Last Wednesday I went straight from Prime Minister’s Questions to RAF Brize Norton to catch a VC10 to Iraq. I wanted to thank some of the British troops facing Christmas far from home and also meet as many people as I could in Baghdad to gain a better understanding of the challenges facing the Coalition Provisional Authority. The VC10 was full of a mixture of regulars and reservists. Some were on their first trip to the region. There were also several police officers on their way to train the Iraqi police. They were all pretty cheerful.
After less than six hours we landed in Basra, headquarters of the Multinational Division (South-East) where most of the British contingent are based. We had an hour and a half to sleep ‘ I was privileged to occupy the accommodation recently vacated by Nell McAndrew in rather controversial circumstances. Then we were off to Baghdad. Dawn in Baghdad was grey and uninviting. The journey to the headquarters of the CPA, in one of Saddam’s many palaces, takes about half an hour, of which ten minutes were along roads outside the secure areas of the airport and the Green Zone ‘ where most official buildings are located. Secure is a relative term in Baghdad. Both the airport and the Green Zone have come under attack in recent weeks. There were few people about in the early morning in the city streets. American military personnel were very evident and there were not many signs of normality. Perhaps things are different in other parts of the city.
My first appointment was with some Iraqi journalists over breakfast. We ate Western food but these were true locals: only one spoke a little English and we needed an interpreter.
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