UK hands Basra back to Iraqis

Last Modified: 16 Dec 2007
By: Nick Paton Walsh

When the US and the UK invaded Iraq, few predicted how arduous their task would be. Four-and-a-half years on, British forces have handed over control of one of the key provinces to the Iraqi authorities.

To date, 174 British troops have been be killed in operations in Basra province. Today, the responsibility for dealing with insurgents in the region will transfer to the Iraqi army.

The British troops will only be involved in combat if they're attacked or the Iraqi army asks for support.

Major General Graham Binns, who led British troops into the city in 2003, said: "I came to rid Basra of its enemies and I now formally hand Basra back to its friends."

Foreign affairs correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is on the ground at the Basra airbase where the handover is taking place. Back in the studio, Samira spoke to Labour MP Anne Clywd, a supporter of the invasion, and the former LibDem Leader Charles Kennedy, an opponent of the British operation, about what has really been achieved, the power of the militia, and the plight of the ordinary people of Basra -- especially women, who are increasingly being attacked by the Iranian backed Shia hardliners.