0:00:02 > 0:00:06This programme contains some strong language and some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09'When people look back on this conflict, I honestly believe they will see this
0:00:09 > 0:00:11'as one of the defining moments of our century.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15'In a week, we'll hear the final verdict on the Iraq War,
0:00:15 > 0:00:19'which cost countless lives and left a country in chaos.'
0:00:19 > 0:00:23It's incredibly eerie here on the streets of Basra tonight.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26'I was with British troops when they invaded,
0:00:26 > 0:00:29'as they fought a losing battle,
0:00:29 > 0:00:32'and when they pulled out after six long years of war.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36'Now, I'm going back
0:00:36 > 0:00:39'with parents who lost their son, a soldier, here.'
0:00:40 > 0:00:47Matthew would have thought, "You've done it now, Mum. You've done it."
0:00:48 > 0:00:51'The British general who led the Desert Rats into battle
0:00:51 > 0:00:53'looks back on what went wrong.'
0:00:53 > 0:00:57We were inadequately prepared, both physically and mentally,
0:00:57 > 0:01:01for the aftermath of the war fighting.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05'Now the Iraq Inquiry will have to decide why we went to war
0:01:05 > 0:01:07'and who was responsible for what happened.'
0:01:08 > 0:01:09'We want justice.'
0:01:10 > 0:01:14We want justice, you know, for the sake of our family,
0:01:14 > 0:01:17for British soldiers who lost their lives there.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32'Basra Airport in southern Iraq.
0:01:32 > 0:01:34'There's little to show this was once the base
0:01:34 > 0:01:36'for thousands of British troops.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44'Today, it's a civilian airport
0:01:44 > 0:01:48'and I'm here to meet Maureen and Roger Bacon from London.'
0:01:48 > 0:01:50Morning. How are you?
0:01:50 > 0:01:53- Nice to see you.- You, too. - How was your trip? Hello, Maureen.
0:01:53 > 0:01:54Nice to see you.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58'For 11 years, they've wanted to come to Basra, where their son,
0:01:58 > 0:02:01'Matthew, a British officer, was killed.'
0:02:01 > 0:02:04So that's where Matthew would have been based.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09To actually find that still, the actual building
0:02:09 > 0:02:11that he worked in is here, that's...
0:02:11 > 0:02:13that's something else, again.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19'For the Bacons, this is an alien and dangerous place.
0:02:19 > 0:02:24On the roadside, there's a lot of waste and a lot of rubbish.
0:02:25 > 0:02:28Barren and pretty bleak, really.
0:02:33 > 0:02:34Always smiling.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38'Matthew's parents hope this trip can help them
0:02:38 > 0:02:41'understand why Matthew died here.'
0:02:42 > 0:02:45When he left, he was shoulders back, head held high
0:02:45 > 0:02:51and he was coming out here to make a better place for the Iraqis,
0:02:51 > 0:02:56so I wanted to, just to see where Matthew spoke his last words
0:02:56 > 0:03:01and took his last breath, just to try and make sense of it all.
0:03:09 > 0:03:11- TONY BLAIR:- 'On Tuesday night, I gave the order
0:03:11 > 0:03:14'for British forces to take part in military action in Iraq.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19'Their mission - to remove Saddam Hussein from power
0:03:19 > 0:03:22'and disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction.'
0:03:25 > 0:03:27'When the British forces invaded,
0:03:27 > 0:03:30'they thought Saddam's huge army would put up a fight.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33'I was with the Desert Rats.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36'Their aim - to secure strategic bridges into Basra.'
0:03:39 > 0:03:41So this is it, Al-Fayha'a Bridge.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43Yep, well, it brings back a lot of memories.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47It's almost 13 years ago to the day that we were here.
0:03:48 > 0:03:53'I first met Graham Binns when he commanded British forces here.'
0:03:53 > 0:03:56This was fighting by almost a sort of militia-style.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01'Only a small hard-core of Saddam's loyalists
0:04:01 > 0:04:03'took a stand on the bridge.
0:04:03 > 0:04:05'They used the population as cover.
0:04:06 > 0:04:11'We sat on these bridges for longer than I was expecting, really,'
0:04:11 > 0:04:16and then we started conducting raids into the city centre.
0:04:16 > 0:04:17CHEERING
0:04:17 > 0:04:20'Saddam's militia quickly melted away
0:04:20 > 0:04:22'and the British took control of southern Iraq.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28'Just days later, I drove through Basra.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32'I found the home of Saddam's notorious cousin,
0:04:32 > 0:04:34'once the governor here.
