Heroes protecting fighters at the front get a warm welcome home

A group of Moray-based RAF service personnel have been given a warm welcome home after six months in Iraq.

The forward party of No 5 Force Protection Wing of the RAF Regiment at RAF Lossiemouth were greeted by a piper as they left the aircraft and were given a dram of whisky to welcome them back to Scotland.

Acting station commander Wing Commander James Linter was also there to welcome them off the plane before they were taken to the officer’s mess for an emotional reunion with their family members.

One, Flight Lieutenant Mick Morley, comforted his young son Alfie, who was overwhelmed at seeing his dad after six months.

The service personnel were responsible for the security of civil and military flights now operating at Basra Airport.

They were also able to provide practical support to the local Iraqi community and assisted in numerous building projects.

Wing Commander Derek Read, officer commanding No 5 Force, said: “We are all glad to be back home after running the protection service for the contingency operations base at Basra.

“We have had a successful deployment that saw a period of improved security clearly demonstrated during the recent elections.”

Wing Commander James Linter said: “Once again they have done an excellent job in Basra.

“We are proud to have supported them and their families during this arduous time.

“We are pleased to have them home safe and sound and will welcome 51 Squadron back early next month.”

Anti-American cleric faces challenge to power in Iraq - Boston Globe

The firebrand anti-American cleric whose militia battled US troops for years is facing a strong challenge for leadership of Iraq's poor, urban Shiites from a small, well-organized faction with loose links to Iran, senior figures within his movement say.

The split within Moqtada al-Sadr's organization has widened as Shiite groups weigh the outcome of last month's provincial elections and prepare for a national ballot this year that will determine the leadership in Baghdad.

The dissident faction is expected to mount a campaign to become a rival force appealing to Sadr's base among poor Shiites, senior officials close to the cleric said in interviews this week. This would offer greater openings for Tehran's influence in Iraq and give political cover to the so-called "special groups" of Sadrists that have continued attacks on US-led forces.

For Sadr, the internal battle may become a crucial test of his credibility and resilience after being weakened by crackdowns on his once-powerful and now disbanded militia, the Mahdi Army.

"Iraq has turned a new page after [the provincial] elections," said a statement attributed to Sadr that was read yesterday at prayers in the Sadr City district, his group's stronghold in Baghdad.

"It marks a gate for liberation; a gate to serve Iraqis and not to keep occupiers to divide Iraqis," the statement said.

Results from the Jan. 31 balloting, announced Thursday, had Sadr's loyalists gaining a handful of seats on influential provincial councils across Iraq's Shiite south. This was seen as a sign that Sadr is politically wounded, although he is considered still capable of staging a comeback.

The splinter group within the movement wants to take on that role, however, and is angling to supplant Sadr amid wider political jockeying among Iraq's Shiite majority.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a more secular-oriented Shiite, saw his allies make strong showings across the south in the provincial races, giving the government the early advantage against an expected challenge in national elections from the largest Shiite political group, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, which also has close ties to Iran.

Sadr's sharp rhetoric against the US-led invasion in 2003 and his militia's later battles with American forces catapulted him from relative obscurity to a position of power, particularly among poor and powerless Shiites.

But his standing began to erode after Sadr lost control of longtime strongholds in Basra, Baghdad, and Amarah after Maliki launched offensives against Shiite militias last year.

At the same time, the splinter "special groups" set their own course, pushing on with attacks on US-led forces even after the young cleric declared a unilateral cease-fire in 2007 and then dissolved the Mahdi Army last year.

Now the breakaway faction with ties to the armed groups is planning to field candidates in the elections for the Iraqi Parliament, with the apparent goal of

transforming parts of Iraq into a Shiite state modeled after Iran.

Some key figures in the breakaway groups include former close aides to Sadr's late father, a revered cleric who founded the Sadrist movement and was believed to have been assassinated by Saddam Hussein's agents in 1999.

The breakaway leaders complain about what they say were the younger Sadr's missteps, including dismantling the Mahdi Army, once Iraq's biggest and most feared Shiite militia.

Two senior Sadrists , estimated the breakaway factions represent 30 percent of the movement and say it is better organized and funded than Sadr's camp.

Iraq announces final results of provincial elections

The Independent High Electoral Commission of Iraq (IHEC) announced on Thursday the final results of the landmark provincial elections.

