Iraqi Army Day Parade

Yesterday the British Army trained Iraqi 14th Division celebrated the 88th Iraqi Army Day with a full scale parade and march past in Basra on Sunday 11 January 2009.

Iraqi Army Day is a national day of celebration that takes place annually on 6th January to commemorate the formation of the Iraqi Army. In its 88th year, the Iraqi Army’s 14th Division paraded over 1000 troops, 3 helicopters and 3 reconnaissance aircraft and over 300 vehicles in a march, fly and drive past the General Officer Commanding Basrah District, General Mohammed, at the Shat Al Arab Hotel in central Basra. Also present at the parade was Brigadier Tom Beckett, Commander 20th Armoured Brigade (The Iron Fist) who had been invited by General Mohammed to represent the British Forces in Iraq.

The involvement of so many vehicles and personnel in such a large parade shows just how far the Iraqi Army has come in recent months in terms of their ability to conduct and execute military planning. The parade also demonstrated the improved security in the region, in that such a large event could take place in central Basra. In another positive sign of flourishing normality over 20 members of the local media were also present to record and broadcast the event, ensuring that the local population were able to see their army in all its splendor.

Colonel Abbas Al Tamimi, media operations officer for the Iraq Army 14th Division said:

“The people of Basra are celebrating the stability and security in Basra that the Iraqi Army has achieved and maintained. The people of Basra are now reaping the fruits of this improved stability and security”

Brigadier Tom Beckett said:

“This has been a fantastic parade and when you think that they can put on something like this with so many people and vehicles and it runs like clockwork, it shows how the Iraqi Army has come on leaps and bounds over the last few years.”

He continued:

“As we have seen, after Operation ‘Charge of the Knights’ the Iraqi Army is an effective and capable force able to bring security to the people of Basra. For us, [Coalition Forces] the next big milestone is the elections. It’s making sure that the Iraqi Army and Security Forces are happy with their security lay down and that we can help them in any way that they need to be helped”

My week: Keith Mackiggan of DfID - Times Online

Rebuilding Basra with a dollop of help from Ben & Jerry

BACK TO SCHOOL

Every day is a work day in Basra - there’s no weekend. We live at the air base, which is about six miles across the dusty desert from the city, so helicopters are the easiest way to get around. It is my favourite part of life out here: you are skidding 100ft above the ground, swooping over the electricity pylons - it’s exhilarating. Commuting to work will never quite be the same again.

I’ve been living here since September as head of the Department for International Development’s reconstruction team for Basra, in southern Iraq. I spent the beginning of the week visiting some of our projects with my interpreter. He is from Sudan and fled his country about 20 years ago, settling with his family in Manchester. He’s a hero doing fantastic work and we couldn’t really do anything without him.

We touched down at a couple of primary schools for which we’d built eight new classrooms. Before that, there would be up to 100 children in each room; our efforts will cut the class sizes in half.

The children were so cute, dressed in their freshly pressed, gleaming white shirts and chanting their times tables. As we were leaving they shouted out, “Merry Christmas and a happy new year,” in English.

KARAOKE DREAD

As New Year’s Eve approached, I began to get butterflies in my stomach. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Basra hosted a party with karaoke and I was forced on stage. A few weeks ago I played Widow Twankey in a production of Aladdin put on by the British military base and my colleagues now seem to think that I’ve found my vocation as a singer.

It was a beautiful starlit night: there was a kind of Arabian crescent moon in the sky and it was in this setting that I wowed the audience with my rendition of Madonna’s Material Girl. I wasn’t in costume this time, although the party was fancy dress. There were some great outfits - a Christmas present and a policeman - but my favourite was the consul-general who came as a beach bum, sporting an ironing board as a surfboard. There was some cross-dressing, inevitably.

The military clerk, whose name is Corporal Burley - highly appropriate for a a physical training instructor - uses any excuse to get dressed up in drag. Wednesday was no exception.

DEMOCRACY TAKES OFF

There were a few sore heads on New Year’s Day but no time to relax for the Brits on the airbase because it was the day of the handover of Basra international airport. I head a team of about 30 people coordinating efforts to improve infrastructure, train Iraqi officials and attract foreign investment.

The UK has been working with the airport authorities and they are now handling numerous commercial flights each day; indeed, about 5,000 local residents flew to the haj in Saudi Arabia last month. I’m really glad about this because in the past the airport was never used commercially: it was only ever used by Saddam Hussein. To me, that’s democracy in action.

NOW FOR MOZAMBIQUE

Towards the end of the week I flew up to the marshlands, to one of the villages near the Iranian border. The area is neglected and remote but the scenery is stunning. Basra’s army chief, General Mohammed, was in the area recently and was horrified when the villagers told him that he was the first government official they’d seen in 30 years.

We’ll be working up there to create joint community action centres, which will provide access to basic services such as a school and a clinic for the first time.

I always look forward to Friday because that’s when I sit down to dinner with three of the other senior allied officials in Basra. We take it in turns to host the meal in our canteen and last week it was at the Donkey bar at the US consulate, where they have Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. You have to be careful not to get fat out here - the canteen food is so good.

I’ll be leaving Basra at the end of March and will be sad to go. It’s a weird and wonderful place and I feel lucky to be here. I don’t miss much about the UK - apart, perhaps, from cycling. I have a strict luggage allowance and I don’t think I could smuggle a bicycle into my suitcase.

My next posting begins in the summer in Mozambique, but I’ll need to go out there almost immediately to have some language training - everything is done in Portuguese and I’ll need to get fluent in three months flat.

Keith Mackiggan is the head of the Basra provincial reconstruction team for the Department for International Development

To see the full article click here to see it on the Timesonline

New security station opens in Basra

Commander Iraqi Ground Forces, Staff General Ali Gheydan, and prime ministerial advisor Mohammed Nasr attended the opening of the Basra Provincial Joint Operational Command (PJOC) this morning, 20 November 2008 in Basra, Iraq.

The PJOC took three months to build in the Shat Al Arab Hotel, which is home to the Basra Operations Command (BAOC). Major General Mohammed Jowad Hameidi, commander of the BAOC, was also present along with Major General Andy Salmon how commands MND(SE).

Major General Mohammed Jowad Hameidi said:
“With the efforts of the Iraqi Security Forces and all the hard work and co-operation of our friends in the Multi National Forces we deliver this massive Joint Operations Centre with all the latest technology similar to other strong armies across the world. We have to save and enjoy the security in Basra in order to make this city the most important place in Iraq for economic and investment opportunities. This will be a gift to the people of Basra for all the hardships that they have suffered under the old regimes”

Major General Andy SALMON said:
“I’m terribly pleased with what I’ve heard today. This is a really proud moment for the ISF and General Mohammed and all the agencies you’ve seen here today. I think it’s particularly gratifying for the British soldiers who have worked so hard to achieve this very difficult task in an accelerated time scale, to get the Basra JOC up and running to full operational capability.”

“For MND(SE) we are seeing great progress in terms of being able to deliver the task that we set ourselves and we remain on track to deliver exactly what the Prime Minister [UK} has said we need to deliver”

MP strolls around downtown Basra

Dr Liam Fox had a stroll around downtown Basra witnessing for himself, the improved security situation in the city.
An early morning helicopter trip into the Basra Operations Centre allowed the Shadow Secretary of State for Defence to meet with Major General Mohammed, the Basra Security Forces Commander, before taking a leisurely walk along the Sha’at al Arab riverside.