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| Huw Edwards' Iraq diary | Huw Edwards' Iraq diary |
| (about 20 hours later) | |
| To mark the fourth anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq, the BBC's Huw Edwards is spending a week with British troops in Basra, and will be noting here his experiences on the week's events. Later in the week he will take your questions - click here to ask him something. | To mark the fourth anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq, the BBC's Huw Edwards is spending a week with British troops in Basra, and will be noting here his experiences on the week's events. Later in the week he will take your questions - click here to ask him something. |
| DAY FIVEWe have bonded big time with Major Robbie Davies of 2 Lancs - this guy could transform the Army's PR! He grabs every opportunity to promote his team and he's a star. He understands the media's (often baffling) needs and delivers every time. Want to broadcast the Ten O'Clock News live from the massive tank park at a very busy time? No problem. Want to talk to someone who's impossible to find? Done. He should be booked right now to run the MoD's Information Department when he leaves the Army... | |
| • It was a tricky Ten O'Clock News last night. We lost our main communications link with London - so I found myself being cued by the Ten O'Clock editor Craig Oliver who was on a dodgy mobile phone link to TV Centre. It's a strange sense not having any of the usual director's talkback, and not being aware of the way the programme is developing. Stranger still when you're broadcasting from the Iraqi desert. We'd found an old Iraqi tank left in the mud since 2003 - and it seemed an appropriate backdrop for the fourth anniversary. | |
| • Lots of e-mails about flak jackets. When to wear one? Basically you do as you're told. The base in Basra is under attack almost daily - so when there's an alert you're told to wear the flak jacket (and helmet). It's a strict rule on base that the jacket and helmet are always kept within 20 metres. | |
| The handover of the Old State Building• The British mark the fourth anniversary of the invasion by handing over the Old State Building in Basra City to the Iraqis. I'm told it was the original coalition base in Basra after the invasion - so the transfer is highly symbolic. A rather bizarre news conference is convened in the Basra Airport Building - featuring senior Iraqi figures and Roger Jones, the Consul General, along with General Jonathan Shaw, the man who runs much of southern Iraq. Bizarre because the airport is semi-deserted (built by Germans in the mid 1980s, a kind of time capsule) and only used by Saddam a few times. The local air services are starting to flourish. There seem to be dozens of Iraqi camera crews present and there are long questions and even longer answers. When General Shaw gets a chance to speak, he does so with the kind of precision and directness which invites no contradictions... he makes very little attempt to spin (which is refreshing) but I can't imagine it's easy to explain why power is increasingly in the hands of corrupt Iraqi police officers. | |
| • It's very hot again. Maybe not by Iraqi standards, but certainly by British ones. A senior officer quips that it's not hot at all... it's really rather cool etc... I'm tempted to ask him to visit our festering tent - and enjoy the rather Spartan conditions - but I suspect I'd be greeted with a sinister stare... and they're very good at doing sinister stares... | |
| • There were no alerts last night - for once - and it was nice to sleep for a few hours. But not a long kip. We got to bed at 2.30am (after doing the Ten) and then were up again at 6.30 to film a sequence at breakfast (2 Lancs again, thanks to you know who... ) and to do live slots for Breakfast News. But let's face it - the big incentive was the great breakfast laid on by RCWO Andy Winnett and his team - they're the only team of Army chefs on base. After that we interviewed Trevor Hopkins from Bristol, who entered Iraq with the Second Royal Tank Regiment in 2003 - and is back for his third tour in 2007. Like so many of his colleagues, he notes the change of atmosphere in Basra City - much more aggressive - much more menacing - especially at night. That's the reality of Iraq four years on. | |
| DAY FOUR contd...Flying over the British base - on the outskirts of Basra - you're struck by two things: the sheer size of the place, and the fact that lots of it is a building site. They're getting ready for more troops as other British bases are closed in the coming months. There's a clear sense that we're entering a new phase, and much is being made of the handover of powers to local Iraqi forces. The port of Umm Qasr is being held up as a beacon of good practice - links with the Provincial Council are good - and levels of corruption among local police are low by Iraqi standards. Elsewhere it's much more depressing. In Dhi Qar Province - where the British have also taken a back seat - the chief of police admits he can't trust a third of his men - and he's forced to take on dozens of illiterate officers. The strong impression is that the British think they've done what they can - and now, quite frankly, it's up the