The final results showed that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Dawlat al-Qanun (State of Law) coalition comes ahead in Baghdad and five southern provinces.

Maliki's best results were in Baghdad and Basra, where his coalition won 28 seats of Baghdad's 57 seats and 20 seats out of 36 in the oil hub city of Basra.

Earlier in February, preliminary results covering 90 percent of the ballot showed that Maliki's coalition came first in Baghdad and eight southern provinces.

Maliki's rival powerful Shiite Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), headed by Abdul Aziz Hakim, hardly regained power in the three Shiite provinces of Najaf, Maysan and Dhi Qar, where the final results showed that Maliki and Hakim divided equal seats.

On Jan. 31, millions of Iraqis headed to cast their ballots in polling stations across 14 out of the 18 Iraqi provinces to choose their leaders in provincial councils.

In the pipeline

Reading-based Foster Wheeler Energy has been awarded a contract by the South Oil Company for the basic engineering of oil export facilities that will supplement the Al-Basra terminal in Iraq.

The offshore facilities will include new single point mooring tanker loading buoys, together with oil pumping, metering and pipelines, to achieve an export capacity of 4.5 million barrels per day.

The Foster Wheeler contract value for this project was not disclosed and it will be included in the company’s first-quarter 2009 bookings.

Foster Wheeler will prepare a technical definition package, plans and schedules for full project implementation and invitation-to-bid documents for the supply and construction of the offshore export facilities.

‘We have been working with the South Oil Company and Iraq’s Ministry of Oil on the upgrading of these export facilities and we are very pleased to have been awarded this basic design contract,’ said Michael J Beaumont, chairman and chief executive officer of Foster Wheeler Energy.

British soldiers teach Iraqi EOD team

British soldiers based in Basra have been training soldiers from the Iraqi Army's 14 Division Engineer Battalion Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team to use the latest robotic EOD technology.

Their capability is being built up through the efforts of Captain Joe Brown, an Ammunition Technical Officer from the Royal Logistic Corps, and his Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Disposal team, which is part of the Multi-National Division (South East) Joint Force Engineer Group based outside Basra City.

Captain Brown, advisor to 14 Division, said:

"The 14 Division Engineer Battalion attach great importance to EOD work and are always very enthusiastic to take part in training."The Iraqi soldiers will soon be busy disposing of improvised explosive devices planted by insurgents as well as the piles of munitions left over from past wars.

The training, which ran all last week, was held at the 14 Division Training Centre at Shaiba which is staffed by instructors from the British Army.

The robot model in service with the Iraqi Army is the 'Mini-Andros 2' built by Remotec, a subsidiary of Northrop-Grumman in the USA. This equipment enables EOD operators to make explosive devices safe while reducing the risk to the operator or others.

After a classroom lesson the Iraqi engineers were keen to practise what they had learned and demonstrate their growing abilities by defusing a dummy IED using the IED robot.

Suits follow soldiers in Iraq's south - BBC

By Jim Muir

As our Merlin military transport helicopter scudded over the flat dun landscape of southern Iraq, the rear gunner threw himself from side to side on the open tail-flap, peering down this way and that, ever on the alert for potential danger.

Every so often, the juddering craft jolted even more as a bunch of flares were sent arcing down through the sky.

At our destination, an installation that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, we hovered and landed in a whirlwind of brown dust that ravaged washing-lines strung between mudbrick houses nearby.

A small crowd of curious locals turned out to watch what was clearly something of a novel event, as out clambered an odd mixture of British military personnel in combat fatigues and civilians in dark suits awkwardly crimped by flak jackets and topped by ill-fitting helmets.

For this was not a combat mission. Those are few and far between nowadays for the 4,000 remaining British forces in southern Iraq, who are preparing to leave.

Already, since late last year, the primary focus of their mission has been formally changed from security to promoting good governance and economic development.

As part of that revised mandate, here they were ferrying a delegation of Japanese economic officials around the south, where Tokyo is pumping in hundred of millions of dollars in soft loans.

Warm welcome

As their guide and escort, the Japanese had no less a figure than the top British officer in Iraq, Lt Gen John Cooper, who retires shortly as deputy commander of all Coalition forces in the country and is also a former commander of the British troops in the south.

We had landed at the Basra oil refinery, where the visitors were given a warm welcome by director-general Tha'ir Ibrahim and his staff.

