A busy time in Basra

In the latest of his Blogs from Basra Major Tom Holloway, the UK military spokesman in southern Iraq, explains what has been happening in the city in recent weeks including a visit by the Prime Minister Gordon Brown and US Senator Barack Obama:

The past three weeks have been pretty hectic with visiting media; the past four days have been especially busy. That said it seems that an understanding of the fantastic work of the servicemen and women here is at last permeating through to the wider UK audience. The multitude of media visits have at least given me the opportunity to get out and about and see what the troops on the ground are doing at first hand.

Two weeks ago the visit of Radio Four's Today Programme allowed for a "hasty" trip round the city with the Iraqi Army. We flew to the city in a Merlin helicopter landing at Basra Palace where we met with our escort for the day. After a short drive from the old British base we stopped on what is called the Corniche, on the banks of the Shat al Arab waterway. There we stopped to step aboard a floating restaurant to allow John Humphrys to interview the owner. If it wasn't for the tight programme of our day we would have stayed for lunch.

We then drove on into the Jazeera distict of the city, where we stopped at an ice cream shop. Whilst the Today Programme team were interviewing some of the customers the owner provided us with excellent ice cream. As we stood eating his refreshingly cold and tasty wares, the power went off and with it the air-conditioning stopped. This is indicative of the state of Basra, subjected to irregular power supply, the population are struggling to regain and retain some semblance of normality. But soon the local generators were being fired up, and the lights flickered on again.

Inevitably, as seems to be the case with the programmes that we produce for media visits, we began to run late for the next activity. At the hands of fearless Iraqi Army drivers, what followed can only be described as something akin to "Police Camera Action" as we sped through the streets of Basra, often on the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic in order to meet up with troops from the UK MiTT Group at a camp to the north of the city. Our Iraqi patrol soon lost the British Mastiff vehicles that were tailing us at a discrete distance.

The drive through the city brought home the scale of the problems of Basra. Some parts of the city are vibrant and upbeat, although almost everywhere there is evidence of fighting, be it recent or historic. Basra has suffered from around 35 years of systemic underinvestment and intentional neglect; the infrastructure is decrepit, water is delivered to homes by tanker as the distribution pipe work is so damaged that tap water is discoloured and not trusted even for washing your hands in. The streets are criss-crossed by a mesh of improvised power cables connecting homes to the nearest generator.

Cars and trucks now choke the roads, held up by numerous checkpoints. Basra is the one city I know of where the population see traffic jams as a sign of progress. On the fringes of the city there are vast slum districts. These are populated by those displaced as a consequence of Saddam Hussein's policies of draining the famous marshes, forcing the Marsh Arabs, made famous by Wilfred Thesiger, to move to the city in search of a livelihood.

Significantly later than planned we arrived at one of 2 R ANGLIAN's MiTT bases. It is known as Camp Stables, due to the animal life that was occupying the buildings and surrounding area when the MiTTs arrived. Throughout the city and surrounding area MiTTs share their austere bases with the Iraqi Army literally living and working side by side. Field Engineers from 32 Royal Engineer Regiment are working their way round these bases providing much needed improvements, including building showers, and lavatories, as well as improving security and force protection on the many sites. This vital work will ensure that soldiers are better able to support the Iraqi Army through the heat of the summer. It is already around 50C here and will continue to rise through to the end of July and into August.

Whilst we were at Camp Stables, British and US troops from CMOC (Civil Military Operations Command) were conducting a pay out of workers who had been involved in a clean-up operation of the Al Latif district in the north of Basra. CMOC have been organising these clean-up operations around Basra since April, working with the locals to form work parties to remove years of detritus, clearing waterways choked by rubbish and generally sprucing the place up. This payout put $100 into the pockets of around 1,000 workers for a few days' work. As we returned back to the Contingency Operating Base we drove back through Al Latif, where roadside stalls were conducting a roaring trade in all manner of goods and produce. On my last visit into the city in May I visited one of the first of these operations, and it really is heartening to see a sense of pride returning to formerly shattered areas of the city.

But Basra's problems are not going to be solved overnight by clean-up operations. The city, with a population thought to be in excess of two million, requires essential infrastructure; reliable electricity, clean water and effective sewerage systems. These are things that we in the military are not able or structured to provide. What we can do and have done is to provide a more secure environment in concert with the Iraqi Army within which investors from Iraq and elsewhere will be able to realise the city's true potential.

Last Saturday, 19 July, we hosted the Prime Minister and on Monday, 21 July, a Congressional Delegation of US Senators, one of whom seems to be getting more press than the others. My team, which includes half a dozen US Public Affairs servicemen, have been running flat out escorting journalists, capturing the moment, packaging it and transmitting it to the US and UK. When our reports, images and footage appear on TV screens, newspapers and websites across the globe I feel as if little by little people are beginning to see that Iraq is not all bad news after all. This is something that is very important for those who continue to serve here is unpleasant and austere conditions.