and other soldiers meant enjoying a festive meal of ration packs and cups of coffee from a rooftop perch.

"Usually, I sit behind my desk typing work up," she said. "Here is more physical work and different hours compared to my 9-to-5 job."

That particular job also meant weeks of dogs yapping in the night and whipping winter winds.
"We've had all sorts of weather conditions," said Lance Corporal Lyndsey Dove, from Mansfield, also of the 73 Engineers. "We've had wind, hail, rain...".

But when the job was done, the soldiers could admire new buildings that will stand in Basra when British accents have faded from the streets.

The 35 Engineers and their attached regiments pride themselves on being able to do just about whatever needs doing.

"We're combat engineers," said Lt Kieran Wilkinson, from Mansfield. "We can build bridges – and blow them up."

As well as police stations, the 35 – in military parlance, you say it as two numbers, "the three-five" – has a diverse CV, including building new neighbourhood markets, repairing canals and runways and training the local military in bomb detection and policing methods.

"We're soldiers first, then combat engineers, then artisans," said Lieutenant Colonel Paul Buttery, the 35's commanding officer. "We design, resource, construct – it's a mantra of ours."

It's a mantra that frequently gets the combat engineers off the sprawling, dusty base at Basra Airport that has acted as the hub of British operations. As cold and noisy as city jobs like the station-building could be, they're also a change of scenery. Curious children are always around – waving, trying out English words, challenging soldiers to football matches, seeing if there was any sweets on offer.

The menu can even change. Soldiers who worked on the Old State Building in the middle of Basra socialised a bit with their Iraqi colleagues.

"I made a point of making all the boys go eat in the Iraqi cookhouse," Lieutenant Nick Gunnell said. (After some initial culinary trepidation, the soldiers of the 35 were won over by Iraqi home cooking.)

And the surroundings can take a turn for the surreal. Soldiers from the 35 recently set up tents on the grounds of Basra Palace, one of Saddam Hussein's former party places.

The palace – actually a series of faux-Arabic palaces backing onto the Shatt al-Arab river and facing a man-made lake – was originally built by Saddam for the exclusive use of his family. Flanked by palm trees and drenched in bombast, they're not subtle – think Versailles mixed with Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch. Up until now their only purpose was to showcase the former dictator's wealth.

Now they're being converted into something a bit more useful – military and police headquarters that the Americans will use for a time, then hand over to the Iraqis.

Sapper Ben Dunford had been in Basra since late November but hadn't yet worked on any jobs in the city. He was heading off base for his first urban project. After that, he was heading to Notts for his two weeks of R-and-R. Before going home, he reckoned he needed some stories.

"I haven't seen the city," he said. "So I'm kind of glad I'm going there because when I go home and people ask 'What was Basra like?', I won't have to say 'I don't know, I never went off base.'"
Warrant Officer Class II Terry Ward didn't spend as much time off base – he was among the members of 35 Engineers tasked with making sure everyone who went out, was prepared. The Eastwood native, whose January R-and-R break timed nicely with Eastwood Town's unprecedented FA Cup journey, runs everything from tank training courses to morning PT.

"We do everything," he said. "Providing the regiment with all the training it requires to go out on operation."

Once the 35 is out there, WOII Ward also helps organise touches like a football tournament for British and American soldiers, as well as Iraqi military and police. The Premier League donated kit for all 20 teams, which was auctioned off among different groups and units for charity. (The 35 paid a tournament-high £850 for the privilege of playing in the Hull City strip.)

Soon, many of those same soldiers will be playing their weekend football on pitches around Notts. Much of the work they're now doing is getting things ready for the American soldiers who will maintain a presence.

As Yank accents slowly seep into the base, that one last trip – the 40-minute military flight to the base in Kuwait, then the six-hour charter flight to England or Germany – gets nearer and nearer.

Nearer, but not here yet. Before all that, the 35 has a job to finish.

Iraqi army ready to take control of Basra

In Basra, reporter Paul Bradley joined the British and Iraqi Armies on patrol in the heart of the war-torn city. After six years in the country the Iraqis are preparing to take responsibility for security when the Brits leave in the summer.

The Iraqi army is now in a position to take control of Basra without the help of British troops, a senior Iraqi Army officer said yesterday.