"Now that security is so much better, we're launching projects to increase the refinery capacity by about 35% and to upgrade the product specification," said Mr Ibrahim.

"The tank farm [oil depot] here was 60% destroyed during the war with Iran in the 1980s, and then hit again by the Coalition during the occupation of Kuwait in 1990."

"Now the Coalition are helping us rehabilitate the plant. That's life!"

'Big change'

The Japanese delegation were as delighted as their hosts at being able finally to visit projects which they have been involved in from afar for years, without being able to see them on the ground for security reasons.

"I really feel the big change over the past year, and I feel really safe here," said delegation leader Hideki Matsunaga, who heads the Middle East department at the Japanese International Co-operation Agency.

"Of course there are still risks and some incidents and so on, but that's the same all over the world."

"Maybe it will take a little bit more time to change the perception of private-sector people, but maybe first public-sector people like us will come more frequently, and demonstrate that people can now do business as usual."

The Japanese are pledging as much as $1.5bn (£1.05bn) in soft loans (0.75% interest over 40 years, with a grace period of 10 years) and projects will be open to international tender, not just Japanese companies.

Companies cautious

So far, the British forces have helped show 19 companies around the south, where $9bn-worth of investment possibilities have been identified.

But despite the money and lives that it has cost the British to maintain their presence in the strategic, oil-rich south, British companies have been slow to show interest in exploring the investment opportunities.

That's something Lt Gen Cooper would like to see remedied.

"I think there is sufficient potential here, in what is the third largest oil reserves in the world, for British companies, and indeed any others, to come here," he said.

"This may currently be in commercial terms quite high risk, but it is also very high reward, and I would certainly encourage any British company, whether it be in the oil industry or any other part of industry, to get involved in southern Iraq, because the potential is really quite significant."

Militias defeated

Back at the Coalition Operations Base at Basra airport, huge energy is being poured into a co-ordinated effort involving British and American diplomats, development agencies, the military and the Iraqi authorities, mainly focused on bolstering the huge recent security gains by promoting effective regional government and projects that provide benefits and jobs for the people.

The provincial elections on 31 January passed off without a single incident, to the huge relief of Coalition and Iraqi officials.

"The time is now," said one British official.

"There is a significant window. But there is no complacency, because there is still danger."

"The threat now is if the provincial council should fail to deliver, especially in the realm of creating jobs."

Security in Basra and elsewhere in the south was transformed last spring, when the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki threw the Iraqi army into a campaign, codenamed Charge of the Knights, to root out Shia militias which had plagued the area.

With Coalition help, the militia - mainly Moqtada Sadr's Mehdi Army - was heavily defeated.

Officials estimate that there may be around 200 militiamen still underground in Basra, which is controlled by up to 30,000 Iraqi army forces and police.

Nobody can rule out a return of militia rule if the momentum of the state should falter.

That explains the sense of urgency behind the efforts for political and economic development.

Most of the remaining 4,000 or so British troops will end their mission in May and be out of the country by the end of July.

An estimated 400 will stay behind to help train the Iraqi navy and provide other support for the Iraqi forces.

Iraqi forces tested - Financial Times

By Andrew England in Basra

On the streets that lead into Hayaniah, Basra’s most notorious slum, small groups of Iraqi soldiers man a string of checkpoints, peering into vehicles and sometimes questioning drivers.

At some of the posts sit US-donated Humvees or armoured personnel carriers, now with Iraqi flags and surrounded by coils of razor wire. These, combined with the frequency of the checkpoints, add to a sense of militarisation in the area.

However, the fact that the soldiers are deployed in Hayaniah – once a no-go area and hotbed of militia activity – is seen as a sign of true progress for the Iraqi army.

Building on the security gains highlighted by last month’s peaceful provincial elections and continuing the development of Iraq’s fledgling security forces will be critical to its stability as the US and Britain look to withdraw their troops.

It is in areas like this that the Iraqi forces could be severely tested. The slum is notorious as a stronghold of the Mahdi Army, the militia nominally loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, the Shia cleric.

It saw some of the heaviest fighting last year as the army sought to wrest control of Basra from the militias.

An air of caution still hangs over Hayaniah, but there is little doubt that today Basrawis have a renewed sense of security because of the offensive which has been dubbed Charge of the Knights.