0:04:34 > 0:04:36'Nicknamed "Chemical Ali",
0:04:36 > 0:04:40'he'd ordered the killing of thousands of Iraqis with poison gas.
0:04:40 > 0:04:42'Families who suffered under the regime
0:04:42 > 0:04:44'had now taken over his mansion.'
0:04:46 > 0:04:48Thank you, Mr Blair.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50You want to thank Mr Blair for bringing the army here?
0:04:50 > 0:04:53- Yes, yes, good. Very good. - And many people feel that in Basra?
0:04:53 > 0:04:55- ALL REPEAT:- Yes!
0:04:55 > 0:04:57SHE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
0:05:04 > 0:05:08'I've come back now to Basra, back to that very same house.'
0:05:10 > 0:05:13You know, that sense of gratitude to Tony Blair,
0:05:13 > 0:05:16that sense of optimism that the British Army was here
0:05:16 > 0:05:18and, you know, Basra could have a better future,
0:05:18 > 0:05:22that was really, really strong when I was here just after the invasion.
0:05:22 > 0:05:24But, sadly for the British, it didn't last long.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27DOGS BARK
0:05:27 > 0:05:30'Within a week of taking Basra, on night patrol,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33'it was clear the British were in for a long haul.'
0:05:35 > 0:05:39It's incredibly eerie here on the streets of Basra tonight.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43In recent days, several state-owned banks have been looted.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45'There was a power vacuum in Basra.
0:05:45 > 0:05:50'Saddam's brutal Sunni regime had suppressed the Shia Muslim south.
0:05:50 > 0:05:51'Now it was gone.'
0:05:53 > 0:05:57Basically, what we've got is guys coming in from the slums area
0:05:57 > 0:05:59into the town centre, where we are now,
0:05:59 > 0:06:03and they're armed with AK-47s and basically harassing
0:06:03 > 0:06:05the locals, you know, kicking front doors in.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11'Five million people live in southern Iraq.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14'There were never enough British troops on the ground to stop
0:06:14 > 0:06:16'a breakdown of law and order.'
0:06:18 > 0:06:21Everybody's stealing it from the national stores,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24so we're a bit helpless to stop them at the moment.
0:06:24 > 0:06:28You ask them, "Is it stolen?" They're like, "Yes, Ali Baba's."
0:06:28 > 0:06:31It's natural, now that the Iraqi government have gone.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39'The British Army set up their headquarters
0:06:39 > 0:06:41'in Saddam's summer palace.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45'Brigadier Binns was running an area almost the size of England
0:06:45 > 0:06:47'with no strategic plan.'
0:06:49 > 0:06:53'We really didn't understand how much risk we were taking.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57'I think we'd lulled ourselves into this false sense that the war'
0:06:57 > 0:07:01was over, the fighting had finished and we would
0:07:01 > 0:07:04set about reconstruction with the support of the population.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10That fire's still burning over on the front.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13- I'm surprised they've not put that out yet.- Yes.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17'British troops had to supply basic needs, like water, in a city
0:07:17 > 0:07:22'whose infrastructure had been deliberately run down by Saddam.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24'The soldiers wanted to win hearts and minds,
0:07:24 > 0:07:27'but the population was getting restive.'
0:07:29 > 0:07:30Yes. OK.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34- Let me explain. The situation is very difficult.- Yes.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37Firstly, with the water, you are correct.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41The water engineering works aren't working. OK?
0:07:41 > 0:07:44Mark Etherington was one of just a handful of British civilian
0:07:44 > 0:07:47administrators sent to Iraq.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51First meeting I attended, a local tribal chief said to me,
0:07:51 > 0:07:55"Nothing works, everything is broken and it needs to be fixed."
0:07:55 > 0:07:58And then I think, after a while, he added, "Now"!
0:07:58 > 0:08:02And there were two of us at the time, I remember.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06I didn't think we had a coherent plan in the longer term.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08We hadn't really, as a coalition,
0:08:08 > 0:08:12thought through how we were going to operate.
0:08:12 > 0:08:15We were inadequately prepared both physically
0:08:15 > 0:08:18and mentally for the aftermath of the war fighting.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25The aftermath would keep the British bogged down for six long years.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32Maureen and Roger Bacon have come to Basra to try
0:08:32 > 0:08:35and understand what their son gave his life for here.