In an interview with the Birmingham Post from his compound in Basra city, the intelligence officer, who did not wish to be named, said the Iraqi army is now “80 percent of the way there” when it comes to security.

But he added that there was still plenty of work to be done after the British troops leave, as terrorists from neighbouring countries crossed the “unsecure” borders and used new explosive devices to disrupt the peace.

Since the Charge of the Knights offensive in March 2008, a major operation to clear the city of terrorist factions, British troops have been mentoring the Iraqi Army in Basra.

The Queen’s Royal Hussars, who mainly come from the West Midlands, took up the role in November and are now preparing to hand over to the Iraqi Army for the first time.

They have taught the Iraqi soldiers how to patrol effectively, carry out operations to seize weapons and arrest insurgents, and set up check points in a bid to prevent rocket attacks.

Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Chris Coles, from Tenbury, Worcestershire, said: “The Iraqi Army are now well in control of things here and we are only needed to go out and support them now.

“It is no longer on a level where we teach the Iraqi soldiers how to do their job.

“It’s strategic guidance on a one-to-one level at the top end of the hierarchy.

“It’s a testament both to the Iraqis and the British soldiers that the Iraqi Army are so widely supported by the Iraqi people. They know that the Iraqi Army will come down extremely heavily on anyone who fires a rocket in the city.

“We are confident that they are ready for us to leave and that they have a very good handle on security.”

Getting the city up and running on a civilian level is a primary aim.

Although a lot of work has been done building schools, orphanages and even football pitches, the British Army want the Iraqis to have their “fingerprints” on the reconstruction of the city.

The senior Iraqi intelligence officer, added: “Under Saddam Hussein we had no satellites, mobile phones or internet.

“Now we have all of those things.

“People are not afraid to express themselves anymore and they feel happy criticising the Government.

“That was impossible before 2003.

“Even in the army, under Saddam, soldiers did not know why they were fighting or what for.”

RAF team lose to Iraqi Police Service in football tournament - Scotsman

A SIX-A-SIDE football tournament involving British and local forces in Basra has been won by one of the home teams.
The competition was sponsored by the Premier League, which provided football strips, and the winners were the Iraqi Police Service, who played as Wigan.

They beat 903 Expeditionary Air Wing, Royal Air Force, playing as Sunderland, 2-0 in the final.

Brigadier Abdul Hussein Soud Sawadi Toama, the Commander of 52 Brigade Iraqi Army, who fielded a team, said: "We had a beautiful day away from our military jobs and we are grateful to participate in this competition."

Major General Andy Salmon, Commander of Multi-National Division (South East), said: "Everyone has got on with it together in a spirit of fun and mutual trust and co-operation which is exactly a reflection of what we have done for the last eight or nine months."

The competition, played yesterday on the Contingent Operating Base (COB), took the World Cup format with four leagues of five teams and the winners and runners up of each league going forward into the final eight for the knockout stages.

Three teams entered from the Iraqi Army and one each from the Iraqi Air Force, Police, and Department of Border Enforcement.

Teams from KBR and Turners, two civilian engineering companies employed on the COB, also entered teams.

In order to decide which team would wear which strip the organisers held a charity auction during which the teams bid for their favourite strip.

The auction raised a total of 6,115 US dollars (£4,300) for the competition's chosen charity, Project 65.

This figure was matched by the Premier League, so the donation to Project 65 was 12,230 US dollars (£8,600).

Project 65 has been created to honour the men who took part in the Coup de Main operation to capture the bridges over the Caen Canal and River Orne in the first combat operation of D-Day 65 years ago. These are known as Pegasus and Horsa Bridges.

The charity aims to raise £500,000, a small proportion of which will be used to erect a memorial to the men of the Coup de Main force and those directly associated with the operation.

It will be put up in front of the original bridge within the grounds of the Memorial Pegasus Museum.

The remainder of the money raised will be split between various service charities.