Its success was an important factor behind the strong showing of the political bloc backed by Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, at last month’s elections.

There are lingering questions about whether the militias were defeated or simply melted away, and the operation did highlight the Iraqi security forces’ weaknesses as well as their gains.

Iraqi troops had to depend on help from coalition forces, not least logistics support for food, water and ammunition, experts say. Both the army and police also suffered desertions, estimates of which vary from hundreds to more than 1,000.

Western and Iraqi military officials say the army has made progress in the months since, improving its command and control structures and its logistics capacity. However, they acknowledge a lack of strength in depth at both officer and non-commissioned officer levels.

An Iraqi army officer says the biggest problem is the army’s lack of heavy equipment and complains of “tank drivers without tanks”.

He also expressed concern that any future wrangles between the political parties in government could affect the military’s effectiveness.

But it is the police that are the biggest concern in Basra. Before the Charge of the Knights campaign, they were seen as a part of the problem – a force infiltrated by militias and often suspected of involvement in killings and kidnappings.

During the operation, many police fought alongside the militias and some 4,000 were dismissed because of ties to the Mahdi Army. A police officer undertaking forensic training in Britain says the force has improved, but that militia members remain in high positions.

Significantly, he shares many Basrawis’ fears that the militias could well resurface – given the opportunity.

“They [militias] do nothing now . . . but they are only waiting for the lion [American troops] to leave and the rat to come back to their position again,” he says.

Asked if the police could control Basra if the army pulled out, both he and a colleague shake their heads.

The officer blames the US-led coalition for the problems, arguing that it asked the political parties, many of which have their own ­militias, to choose who should be in the force. “And suddenly I find myself serving the militia.”

Some British officials say there was no proper training plan, and that the coalition was seduced by the number of recruits rather than their talent and ability.

US military police are being drafted in to provide additional training. But there are also complaints about the interior ministry’s inability to supply the force with everything from pens to bullets. It will take much work before many Basrawis put their trust in the police.

“The police were hiding under their blankets [when the militias roamed Basra] and if the army goes the Iraqi police will return to their blankets,” says one.

Four Britons to join first tourist trip to Baghdad - Telegraph

Four Britons will be among the first tour group of westerners to risk a holiday in the Arab areas of Iraq for six years when they fly to Baghdad in March.

They will be accompanied at all times by armed guards and forbidden from leaving their hotels at night or wandering off alone during their two-week tour by minibus of a dozen sites including Baghdad, Babylon, and Basra.

Surrey-based Hinterland Travel, which has organised the tour, ran trips to the country during Saddam's rule and then briefly in October 2003 before violence made it too dangerous.

Geoff Hann, the company's managing director, said he now was the right time to go back. "We're seeing the beginnings of a new Iraq," he said. "They want normality, and tourism is part of that. If we make this trip and show that it is possible to do it successfully, that will contribute to normality."

The first, tentative return of tourists to what has been one of the most dangerous countries in the world is being seen by Iraqi officials as a vote of confidence in its improved security over the last year. There are still car-bombings and assassinations, but the level of violence has fallen dramatically since its peak, when thousands of Iraqis were being killed each week.

"It's an encouraging sign of our return towards normality that tourists are willing to consider a trip here," one official said.

None of those on the first tour - including two Americans, a Canadian, a Russian and a New Zealander - have visited Iraq before.

Tina Townsend-Greaves, aged 46, a civil servant from Yorkshire who works for the Department of Health, said she jumped at the chance after visiting Afghanistan, Iran and other places in the Middle East.

"Most people are interested in seeing your holiday photos afterwards, even if they think you're a bit mad for going," she said.

"I wouldn't go if I thought there were serious risks. I'm really looking forward to seeing the historical sites, especially Babylon."

The tour will include Baghdad and the nearby town of Samarra, a flashpoint in the sectarian conflict after its golden mosque was blown up in 2006. The ancient sites of Babylon, Nimrud and Ctesiphon will be visited, and the great Shia pilgrimage sites of Najaf and Kerbala which are on the way to the southern city of Basra where 4,000 British troops are still based.

Mr Hann said the party would be avoiding the most dangerous places like Fallujah and Mosul.

"Iraqi friends have said there will be places where you won't be welcome, and if we encounter that, we will move on. People who come on this trip must understand the risk," he said. "But Iraqis say that things are getting better day by day and in Baghdad it is changing fast."