0:08:39 > 0:08:41From the start, his parents knew
0:08:41 > 0:08:44Matthew would be involved in the war.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47His life had always been military service.
0:08:47 > 0:08:52I think from age six, he decided that he was going in the Army
0:08:52 > 0:08:55and it was going to be his career.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59The idea of soldiering came into his head, really, and he joined the
0:08:59 > 0:09:05local Army Cadet Force and it was immediately the right thing for him.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09Matthew progressed through the ranks to become
0:09:09 > 0:09:12a major in the Intelligence Corps.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14While the Army prepared for war,
0:09:14 > 0:09:19his mother joined a million people demonstrating in London.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23I marched and it was something that I felt passionate about.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28I wondered, "Why are we going into Iraq?"
0:09:28 > 0:09:31It was just something that I couldn't work out
0:09:31 > 0:09:33and didn't agree with at all.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35I felt very uncomfortable about it.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37I felt, "This is not right, this is not right."
0:09:37 > 0:09:42Matthew just said, "Well, you must do what you want to do, Mum."
0:09:42 > 0:09:44He didn't give any opinion at all,
0:09:44 > 0:09:47because Matthew was a professional soldier.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51Two years later, Matthew would be posted to Iraq.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53He only served there for a month.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56- NEWS REPORTER:- 'A British soldier is killed in southern Iraq.
0:09:56 > 0:09:58'Three others are injured.'
0:09:59 > 0:10:05There was this terrific knock on the door like no other knock that
0:10:05 > 0:10:08I've ever heard or would ever wish to hear again.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10Disbelieving that, you know...
0:10:10 > 0:10:13- In shock, really. That's what it was. Complete shock.- Yes.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17And we couldn't think. Couldn't think.
0:10:17 > 0:10:20MILITARY TAPS
0:10:20 > 0:10:23The families who lost loved ones want to know
0:10:23 > 0:10:27if they were told the truth about why Britain went to war in Iraq.
0:10:33 > 0:10:35A year before the invasion,
0:10:35 > 0:10:38Tony Blair flew in to meet President George Bush.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42Only months after 9/11, Iraq was now on the agenda.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47This was part of the Blair hug-'em-close philosophy.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49"We're with you on this.
0:10:49 > 0:10:52"We're with you from the beginning and we'll be with you till the end."
0:10:54 > 0:10:56Sir Christopher Meyer was at the Bush ranch in Texas
0:10:56 > 0:10:59when the two leaders met in private.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03Did Tony Blair make a secret deal with George Bush to remove
0:11:03 > 0:11:05Saddam by military force?
0:11:05 > 0:11:07Those two men are alone.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12I suspect what Blair actually said to Bush was,
0:11:12 > 0:11:16"Whatever you decide to do, George, I'm with you."
0:11:16 > 0:11:19The next day, Mr Blair backed the American desire to
0:11:19 > 0:11:23get rid of Saddam, their next target in the war on terror.
0:11:24 > 0:11:29If necessary, the action should be military and, again,
0:11:29 > 0:11:33if necessary and justified, it should involve regime change.
0:11:34 > 0:11:40'It was the first occasion when I had heard Tony Blair...'
0:11:40 > 0:11:45mention in public regime change in an approving way.
0:11:47 > 0:11:52Removing Saddam by force without a UN resolution would be illegal.
0:11:53 > 0:11:58Tony Blair said he wanted to go the UN route, but Clare Short,
0:11:58 > 0:12:01who had responsibility for humanitarian relief,
0:12:01 > 0:12:03didn't believe him.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07I think he'd made up his mind to be with Bush,
0:12:07 > 0:12:13knowing we were massaged and deceived to get us there,
0:12:13 > 0:12:16when it was a manipulation of us, that is us,
0:12:16 > 0:12:18the Parliament, the Cabinet,
0:12:18 > 0:12:21British public opinion, American public opinion,
0:12:21 > 0:12:23by people who were determined
0:12:23 > 0:12:26to take military action from the beginning.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30It was only as troops began to build up on Iraq's border,
0:12:30 > 0:12:34two months before the war, that serious planning got underway.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38But Sir Christopher had warned London the year before
0:12:38 > 0:12:40the US had no plan for the aftermath.
0:12:42 > 0:12:46We said, "It's a black hole. It's a black hole, and it is something that
0:12:46 > 0:12:48"you, Prime Minister, need to say,
0:12:48 > 0:12:50"the President needs to get moving."
