Dai Havard

Labour Party | Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney

Westminster Palace to Basra Palace!

I wanted to visit the British troops in Iraq before the hand over to a new Interim Iraqi government. I spent four days with them in the middle of last month and found them in good heart and positive about the contribution they are making to help stabilise and develop the country. They were angry about the ‘Daily Mirror’ stories but more for the uncertainty that gave to their families and friends than for themselves.

On that visit to Basra and the Persian Gulf I found the Iraqi people I met very capable and with a desire to re-build their country and progress. I can not say what it was like outside the British Sector as the Americans would not, at the last minute, guarantee our safety to visit Baghdad.

Following a quick stop at the Humanitarian Operations Centre in Kuwait I had a very interesting hedge hopping - or rather pylon hopping - flight on a Puma helicopter into Basra airport and the British base. I was to spend a couple of night there in the relative luxury of the porta-cabin type huts and communal wash and toilet facilities. The food was great and there was even a ‘two can limit’ of cold beer! When you mess-in with people in this way you get a better understanding of what is really happening.

My visit down town in Basra was different to the everyday patrol for the troops but nevertheless gave a real feel for the uncertainty, but also the benefit our troops bring with them for ordinary Iraqis.

I visited a local Police Station and the Police Training area seeing Iraqi recruits being trained by British policemen. They were ‘rough and ready’ by British standards but enthusiastic and in these circumstances very brave people.

I also visited the prison and whilst the accommodation would be unacceptable by domestic standards it was being run as well as might be, with prisoners being treated well and given three meals a day, something they would not necessarily get outside and being processed through the Courts. The civil and criminal justice system is the pre- Sadam law which is very like the French system and is working, certainly in the British sector. The prison system is overseen by a British Infantry Sergeant, a Reservist who in everyday life a senior prison officer! I saw many examples of the versatility of our Reservists and the British team work approach bringing skills and good standards to build up the Iraqis experience of proper conduct and organisation for the future. In all these cases Iraqis were being put to the fore and made responsible as much as possible.

At the water treatment plant in Basra the civilian staff from the UK are helping the Iraqi engineers re-build. The problems of water and electricity supply in Basra are not from ‘war damage’ but thirty years of neglect and starvation of investment by the Sadam Hussein regime. As with other parts of Iraq, economic as well as ballistic and poison weapons were used against areas of the country that posed a threat to his regime.

One of my briefings was conducted at Sadam's old Palace in Basra, where the troops gave me lunch on the terrace! It is an edifice that was badly built but imposed itself on the city. As with much the Sadam regime it was largely a ‘front’ designed to impress and impose hegemony over the people, backed with little other than terror.

One of the most interesting overall impressions I gained was that the regime could impose its will but in some ways never did control all parts of this vast country. The British troops in many ways have more control in Al Amarah than Sadam ever had, but this is a control to a purpose that is gaining consent but is very fragile and volatile. All the Sadam regime could do was impose itself through terror.

The duality is that as the move to set up elected Local Councils in the British sector moves forward the attacks against our troops intensify and are more numerous. There was much praise for the work of Danish troops for their expertise in Nation Building but a palpable fear the American do not understand the doctrine of the ‘strategic corporal’ and may just move to shoot the wrong Imam, at the wrong time in the wrong place and rip the lid off the fragile but improving situation the British, Danes and other working with them have created.

One of the most worry things with the change over in administrations came from my Brief meeting with local Iraqi leaders and the outgoing CPA representatives. The potential hiatus or drying up of funding for much needed local reconstruction projects employing Iraqis is a major concern. This could have a real affect on the good work being done by both the civil and military. The CPA had effectively stopped running projects and there was no process in place to spend the ‘US Aid’ money that had been promised. The fear of contract letting to US and US ‘sponsored’ companies and contractors from Baghdad, not fully involving local Iraqis and others coupled with no process in place to spend the UN controlled Oil Development Fund monies, to be controlled by the new government were, worrying indeed and featured in my private report to the Prime Minister on my return.

One of my other visits was to camp Shaibah and the Logistics centre which also holds the main medical facilities for British troops. It was here I met the commander of the Royal Welch Fusiliers. I had reports of Corporal Steven Warner, from Penydarren, who wrote a ‘pen pal’ letter to the Express recently. Unfortunately we did not meet up but his CO was most impressed that he had a better ‘in’ to the House of Commons Defence Committee than he did! The serious part of the brief was about the great work and professionalism of Steven and his comrades and all those who work to support their effort.