Violence has fallen sharply in Iraq in recent months and provincial elections last weekend went smoothly with few reports of attacks.

The trip will cost £1,900 including flights to Baghdad via Damascus. The itinerary includes Baghdad's museum, which was looted in 2003, and the party will attempt to see some of Saddam's old palaces, if occupying British and American soldiers will allow access.

The trip will be made despite a standing warning from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office against travel in nearly all of Iraq, including Baghdad, because of the high risk of terrorism. The british embassy in Baghdad points out that terrorists, insurgents and criminals are likely to target organisations or individuals of western appearance and describes road travel as "highly dangerous".

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.”

Lieutenant-General John Cooper: death of 179 troops is price worth paying for our success - Times

Britain deserves its share of the credit for what has been achieved in Iraq, and its achievements vindicate the losses suffered by its troops there, the senior British military commander in the country has told The Times.

“When our mission ends in Basra [on May 31], we will be leaving behind a city that is in far better nick than it was when we arrived in 2003. It’s more stable and the people have faith in, and a vision for, the future,” said Lieutenant-General John Cooper, Deputy Commanding General Multinational Force Iraq. “Our losses will be vindicated in the same way our losses in Northern Ireland were. Part of Service life is to make sacrifices. We accept it and live with it. We don’t wring our hands but we never forget those we leave behind.” Since the invasion in March 2003, 136 British personnel have been killed by enemy action and 43 have died in noncombat incidents. British Forces have come in for strong criticism for their role in Iraq, in particular since the withdrawal of all the troops from Basra city in September 2007, when extremist Shia militia forces were still in control of the streets.

Six months later thousands of US-backed Iraqi troops from Baghdad drove the extremists out of the city in Operation Charge of the Knights, led personally by Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister. Mr al-Maliki is known to have been angered upon discovering that Britain had been negotiating with al-Mahdi Army, the Shia militia he was trying to expel.

General Cooper was in command of the Multinational Division Southeast, encompassing Basra, in 2006, before the deal was negotiated to allow the last 500 British troops in the city to leave in 2007 without being attacked. “In 2006 there was increasing violence and there was a fear that it was going to slip into civil war, although this proved unfounded. But it was a tough time,” he told The Times, in his small office in the vast new US Embassy complex in Baghdad.

Charge of the Knights was undoubtedly a key moment in the postSaddam era, transforming the city’s security, and the military and the Ministry of Defence deny they were pushed on to the sidelines. But the British were kept unaware of the plan to send in Iraqi forces with US support until the last moment.

Up to 500 Shia militia were killed and the rest fled in the fighting, although the campaign got off to a shaky start when 3,000 British-trained Iraqis surrendered their weapons and fled, leaving their vehicles burning in the streets. The British provided Challenger 2 tanks as well as artillery units and RAF Tornados, but no combat troops were requested.

Nigel Hayward, who arrived as consul-general in Basra in the middle of Charge of the Knights, said that it would have been extremely difficult for the British battle group, by this time in an airbase outside Basra, to take on the militia, who could muster hundreds if not thousands at short notice, and to be able to sustain the operation for any length of time. “It wasn’t practical,” he told The Times.

General Cooper, 54, who is coming to the end of his appointment as deputy to the overall US commander, now General Ray Odierno, took up that post on March 23, 2008. This was, he pointed out, the Wednesday before the Iraqi Prime Minister announced, at short notice, that he was going down to Basra to launch the Iraqi operation.

He is keen to defend the British record. “You don’t get a decent history written until everyone involved is dead, but I hope that people will look back and say Iraq isn’t doing too badly,” General Cooper said.

“It has been a success for the Iraqis. The Iraqi Government have the people on their side and there’s a burgeoning democracy. The Iraqis have an appetite for democracy and that’s been achieved in six years, which is not a bad legacy.

“The Iraqi Army’s 14th Division in Basra, we built it up and trained the troops, and they have shown they can take full responsibility. Our mission, therefore, is complete, because the Iraqi security forces have Basra under control.”

Was it worth a war and the huge number of casualties to achieve this nascent democracy? “There’s no point in debating what has gone on before. The key is that we were deployed and given a task to do and we’ve done that pretty well. Now we will extract in good order.”