0:12:50 > 0:12:54And we said this at regular intervals through the year.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57"It's not working on planning."
0:12:57 > 0:13:01The British Government's attempts to get UN approval to tackle Saddam
0:13:01 > 0:13:06meant they couldn't be seen to be gearing up for military action.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09The plans for afterwards were not properly made because all
0:13:09 > 0:13:14the players that should be involved weren't allowed to be involved.
0:13:15 > 0:13:16Terrible.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22But in London, the head of Britain's forces claims Clare Short was
0:13:22 > 0:13:26preventing her crucial department from getting fully involved.
0:13:26 > 0:13:29It's been said that you didn't engage with the planning
0:13:29 > 0:13:33- because of your personal stance on the war.- Yeah, but that is a lie.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37I mean, you know... There was a sort of tension between us
0:13:37 > 0:13:41and the Ministry of Defence very late in the day,
0:13:41 > 0:13:45when I think they started to realise the dangers that were coming.
0:13:48 > 0:13:49- REPORTER:- 'The fall of Baghdad -
0:13:49 > 0:13:52'Saddam's grip on the capital collapses.
0:13:52 > 0:13:53'After three weeks of war,
0:13:53 > 0:13:57'scenes of jubilation have replaced fighting and bombing.'
0:13:59 > 0:14:02Days after Saddam was toppled, his ministries were burnt
0:14:02 > 0:14:05and looted, while American troops stood by.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09- What's been going on here? - The fuckin' war's going on.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14They weren't prepared for this.
0:14:14 > 0:14:19For America, it was already mission accomplished - the war was over.
0:14:19 > 0:14:22- GEORGE BUSH:- 'In the battle of Iraq, the United States
0:14:22 > 0:14:25'and our allies have prevailed.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29'The tyrant has fallen and Iraq is free.'
0:14:31 > 0:14:35Where's the Americans? Is this how Iraq wants to be?
0:14:35 > 0:14:38Everybody stealing and looting from everybody?
0:14:38 > 0:14:40We want security! We want peace for our country!
0:14:43 > 0:14:46Britain, the junior partner in the coalition,
0:14:46 > 0:14:50was tied to the only policy the Americans had -
0:14:50 > 0:14:51to dismantle the whole state.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58In Basra during the invasion, the coalition had bombed
0:14:58 > 0:15:01the headquarters of Saddam's all-powerful Ba'ath Party.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06But now they disbanded the entire Ba'ath structure
0:15:06 > 0:15:08which had held the country together -
0:15:08 > 0:15:11the police, the army, the civil service.
0:15:11 > 0:15:16We stripped the framework of the nation by removing a regime
0:15:16 > 0:15:19and we didn't replace it with anything that was...
0:15:21 > 0:15:23..that promoted stability.
0:15:23 > 0:15:26Another British civilian coordinator, Emma Sky,
0:15:26 > 0:15:30had to deal with the breakdown of the Iraqi state.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33We ended up with hospitals without any doctors,
0:15:33 > 0:15:37schools without any teachers, because it didn't just
0:15:37 > 0:15:40remove the top-level people, it went right the way down.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43This was a centralist economy, so the factories, the dams,
0:15:43 > 0:15:46the irrigation schemes, the police, the police's uniform,
0:15:46 > 0:15:51their cars, you name it - we were responsible for it.
0:15:51 > 0:15:55It removed the sinews of the state that held the country together.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59And so without any security forces, people were fearful
0:15:59 > 0:16:02and they started to form gangs, militias could flourish,
0:16:02 > 0:16:03insurgent groups started up.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10Tony Blair's response was to draw down British forces
0:16:10 > 0:16:12within weeks of the invasion,
0:16:12 > 0:16:16from 46,000 to just over a third of that.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20There are people here who in years to come will look back
0:16:20 > 0:16:23and will remember what you did and recognise that as the start
0:16:23 > 0:16:26of their future and a life of hope and the possibility of prosperity.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31Regime change didn't usher in a rosy future,
0:16:31 > 0:16:34it unleashed powerful sectarian forces.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39Soon the overstretched, underequipped British forces would
0:16:39 > 0:16:44be caught in a disaster that would change public perception of the war.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52- It says on the stone "Iraq 2003". - Yes.
0:16:54 > 0:16:56"Remember."