Iraqis. It's a long way short of the ambitions set out four years ago. | DAY FOUR contd...Flying over the British base - on the outskirts of Basra - you're struck by two things: the sheer size of the place, and the fact that lots of it is a building site. They're getting ready for more troops as other British bases are closed in the coming months. There's a clear sense that we're entering a new phase, and much is being made of the handover of powers to local Iraqi forces. The port of Umm Qasr is being held up as a beacon of good practice - links with the Provincial Council are good - and levels of corruption among local police are low by Iraqi standards. Elsewhere it's much more depressing. In Dhi Qar Province - where the British have also taken a back seat - the chief of police admits he can't trust a third of his men - and he's forced to take on dozens of illiterate officers. The strong impression is that the British think they've done what they can - and now, quite frankly, it's up the Iraqis. It's a long way short of the ambitions set out four years ago. |
| DAY FOUR...An early start. We're taken to Umm Qasr where we're met by the very impressive Major Will Lynch who's in charge there. He and his men take us out on a visit to the port and the market place. This is billed as one of the safest towns in Iraq, but we're still not allowed to wander around without protection. We chat to some men in the port. They all have the same message: they have no work and no money. They seem to enjoy friendly relations with the British troops - and there's a sense among local people that the port is so important to the local economy that sectarian differences tend to be smoothed over. Then it's back to Basra in a battered old Sea King helicopter, flying very low over the desert and passing several oil plants on the way. We can't go by road - the main highway is constantly under attack. | DAY FOUR...An early start. We're taken to Umm Qasr where we're met by the very impressive Major Will Lynch who's in charge there. He and his men take us out on a visit to the port and the market place. This is billed as one of the safest towns in Iraq, but we're still not allowed to wander around without protection. We chat to some men in the port. They all have the same message: they have no work and no money. They seem to enjoy friendly relations with the British troops - and there's a sense among local people that the port is so important to the local economy that sectarian differences tend to be smoothed over. Then it's back to Basra in a battered old Sea King helicopter, flying very low over the desert and passing several oil plants on the way. We can't go by road - the main highway is constantly under attack. |
| DAY THREE...We spend the day filing material and reporting live for BBC News 24, BBC World and the main television bulletins on BBC One. The Ten O'Clock News goes out at 1am local time, and by the time we've de-rigged the satellite dish and all the material, it's getting on for 2.15. Then it's back to the tent... and if we think that's bad, I can't even begin to describe the portable loos around the base... | DAY THREE...We spend the day filing material and reporting live for BBC News 24, BBC World and the main television bulletins on BBC One. The Ten O'Clock News goes out at 1am local time, and by the time we've de-rigged the satellite dish and all the material, it's getting on for 2.15. Then it's back to the tent... and if we think that's bad, I can't even begin to describe the portable loos around the base... |
| DAY TWO contd...We're busy planning a week's events when we get our first story. We're told that 11 "internees" (not "prisoners", it is stressed) have escaped from a British detention centre. That's bad enough, but the way they did it is particularly painful for those in charge. The internees basically swapped places with visitors. And it happened some days before it was noticed. Red faces all round. | DAY TWO contd...We're busy planning a week's events when we get our first story. We're told that 11 "internees" (not "prisoners", it is stressed) have escaped from a British detention centre. That's bad enough, but the way they did it is particularly painful for those in charge. The internees basically swapped places with visitors. And it happened some days before it was noticed. Red faces all round. |
| Bags and kit everywhere... flack-jacket and helmet within reach... we'll get five seconds' warning of a mortar attack Iraq: Four years on So who's escaped? Are they dangerous? Can't go into details, sorry, they say. But the escapees are "considered to be a threat" to Iraqi security or to British troops. So they're clearly dangerous, and still on the run. And all this as the Brits' Operation Sinbad tries to contain the violence in the Basra region. Privately, officers admit it's hugely embarrassing. The official spokesman prefers to say it's "regrettable". | Bags and kit everywhere... flack-jacket and helmet within reach... we'll get five seconds' warning of a mortar attack Iraq: Four years on So who's escaped? Are they dangerous? Can't go into details, sorry, they say. But the escapees are "considered to be a threat" to Iraqi security or to British troops. So they're clearly dangerous, and still on the run. And all this as the Brits' Operation Sinbad tries to contain the violence in the Basra region. Privately, officers admit it's hugely embarrassing. The official spokesman prefers to say it's "regrettable". |