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.

Basra inspection to pave way for yen-loan reconstruction projects

In the first full-scale government inspection since a Ground Self-Defense Force unit withdrew in 2006, Japanese officials recently visited Basra in southern Iraq to pave the way for yen-loan-financed reconstruction projects.

The move, welcomed by Iraq, is part of an attempt by Japan to catch up with other countries in getting its private sector involved in on-the-ground reconstruction support for the country, which is seeing gradual improvement in its security situation.

"We've been waiting for you for 30 years," Abdul-Hadi Saad, general deputy of the State Company of Fertilizers, said as the company welcomed a total of six officials from the Japanese Embassy and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

During the two-day visit from Monday, the six met Iraqi officials of the fertilizer plant in Khor Al-Zubair and the South Refineries Company in Basra as well as authorities of Umm Qasr port. Japanese companies have been involved in the construction of the three areas.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. was involved in building the Basra facility, which started to operate in 1979.

But war and economic sanctions imposed on Iraq have made it difficult for the plant to import replacement parts from Japan and led the workers there to carefully maintain the equipment to avoid using poor-quality components instead.

Click here for the full story

Iraq sees a revival - Time Magazine

TIME photographer Yuri Kozyrev tracks how daily life in Baghdad and elsewhere has regained a semblance of normalcy.

For a more Time photos click here

Private Ryan Wrathall dies in Basra

It is with great regret that the Ministry of Defence must confirm the death of Private Ryan Wrathall in Basra, Iraq, Thursday 12 February 2009.

Private Wrathall was serving with 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment as part of 5th Battalion The Rifles (5 RIFLES) (Strike) Battle Group. He was found at Basra's Contingency Operating Base having suffered a gunshot wound. Immediate medical assistance was provided, but sadly he died from his wounds.

The incident, which occurred at approximately 0630 hours local time, will be subject to a full investigation. No enemy forces were involved and there is no evidence to suggest that anyone else was involved.

Private Ryan Wrathall

Private Ryan Wrathall, aged 21, from Surbiton, Surrey, was serving in 1 Platoon, A Company, 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (1 PWRR) - known as 'The Armoured Tigers'.

He enlisted into the Army in November 2007 at the Infantry Training Centre Catterick, prior to joining 1 PWRR in Paderborn, Germany, in June 2008.

On arrival in the battalion he joined his company in their preparations for deploying to BATUS (British Army Training Unit Suffield) in Canada and subsequently deployed on Exercise Medicine Man 2. While in Canada he also took part in Exercise Fast Air (free-fall parachuting) which he thoroughly enjoyed. The remainder of 2008 was spent preparing for Operation Telic 13 in which he played a full and active part.

He deployed to southern Iraq in November 2008 and was about halfway through a six-month tour of the country as a member of the 5 RIFLES (Strike) Battle Group.

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.

Soldier dies in Iraq

It is with regret that the Ministry of Defence must announce the death of a soldier from 1st Battalion The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment in Basra, Iraq, today, Thursday 12 February 2009.

The soldier died during a shooting incident in the early hours of the morning at the Contingency Operating Base.

The circumstances surrounding the incident are still being investigated.

Next of kin have been informed and have asked for a period of grace before further details are released.

Britons hail successes in Basra - Middle East Times

British defense officials praised the success of the Iraqi provincial elections and general security improvements during a tour of Basra.

British Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth paid a visit to members of an artillery regiment and military transition teams operating in Basra, the British Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

Ainsworth hailed the work of his troops, saying they helped pave the way to a peaceful election in January that went by with few reports of violence.

"Democracy is flourishing, and people can now go about their daily business," he said.

He added the ability of Iraqi security forces to coordinate operations in the bustling port city, as well as the opportunity for provincial council candidates to campaign openly, was a triumph for British forces.

"I came here a year ago, and Basra was still a troubled place," he said. "It is now a testament to the success of (England's) transition strategy that Iraqis are solving Iraqi problems and Basra is now a secure city."

Click here for the Middle East Times

Orphanage get a new dining room

The Al Zahara Childrens orphanage in the Al Andolous area of Basra has a new dining room thanks to funds provided by the British Forces and furniture thanks to Iraqi benevolence.

To grand opening was marked by a late breakfast attended by the orphanage’s patron, Doctor Wathib Al-Amood, and the Second-in-Command of the Queen’s Royal Hussars, Major Tom Mallinson.