The teams that entered were as follows:

Manchester United – 5th Battalion The Rifles
Liverpool – 1st Royal Tank Regiment
Aston Villa – Queen's Royal Hussars
Chelsea – 200 Signals Squadron, Royal Signals
Arsenal – Royal Artillery
Everton – KBR (civilian)
Wigan Athletic – Iraqi Police Service
West Ham United – Royal Military Police
Manchester City – 1 Logistic Supply Regiment, Royal Logistic Corps
Fulham – 1st Battalion Princess of Wales Royal Regiment
Sunderland – 903 Expeditionary Air Wing, Royal Air Force
Hull City – 35 Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers
Newcastle – 52 Brigade Iraqi Army
Bolton – Department of Border Enforcement
Portsmouth – Turners (civilian)
Tottenham Hotspur – UK Medical Group
Stoke City – 50 Brigade Iraqi Army
Blackburn – 51 Brigade Iraqi Army
Middlesbrough – 1st Battalion Yorkshire Regiment
West Bromwich Albion – Iraqi Air Force.

RAF lose in Basra football final

Click here for a video of the competition
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7947315.stm

A six-a-side charity football tournament involving UK and local forces in Basra, Iraq, has been won by one of the home teams.

The Iraqi police service, wearing a Wigan Athletic strip, beat the RAF 903 Expeditionary Air Wing, playing as Sunderland, 2-0 in the final.

The event was sponsored by the English Premier League, which donated strips.

A total of 20 teams from the British and Iraqi forces and civilian contractors took part.

The competition was played on Sunday at Britain's Contingency Operating Base.

It worked on a World Cup format with four leagues of five teams and the winners and runners-up of each league going forward into the final eight for the knockout stages.

Brigadier Abdul Hussein Soud Sawadi Toama, commander of 52 Brigade Iraqi army, which fielded a team, said: "We had a beautiful day away from our military jobs and we are grateful to participate in this competition."

Charity auction

Major General Andy Salmon, commander of multi-national division (south east), said: "Everyone has got on with it together in a spirit of fun and mutual trust and co-operation which is exactly a reflection of what we have done for the last eight or nine months."

In order to allocate strips, the organisers held a charity auction during which the teams bid for their favourite jerseys.

The auction raised a total of £4,300, a figure matched by the Premier League.

A total of £8,600 will go to Project 65, created to honour the men who took part in the Coup de Main operation to capture the bridges over the Caen Canal and River Orne in Normandy in the first combat operation of D-Day 65 years ago.

These are now known as Pegasus and Horsa Bridges.

The charity aims to raise £500,000, a small proportion of which will be used to erect a memorial to the men of the Coup de Main force and those directly associated with the operation.

The rest will be split between various service charities.

Iraqi pilot graduates from RAF Cranwell

The first Iraqi pilot to achieve the full RAF 'wings' standard as a multi-engine pilot was among students graduating from the Flying Training School at RAF Cranwell.

Six RAF students received their pilot's wings today, while Lieutenant Ali Kareem, aged 21, received his Iraqi Air Force pilot's wings.

His new qualification paves the way for him to return to his homeland where the Iraqi Air Force (IAF) will complete his training on a multi-engine conversion unit. He will then take to the air flying military transport aircraft such as the C130 Hercules and the King Air.

Group Captain Nigel 'Wam' Wharmby, the Station Commander at RAF Cranwell and Officer Commanding No 3 Flying Training School, said:

"I am delighted that Lt Ali Kareem has graduated successfully from his multi-engine flying training at RAF Cranwell. The course is complex and extremely demanding, necessarily so, covering all basic flying disciplines in order to prepare students for the challenge of operating any of the diverse fleet of multi-engine aircraft in service.

"Beyond the basic rigours of flying, the course also focuses heavily on captaincy, airmanship and crew resource management - intangible but vital attributes for military aircrew.

"Several inevitably will struggle to make the standard required for graduation and thereby the award of their coveted flying brevet or wings, whilst others may never achieve that standard.

"Challenge enough for RAF students, but for Lt Kareem to have achieved the graduation standard, despite the many additional pressures of having to integrate into unfamiliar surroundings, a different culture and the RAF way of life, has been very satisfying for the staff and his colleagues on the course to witness."

Previously, Iraqi International Defence students undertaking training in the UK have shied away from publicity for fear of reprisals on return to Iraq but with the improved security in his country Lieutenant Kareem was happy to speak to the media and said:

"The course has been both challenging and enjoyable, a real mixture of the two. Graduation is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I'm really proud of my achievement. I'm now looking forward to going back home and continuing with my training with the Iraqi Air Force."