0:16:57 > 0:16:59And people do.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04John Hyde's son Ben was a Red Cap,
0:17:04 > 0:17:06one of six Royal Military Police
0:17:06 > 0:17:09killed the month after the war was declared over.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13Ben and the lads, I think, had six police stations to administer.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15They were there trying to help the people.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21I first met John ten years ago when he read me a bluey -
0:17:21 > 0:17:24Ben's letter to be opened if he died.
0:17:25 > 0:17:26"Mum and Dad...
0:17:28 > 0:17:31.."if you're reading this then you'll know that I won't be coming home.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37"I'm up in the stars now, looking down on you,
0:17:37 > 0:17:38"making sure that you're safe."
0:17:43 > 0:17:48The Red Caps died in Maysan, a Shia tribal area on the border
0:17:48 > 0:17:51with Iran, the biggest Shia power in the region.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54The British were now responsible for this province,
0:17:54 > 0:17:58but Iran was determined to extend its influence here.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06Chris Kemp commanded a company of British Paras in the area.
0:18:06 > 0:18:09He is now head of the BBC's security.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13He hasn't spoken publicly before about the day the Red Caps died.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18I had 90 soldiers and a huge patch of land, which is
0:18:18 > 0:18:23clearly not enough to bring any sort of military sense to it.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25We could see things happening around us
0:18:25 > 0:18:27but hadn't been able to interpret that information,
0:18:27 > 0:18:31but you could sense that there was malign influence.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35Iran was stirring up trouble as the British tried to disarm
0:18:35 > 0:18:38the tribes, though Major Kemp didn't know it.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40He called a meeting with local elders
0:18:40 > 0:18:43in the town of Majar al-Kabir.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46There were people in that room that had never been there before.
0:18:46 > 0:18:48They were the people right at the bottom of the room
0:18:48 > 0:18:51that were actually really calling the shots.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54Chris Kemp says he agreed to stop searching houses
0:18:54 > 0:18:58but made it clear his troops would continue to patrol the town.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01So I said, "We're not having a no-go area,
0:19:01 > 0:19:04"no further weapons searches, but we would be coming back."
0:19:06 > 0:19:09A few days later, the Paras were confronted
0:19:09 > 0:19:12by an armed crowd in the town.
0:19:12 > 0:19:14They had to fight their way out.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17Meanwhile, six Red Caps were at the police station,
0:19:17 > 0:19:19trapped now by the mob.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23They had no satellite phone to call for help.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26There was no thought to take them prisoner,
0:19:26 > 0:19:30disarm them or anything else - they went in there to kill them.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34Ben was hit six times and fell to the ground
0:19:34 > 0:19:37and the Iraqis then went into the room
0:19:37 > 0:19:40and continued firing until they were dead.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45What tends to get forgotten is the courage
0:19:45 > 0:19:47that the lads showed that day.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50They could have slaughtered a lot of people,
0:19:50 > 0:19:52but that's not what the Royal Military Police do.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56They're peacekeepers, they're trained negotiators.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00Chris Kemp led the force sent to rescue the Paras
0:20:00 > 0:20:04and discovered the Red Caps had been killed at the station.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08I remember the ambulances with the legs of the soldiers.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13It's a strong memory that won't ever leave me,
0:20:13 > 0:20:15that loss of life on a single day.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19Some of the families believe that you abandoned those men,
0:20:19 > 0:20:23those young soldiers, that the Paras effectively left them to their fate.
0:20:23 > 0:20:25What do you say to that?
0:20:25 > 0:20:28It would be completely untrue. We wouldn't do that.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31No British soldier would have done that.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34But we just didn't know they were there and, in the confusion,
0:20:34 > 0:20:36you would not have known they were there
0:20:36 > 0:20:39unless somebody had told you they were there.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42The battalion headquarters didn't know exactly where
0:20:42 > 0:20:44the Red Caps were.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47The inquest questioned the failure of intelligence
0:20:47 > 0:20:50and lack of crucial equipment, like satellite phones.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54You know, I don't know what closure means.
0:20:57 > 0:21:00- And you think about Ben. - All the time.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05Probably more now than I did when he was alive.
0:21:07 > 0:21:12But what happened at Majar al-Kabir really shocked the British public.