Prior to getting their new dining room, built onto an under used terrace, the children ate in a corridor.

Dr Al-Amood said: “Thank-you for this project, you have seen the value of this to the children. Because of their past and their poverty they are now dreaming of better things and I hope, one day, you will meet one of my children as a doctor or an engineer”

Major Mallinson said: “I was only too happy to finish this project; I regard this as a joint British and Iraqi effort as we have all played our part and it shows Iraqis can look after their own. I hope, Dr A-Amood, that the children remember what you have done for them for a long time”

The children then sang “Welcome to our home” in English and further demonstrated their command of the English language before singing an Iraqi song for their guests.

The orphanage provides a secure environment and education to 70 children. The school also provides an education to a further 180 local children.

Dr Al-Amood was a candidate in the recent elections, and while he was not successful he remains committed to the democratic process saying: “This was a very good activity and the elections went very smoothly with no disturbance”

Snapshot of life for UK troops in Basra - BBC

The BBC's diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams has been embedded with the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment in Basra.

The regiment has been involved in training and mentoring the Iraqi army, before the final departure of British troops on 31 July.

Click here to watch a BBC video report as three soldiers show us around the base and explain what they hope to achieve in the country.

Families of British servicemen killed in Iraq to get Government help to visit country - Telegraph

The families of British military perosnnel killed in Iraq will get Government help to visit the country and see improvements in the country their loved ones fought and died for, a defence minister has said.

By James Kirkup in Basra

Bob Ainsworth said seeing that advances in Iraq's society, economy and security will persuade families that "the loss of their sons was not in vain."

British forces will start their final withdrawal from Iraq next month, six years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and cost the lives of 178 British servicemen.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph in Iraq, Mr Ainsworth said that in future years, veterans of the British mission and their families will want to visit the country in the same way that Second World War veterans visit the Normandy beaches and other battle sites.

Hailing "dramatic" improvements in the security situation in Basra, Mr Ainsworth also accused opponents of the original invasion for taking a "jaundiced" view of Iraq today and refusing to admit that the country is now making progress.

Iraq's local elections last month passed off without significant violence and British commanders say they will leave confident that the country is on course for stability. Maj Gen Andy Salmon, the senior British officer in Iraq, last week told the Daily Telegraph that Basra is now safer than Manchester.

During his visit to Iraq, Mr Ainsworth was able to walk the streets of Basra, meeting locals and visiting businesses.

Speaking afterwards, he looked forward to the next phase in Britain's relationship with Iraq, forecasting close ties between the two nations because of their "combined history".

"There are going to be a lot of Brits who are going to feel close to this place because they have had experiences here, some good some bad," he said.

"There are going to be people who have lost loved ones here who are going to want to visit. They are going to want to understand Iraq, to see Iraq going forward. They are going to want to think that the loss of their sons was not in vain."

As the security situation improves still further, families and veterans will visit, he said. "There is still going to be an attachment to place."

He added: "As we see with Second World War veterans wanting to visit the D-Day landing sites to see where they were involved and their families wanting to do the same. The same thing is going to happen out here and of course we are going to wind up facilitating that."

Some British soldiers and diplomats in Iraq are frustrated at what they see as the British public's failure to appreciate the significant advances the country has made in recent months.

Mr Ainsworth said that some critics of the 2003 invasion - including Labour MPs - are refusing to admit that life in Iraq is getting better.

"It is difficult when you have been so opposed to the operation in the first place it is very difficult to look at with anything other than jaundiced view from then on," he said. "Some people just think Iraq must be an awful place and they can't see beyond that."

The Government is urging British companies to consider investing in Iraq, but Mr Ainsworth said that outdated fears about security were deterring many firms.

"I think people are blind to the progress to the progress that has been made," he said. "Most people, business people included, have not caught up with the reality."

Mr Ainsworth accepted that some opponents of the war would see any attempt to boost investment as an attempt to "cash in" on the conflict, or even proof that the war was in fact launched to get access to Iraqi oil.

He strongly rejected that argument but added that having lost lives and spent billions of pounds in Iraq, "it would be perverse if we do not seek to develop a good bilateral relationship with Iraq, and of course there is a commercial aspect to that."

For the article on the Telegraph web site click here