Apart from my colleague Ann Clwyd MP (as the Prime Ministers Human Rights Envoy to Iraq) and the International Red Cross, we were the only other people who had been allowed to visit the British Detention Facility. This is an internment camp but bears no similarity with any facility being run by the Americans. The British commander has refused everyone, other than family visitors for the prisoners, any access. That includes the US Coalition commanders. He has kept the camp fully in line with the Geneva Convention and Prisoner of War rights. The camp is run largely on the basis of consent with prisoners allowed visitors on three days a week, to wear their national dress and conduct their religious observances. They have an area for exercise and play football and volley ball with some enthusiasm. Many of these prisoners are terrorists and are dangerous threats to security in Iraq and beyond but also some were effectively detained for their own protection. The irony is that some feel guilty that their conditions in prison are in many respects better than those of their families outside. There will need to be clarity of the legal status of this facility and those running it when sovereignty is transferred at the end of the month. What I can report however is there was no evidence abuse of prisoners in any way, something confirmed by the Red Cross who have had free access throughout.

Driving through the country back into Kuwait I boarded an American hovercraft to be taken out to ‘HMS Grafton’ which is on station helping to protect Iraq’s Oil Terminals in the Persian Gulf. These terminals have seen one suicide raid, with three boats being driven into them and exploded. They are the economic life blood of Iraq but in need of refurbishment and renewal. Ships are vulnerable whilst load oil and the facilities themselves are a major terrorist target. Their significance goes well beyond just generating oil revenues. A successful attack would create a massive ecological disaster across the whole Gulf affecting several other countries. Most importantly are the nearby coasts of Iran and the sea cooling intakes of their nuclear reactor in the area. The co-operation in practice rather than in any formal way between the Iranian Navy and the British Navy was interesting as it showed a ‘mutuality of interest’ that may not be formally agreed but accepted in practice. The Iranians do not want a ‘Chernobyl type’ incident on their hands. You see very quickly the frightening, perverse and indiscriminate mind of the terrorists when you visit such places.

On the Grafton I met most of the crew and some of the Iraqis who are being trained by the British Navy, to police the area and keep it secure with the new patrol boats they are buying. Again their enthusiasm was clear and the crew of the Grafton well versed in the importance and value of their task. These oil terminals are clearly of strategic importance to the whole region and some help in keeping them safe will be need for a long time.

My journey to the Grafton was a noisy windowless bulkhead seat of canvas covered five-ply wood for an hour and three quarters! Only at the other end did I know the reason it took so long. One of the two craft had broken down. So on the way back to compensate I had a pole seat with the Captain and his crew of two. We broke down again! Whilst protecting the other becalmed craft a fishing Dow decided to head straight for us. The immediate response from one of the US crew was to fire across him! After a discussion about just what the Rules of Engagement were, we took some avoidance measures, short of shooting, and all was well. It illustrated much to me about the appropriateness of responses and the difficulties of knowing just who has hostile or positive intent in such circumstances. Was this a fisherman coming to help, give us intelligence of who and where the ‘bad guys’ were, or a possible attack? We need to have much respect for all those dealing with such things several times a day and every day.

On my return I felt morally obliged to write privately to the Prime Minister about the position of the Detention Facility, the possible problems of transition, the strategic work of HMS Grafton, the legal status of our troops and the general morale and wellbeing of our troops. He invited me to a private briefing meeting to follow through my concerns and observations. Along with the above we also discussed a new Status of Forces agreement and processes to involve Iraqis in future operations, allowing us to move forward under the United Nations for the future. What the PM takes from it all is of course for him but we are a long way from the ‘confederate dollar’ I warned he was buying the last time we discussed these issues some 16 months ago.

I did not vote to support the Bush administrations drive to rush into Warfighting in Iraq. I was certain that something had to be done to help the Iraqi people liberate themselves but I think the difficulties we have seen in the last year have vindicated my position. However, I know from my visit that the Iraqi’s need and want international help and we have a responsibility to continue to contribute.

I returned from my short visit even more convinced of the professionalism, skill, commitment and forbearance of our troops and civilians and other uniformed services operating in Iraq. I have to thank all those who hosted us and protected me during my trip; it will help in our continuing ‘Lessons of Iraq’ inquiry. I hope to return in the autumn.