| DAY TWO...It's 9am and already very hot. Our first real look at Basra air base - home to thousands of British troops. It's big. A mix of cabins and tents linked by dirt tracks and gravel roads, and surrounded by high security fences. In the distance, the control tower and the old airport hotel, now the military headquarters. We share a tent with some Sky and ITV colleagues, and some officers assigned to look after us. It's basic. | DAY TWO...It's 9am and already very hot. Our first real look at Basra air base - home to thousands of British troops. It's big. A mix of cabins and tents linked by dirt tracks and gravel roads, and surrounded by high security fences. In the distance, the control tower and the old airport hotel, now the military headquarters. We share a tent with some Sky and ITV colleagues, and some officers assigned to look after us. It's basic. |
| Our home is a big tent and we're allocated a camp bed and very little else. Bags and kit everywhere. Flack-jacket and helmet within reach. We'll get five seconds' warning of a mortar attack. We're told that one soldier had a narrow escape last week. She was driving when she heard the siren. She jumped out of the Land Rover and crouched behind a shelter. The mortar destroyed her vehicle. | Our home is a big tent and we're allocated a camp bed and very little else. Bags and kit everywhere. Flack-jacket and helmet within reach. We'll get five seconds' warning of a mortar attack. We're told that one soldier had a narrow escape last week. She was driving when she heard the siren. She jumped out of the Land Rover and crouched behind a shelter. The mortar destroyed her vehicle. |
| DAY ONE...It's early morning and we've checked in at RAF Brize Norton. The chartered XL jet looks a bit too cheerful next to the sober Tristars and VC-10s. Al Basrah - or Basra - is the only place to go if you want to see what life is like for British forces in Iraq. It's four years since the invasion, and we're planning a week's programmes to mark this anniversary. I have mixed feelings about going, for obvious reasons. But I want to see what's happening there. Our flight is delayed by three hours - a short wait say the troops around us. Lots of them are returning from leave. | DAY ONE...It's early morning and we've checked in at RAF Brize Norton. The chartered XL jet looks a bit too cheerful next to the sober Tristars and VC-10s. Al Basrah - or Basra - is the only place to go if you want to see what life is like for British forces in Iraq. It's four years since the invasion, and we're planning a week's programmes to mark this anniversary. I have mixed feelings about going, for obvious reasons. But I want to see what's happening there. Our flight is delayed by three hours - a short wait say the troops around us. Lots of them are returning from leave. |
| Some are going to Basra for the first time. One young Mancunian tells me: "it's not easy going out when you know there's less support at home". Another looks up (reluctantly) from his PSP and says: "hope you report what the ordinary soldiers say, not the muppets in charge". We get to Qatar seven hours later. The US base at Al Udeid is immense. We're told to get our flack-jackets and helmets for the next leg - the flight to Basra. But our Hercules has been delayed because of rocket attacks on the Basra air base. It gets to us at 2am. Big thunderstorms to worry about - not to mention insurgent attacks on the planes and helicopters around the base. | Some are going to Basra for the first time. One young Mancunian tells me: "it's not easy going out when you know there's less support at home". Another looks up (reluctantly) from his PSP and says: "hope you report what the ordinary soldiers say, not the muppets in charge". We get to Qatar seven hours later. The US base at Al Udeid is immense. We're told to get our flack-jackets and helmets for the next leg - the flight to Basra. But our Hercules has been delayed because of rocket attacks on the Basra air base. It gets to us at 2am. Big thunderstorms to worry about - not to mention insurgent attacks on the planes and helicopters around the base. |
| In pitch darkness, we circle high above the runway - and at the last moment we descend at an alarming angle. The RAF gets too little credit for the work it does. It's 4am when we land. Very windy, the tail end of a sand storm. The base has been under attack during the night. Welcome to Basra, says the captain. There's a briefing in four hours. We'll plan the week's programming. We need some sleep before then. | In pitch darkness, we circle high above the runway - and at the last moment we descend at an alarming angle. The RAF gets too little credit for the work it does. It's 4am when we land. Very windy, the tail end of a sand storm. The base has been under attack during the night. Welcome to Basra, says the captain. There's a briefing in four hours. We'll plan the week's programming. We need some sleep before then. |
| Send your question to Huw, using the form below. | Send your question to Huw, using the form below. |