0:21:12 > 0:21:16They realised for the first time that far from mission accomplished,
0:21:16 > 0:21:19some Iraqis, with meddling from Iran, were never
0:21:19 > 0:21:23going to accept the British Army occupying their country.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25THEY CHANT
0:21:27 > 0:21:32With Iran's backing, the Shia militias were becoming all-powerful.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35The British underestimated the growing influence
0:21:35 > 0:21:39of Muqtada al-Sadr, the firebrand cleric, and his Mahdi Army.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42They thought they could negotiate with him
0:21:42 > 0:21:44but his militia was gearing up for a fight.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51- TRANSLATION: - The British forces came to Iraq as invaders.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54We considered them an army of occupation,
0:21:54 > 0:21:57so we had a duty to resist.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00And we were able to fight them despite our scarce resources.
0:22:05 > 0:22:08Under the militias, Basra, once famous for its culture
0:22:08 > 0:22:11and its tolerance, became a place of fear.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16Alcohol sellers were hounded out, people disappeared,
0:22:16 > 0:22:17were tortured and killed.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21Middle-class educated Iraqis began to leave.
0:22:22 > 0:22:27Back then I met Taroub al-Ainache and heard about her family tragedy.
0:22:28 > 0:22:32Her husband, Hasan, was working for the British as they tried
0:22:32 > 0:22:34to put local government in the hands of Iraqis.
0:22:35 > 0:22:36He always told me,
0:22:36 > 0:22:39"Basra is going to be the Venice of the Middle East."
0:22:39 > 0:22:43He really had high, high hopes for Basra. He loved it.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47But Hasan refused to take part in corruption,
0:22:47 > 0:22:51which was now flourishing as a result of the insecurity.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53I heard the shots in the house because it happened
0:22:53 > 0:22:55so near to my house.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59They just came at very, very short range and blew his head off.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06I've come back to visit Taroub, who now lives in Jordan.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08- Shall I make tea for you? - That would be lovely.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11Taroub's sons and grandchildren live in England and Canada.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15I go visit them every now and then.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18- So your sons, your family, are all over the world now.- Yes, yes.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22We'd taken some pictures of Taroub's house
0:23:22 > 0:23:24and neighbourhood in Basra today.
0:23:24 > 0:23:28She has never been back there - it's too dangerous
0:23:28 > 0:23:29and holds too many memories.
0:23:31 > 0:23:33Street is so dirty now, refuse to clean.
0:23:33 > 0:23:35Ah, this is the house.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40It's beautiful. It's a beautiful house.
0:23:40 > 0:23:42This is the palm tree I used to water every morning.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45How do you feel looking at the pictures?
0:23:45 > 0:23:47Sad.
0:23:47 > 0:23:48Sad, sad.
0:23:48 > 0:23:50Do you think you will ever go back?
0:23:50 > 0:23:52- Hopefully, yeah.- One day.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55One day. But when? I don't know.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58Nobody knows.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02More than a million Iraqis have fled abroad as a result of the war.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04Of course there is bitterness.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07All Iraqis are scattered all over the world now.
0:24:07 > 0:24:09And what did the British bring to Basra?
0:24:11 > 0:24:13Nothing.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16They came and they went and what changed?
0:24:18 > 0:24:19Nothing changed.
0:24:20 > 0:24:22Just Saddam Hussein was out, that's it.
0:24:28 > 0:24:33'Nine months after the invasion, US forces finally caught Saddam.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35'He was hiding out by the River Tigris.'
0:24:35 > 0:24:37So, this is it.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41This is it. This is where the... This is the Presidential suite.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45- The Presidential suite? - Yeah, right there.- Was here?- Yeah.
0:24:45 > 0:24:50But running Saddam to ground in his foxhole didn't stabilise Iraq.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53His loyalists joined Sunni extremist groups like Al-Qaeda,
0:24:53 > 0:24:55fast gaining a foothold here.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01They launched brutal sectarian attacks against Shia Muslims.
0:25:01 > 0:25:05The country descended into violence and anarchy.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08First explosions went off amongst pilgrims gathered at...
0:25:08 > 0:25:12Iraq suffers its bloodiest day since the official end of the war.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19Before the war, the Prime Minister had disregarded experts
0:25:19 > 0:25:23who warned of the risks of removing a dictator.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26Tony Blair told the nation the real threat was Saddam's
0:25:26 > 0:25:29weapons of mass destruction.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32He has existing and active military plans for the use of chemical
0:25:32 > 0:25:37and biological weapons which could be activated within 45 minutes.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42Before the war, UN inspectors searched Iraq for the weapons.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46Finding them would have justified a military invasion.
