After six years and 179 dead, Iraq warriors can go home

IT WAS a conflict fuelled by claims that Saddam Hussein could deploy weapons of mass destruction in just 45 minutes.

But yesterday, at a sombre ceremony at Basra airbase, it took 29 minutes to detail the human cost of the Iraq war.

As pipers played, the names of the 179 British personnel who have died since the Iraq war began were called out, followed by the reading of the names of the American, Danish, Italian, Dutch and Romanian troops and civilian contractors killed in southern Iraq since 2003.

Britain's military operations in Iraq officially ended yesterday, at a cost of 179 British servicemen and women's lives and billions of pounds to the public purse.

Operation Telic came to a close when the flag of 20th Armoured Brigade at Basra airbase was lowered and Major-General Andy Salmon shook hands with US Major Michael Oates to signify the transfer of authority and the end of a controversial and bloody military campaign that has lasted 2,232 days.

In the baking heat of the noon-day sun, the human cost of the campaign was brought to mind at a memorial service attended by Defence Secretary John Hutton and representatives of the 3,700 British troops, who will begin to leave today. The focus was a brick wall studded with brass plaques inscribed with the names of each of the 234 UK, foreign troops and civilians who lost their lives under British command in Iraq.

Each name and date of death was read out in a litany that lasted 29 minutes. Brigadier Tom Beckett, commander of 20th Armoured Brigade, then read the traditional refrain of remembrance ceremonies: "At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them."

Bugler Gareth Roberts, 25, of 5 Rifles, played the Last Post and the troops saluted their fallen comrades during a minute's silence, which came to an end with a Tornado fly-past.

Brigade chaplain Father Paschal Hanrahan, said: "Each name is unique and each name tells a story: the story of a son or a daughter, a husband or wife, a father or a mother. Each name will invoke powerful memories, not least for the family and loved ones back home, who are very much in our thoughts and prayers today."

Mr Hutton stood with his head bowed during the service at the brigade's headquarters at the coalition's base in Basra.

He found the service "very moving" and defended the mission. "I believe very, very strongly in the importance of this mission, how it has helped not just our own security, but the security of our friends and allies, particularly here in the Middle East," he said. "Iraq is now a vibrant new democracy which is no longer a threat to its neighbours or its people."

The Defence Secretary met members of 20th Armoured Brigade now preparing to leave Iraq, as well as some of the Royal Navy personnel who will be staying to train the Iraqi navy. The military is keen to focus attention away from the bloodshed of the past six years and towards the improvements achieved on the ground in Basra.

However, no-one will forget how the government's justification for war was that Britain was under threat from weapons of mass destruction, which allegedly included chemical and biological munitions, stockpiled by Saddam.

According to the government's intelligence dossier, published in September 2002, they could be used to threaten Britain's interests in just 45 minutes. No WMD were found and all the allegations included within the dossier were later proven to be untrue, as shown by the Iraq Survey Group.

While millions of members of the public marched in protest against the planned invasion, and Cabinet ministers such as Robin Cook resigned, the then prime minister, Tony Blair, insisted on supporting the United States and committed 46,000 troops to the military campaign. The total cost of military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan is £13.2 billion.

While the military overthrow of Saddam was swift, the failure of the US to plan adequately for the aftermath led to a power vacuum, which quickly filled with sectarian hatred and years of violent insurgency that has resulted in the deaths of almost 100,000 Iraqi civilians.

On the coalition side, the first Scots soldier to die was Lance Corporal Barry Stephen of the Black Watch, who was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade on 24 March, 2003.

Yesterday, the Conservative leader David Cameron called for an immediate, full inquiry into the Iraq war, similar to the one carried out by the Franks Committee into the Falklands conflict. He said: "I believe it is time for the government to announce a proper, Franks-style inquiry. It should start right now."

British commanders have been gradually handing over responsibility for the oil-rich Basra region to the US military since March and have been withdrawing troops from the country in phases, with nearly all expected to be out by 31 May.

About 400 British troops will remain under an agreement with the Iraqi government, mainly to train the Iraqi navy.

Brig Beckett said: "We are sad to leave our Iraqi friends, but we leave knowing we have done our job, and done it well."

WEBSITE TRIBUTES

CONTRIBUTORS to the Army Rumour Service, an internet forum for military personnel, were unsure whether the cost incurred in Iraq justified the end results. "Too many lives have been lost," said Alvin. "Too many made their fortunes out of the situation."

Many felt that fighting on two fronts in Iraq and Afghanistan has stretched the army almost to breaking point.

One contributor, jonwilly, was adamant that the army could recover, but only if its future commitments were rationalised.

Of the memorial, Joker said: "A powerful and humbling service. Well done Padre, you hit the right note." Garhwal added: "I never knew these men and women. But they shall not be forgotten."

Successes and scandal: The long and unpopular military campaign finally ends with peaceful pull-out of troops

2003

20 March – Royal Marines launch an amphibious assault on the al-Faw peninsula in southern Iraq as the US-led invasion begins. The UK's commitment to the campaign peaks at 46,000 troops in March and April.

9 April – Cheering Iraqis pull down a statue of newly deposed dictator Saddam Hussein in a square in central Baghdad.

1 May – Standing underneath a banner reading "Mission Accomplished", US president George Bush declares the war is effectively over.

23 June – Six British soldiers with the Royal Military Police are killed by a mob near the southern city of al-Amara.

14-16 September – Baha Mousa, a hotel receptionist in Basra, is beaten to death while in the custody of British soldiers.

13 December – US forces arrest Saddam Hussein in a hiding place near his hometown of Tikrit.

2004

May – The number of UK military personnel based and operating in Iraq drops to 8,600.

2005

30 January – Iraqis vote in the country's first democratic elections for five decades. Ten British military personnel are killed when their RAF Hercules is shot down near Baghdad.

26 February – Three British soldiers from the 1st Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers are jailed and thrown out of the army for their roles in a prisoner abuse scandal, at an aid camp in May 2003.

18 March – Private Johnson Beharry becomes the first man in over two decades to be awarded the Victoria Cross after he saved the lives of his comrades in two separate incidents, in 2004.

2006

31 January – The death of Corporal Gordon Pritchard, 31, of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, takes the number of British troops who have died in Iraq since the invasion to 100.

12 October – General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the British Army, sparks controversy when he calls for British troops to be withdrawn "sometime soon". He says their presence is exacerbating security problems and the difficulties Britain is experiencing around the world.

30 December – Saddam Hussein is executed.

2007

21 February – Prime Minister Tony Blair announces the first step in a phased withdrawal of British forces.

2 October – On a visit to Iraq, Prime Minister Gordon Brown says the British force in Basra will be cut to 4,500, with 1,000 troops home by Christmas.

16 December – Basra, the last of the four provinces that had been under British control, is handed over to the Iraqis.

2008

25 March – A major operation against militants in Basra is launched, led by the Iraqi army on the orders of Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki. But it is against the advice of British and US generals, who think it is too soon. The operation, codenamed Charge of the Knights, comes close to collapse.

17 December – Mr Brown announces that British combat operations in Iraq will be completed by 31 May, 2009 and nearly all UK forces will be withdrawn by 31 July.

31 December – United Nations Security Council Resolution 1790, which provides the British military's mandate to remain in Iraq, expires.

2009

31 January – Provincial elections in Basra pass off peacefully.

31 March – Major General Andy Salmon, Britain's commander in Iraq, flies out after handing military command of coalition forces in Basra to the US.