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Patrick cockburn describes the Iraqi Cabinet as having american
“advisers” Taking part during
Cabinet meetings.
How much real administration did
Iraqis do of their country?
When you were in iraq 2004 did
you see any real changes after
28 June 2004 when "sovereignty"
was returned supposedly to the Iraqi people?
Please reply.
 

I arrived in theatre at the beginning of May 2004 and left on 4th Dec. I remember the handover of power very well because they had a small ceremony at Basrah International airport, where I was based. During the next few months up until the time I left,the situation gradually deteriated. At the beginning of my tour trips into Basrah town would be taken in “Wolf” softskin landrovers commanded by a junior NCO ,a corporal ,Lance corporal or sometimes a senior Rifleman, in two teams of four soldiers per team , Commander, driver and two “Topcover and an escort vehicle( Most times a civilian 4x4).By August ,due to the danger to British troops in Basrah,you were only allowed in town in “Snatch” “Armoured” landrovers of at least a multiple in strength (Three teams) commanded by the Platoon commander,a leftenant or the platoon sergeant,and the escorts also in a snatch.By the end of my tour we were going out in Platoon strenghth-Two multiples of 24 men. Sometimes,if the alert state was high,we also had a Warrior apc as escort. When any troops were killed or injured in Basrah all non-essential movement was stopped and a cordon was thrown around the town with VCPs ( Vehicle check points ) sometimes manned by my platoon ,with Tank support. Mortar and rocket attacks increased tenfold both at Basrah International Airport and all SF bases in Basrah town as did attacks on military vehicles.The field Hospital at Shaiba Logistics Base was perminantly full of casualties,with hardly a bed to spare.I did see an increase in Iraqi police activity, however, we never stopped at their checkpoints as they weren’t trusted by us ,for it was common knowledge that many of them had sold their spare uniforms, as had the Iraqi Army, and they had been infiltrated by the insurgents and many ambushes happened at their checkpoints manned by bogus policemen or Iraqi security forces.Normaly when approaching an Iraqi checkpoint our “Safety catches” would be off and our fingers on the trigger of our rifles, pointing at our “Allies” all of us very nervous! I did notice that some roads were repair had started but generally there wasn’t much visible change except the increase in attacks on us. Tribal fighting increased as well, we used to watch it sometimes at night from the roof of the Multi-National Division HQ at the airport two miles away,some nights it was very fierce with Mortars, Rockets and Heavy machine guns blasting away most of the night. The Majority of it seem to be around the “Acadamia” area North East Basrah near the Shaat Arab Hotel SF Base.All in all on reflection after the handover for us it got worse!
 

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