0:25:46 > 0:25:50I was with them, checking out some of the locations in Tony Blair's
0:25:50 > 0:25:53infamous intelligence dossier.
0:25:53 > 0:25:55I'm on my way to Al Doura.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58It's a vaccine laboratory which British intelligence,
0:25:58 > 0:26:02in their dossier, have called a facility of concern.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06'There was nothing left anywhere. The UN never found the weapons.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13'They had destroyed them all a decade before,
0:26:13 > 0:26:15'according to the Iraqi officials I met.'
0:26:16 > 0:26:18The West still doesn't seem to believe Iraq,
0:26:18 > 0:26:21there's still this feeling you're hiding something.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23If we had something we would produce it.
0:26:23 > 0:26:27We would be happy to produce it, to get rid of it and get done.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29But if we don't - we don't - what do we do?
0:26:33 > 0:26:36Back then, in New York, I met the chief UN inspector.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41Hans Blix was never sure the Iraqis were telling the truth
0:26:41 > 0:26:44but he was sceptical of the intelligence
0:26:44 > 0:26:46provided by the British.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48Frequently they simply state that "intelligence tells us this"
0:26:48 > 0:26:52or "intelligence shows that". Fine, it may all be true.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55But simply saying that "intelligence shows" is not evidence.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00Today, Dr Blix is back home in Sweden.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04He told me he warned Mr Blair a month before the war that hundreds
0:27:04 > 0:27:08of inspections had failed to yield any substantial evidence of WMDs.
0:27:09 > 0:27:14I shared with him then our doubts about the existence of weapons.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16I said "Maybe."
0:27:16 > 0:27:19But I said at the same time that, "It would be paradoxical,
0:27:19 > 0:27:22"wouldn't it, if you were to invade Iraq
0:27:22 > 0:27:25"with 250,000 men and find very little?"
0:27:25 > 0:27:28And what was Tony Blair's response when you warned him?
0:27:28 > 0:27:29Did he take it on board?
0:27:29 > 0:27:32No, he sort of waved it away and said that,
0:27:32 > 0:27:36"No, our intelligence and our indications are so clear."
0:27:36 > 0:27:38I think this was a basic mistake.
0:27:38 > 0:27:42So did the Prime Minister put a gloss on flimsy evidence
0:27:42 > 0:27:44to make a false case for war?
0:27:44 > 0:27:47A far-reaching VX nerve agent programme,
0:27:47 > 0:27:49up to 6,500 chemical munitions,
0:27:49 > 0:27:52at least 80 tonnes of mustard gas,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55possibly more than ten times that amount, unquantifiable amounts...
0:27:55 > 0:27:59In the crucial Commons debate on the eve of war, Mr Blair said
0:27:59 > 0:28:04anything unaccounted for from a decade before must still exist.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08Do you think he misrepresented the facts?
0:28:08 > 0:28:11What he said did not represent the reality.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13Was he lying, therefore?
0:28:13 > 0:28:16I never claimed that it was in bad faith.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19Many people can bring themselves to believe something
0:28:19 > 0:28:20that they want to believe.
0:28:20 > 0:28:23- But you think he misrepresented the facts?- Yes.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29Even after they'd destroyed Saddam's military machine,
0:28:29 > 0:28:34the coalition never found the elusive weapons of mass destruction,
0:28:34 > 0:28:36only facilities abandoned long ago.
0:28:36 > 0:28:38A year before the war,
0:28:38 > 0:28:41British intelligence had told the government their knowledge
0:28:41 > 0:28:45of the WMDs was sporadic and patchy,
0:28:45 > 0:28:48but six months later, intelligence chiefs helped Mr Blair
0:28:48 > 0:28:51compile the dossier that made the case for war.
0:28:52 > 0:28:57I apologise for the fact that the intelligence we'd received
0:28:57 > 0:29:01was wrong because, even though he had used chemical weapons
0:29:01 > 0:29:04extensively against his own people, against others,
0:29:04 > 0:29:09the programme in the form that we thought it was did not exist
0:29:09 > 0:29:13in the way that we thought, so I can apologise for that.
0:29:13 > 0:29:17Apologising for the intelligence being wrong is blaming
0:29:17 > 0:29:20the intelligence agencies, and is a falsity
0:29:20 > 0:29:24because what was known, which was very little indeed,
0:29:24 > 0:29:27was then exaggerated way beyond
0:29:27 > 0:29:30to give this imminent threat -
0:29:30 > 0:29:33imminent threat to Britain.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36I mean, that's just dishonest. There's no question about it.
0:29:41 > 0:29:45The British were under mounting pressure from the Shia militias
0:29:45 > 0:29:48two years on. They faced a devastating new weapon,
0:29:48 > 0:29:51a roadside bomb that could penetrate British armour.
0:29:53 > 0:29:54EXPLOSION
0:29:54 > 0:30:00We were too thin to really take on an enemy that was becoming more
0:30:00 > 0:30:03technically sophisticated.
0:30:03 > 0:30:06- And where were they getting that technical expertise from?- Iran.
0:30:06 > 0:30:10There was a determined campaign to embarrass the coalition.
0:30:15 > 0:30:19Roger and Maureen's son, Matthew, was killed by a roadside bomb
0:30:19 > 0:30:22when he was sent to Basra in 2005.
0:30:23 > 0:30:27They've waited 11 years to visit the spot where he died.
0:30:29 > 0:30:31More of a track.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34A dirt track.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37Matthew's patrol had left Basra Palace,
0:30:37 > 0:30:41heading for the airbase through the notorious Shia Flats,
0:30:41 > 0:30:43controlled by the militias.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50I was trying to imagine the patrol travelling there,
0:30:50 > 0:30:54through that traffic.
0:30:54 > 0:30:58I was thinking about Matthew and the banter, you know, that the
0:30:58 > 0:31:00boys were having.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03People following them, watching them.
0:31:12 > 0:31:16This is still a threatening and dangerous place. We can't stay long.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26Just to think that it would happen in an area like this.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29Just desolation. It's unbelievable.
0:31:31 > 0:31:34Matthew's parents want to lay some mementos.
0:31:44 > 0:31:46And next.
0:31:48 > 0:31:53To lay the pebbles, one from Roger and myself, and the cross,
0:31:53 > 0:31:56and the pebble from Matthew's brother,
0:31:59 > 0:32:02that was really emotional.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05- And to scatter the poppies. - Just put them around.
0:32:05 > 0:32:07Yes.
0:32:07 > 0:32:08- Just...- OK.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11Very difficult to put into words.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16- I just felt Matthew there. I've got one for...- 79.
0:32:16 > 0:32:22They've brought poppies for each of those killed in action in Iraq.
0:32:23 > 0:32:25- Men and women.- Men and women.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39Soldiers put their lives on the line. You know that.
0:32:39 > 0:32:41But it doesn't lessen anything.
0:32:46 > 0:32:48The grief is the same.
0:32:52 > 0:32:56So coming here was part of that...
0:32:58 > 0:33:00Um...
0:33:00 > 0:33:02Rite of passage, I suppose, in a way.
0:33:07 > 0:33:09I have a sense of relief.
0:33:09 > 0:33:14A relief at actually seeing the place where Matthew died.
0:33:14 > 0:33:16And also...
0:33:16 > 0:33:19Matthew...
0:33:21 > 0:33:26..would have thought, "You've done it now, Mum. You've done it."
0:33:29 > 0:33:32And it's what he would have expected me to do.
0:33:32 > 0:33:34Definitely.
0:33:37 > 0:33:39Matthew should never have been on that road.
0:33:39 > 0:33:43He should have been in a helicopter, but it had broken down.
0:33:43 > 0:33:48He had to go in a Snatch Land Rover, a lightly armoured vehicle.
0:33:48 > 0:33:51He died two years after the first soldier was killed in this
0:33:51 > 0:33:52type of Land Rover.
0:33:55 > 0:33:59We actually saw the Land Rover on the television news.
0:33:59 > 0:34:04And it was horrific. Absolutely horrific.
0:34:04 > 0:34:09I mean, the Snatch Land Rovers, it's like a knife going through butter.
0:34:15 > 0:34:17The year after Matthew Bacon died,
0:34:17 > 0:34:21British soldiers were still being killed by roadside bombs.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28As Iraq teetered on the brink of civil war, I joined the small
0:34:28 > 0:34:32British detachment in Maysan, where the Red Caps had been killed.
0:34:34 > 0:34:35Everyone was on high alert.
0:34:36 > 0:34:39The Shia militia leader, Muqtada al-Sadr,
0:34:39 > 0:34:41had just warned the British to leave.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47In Amarah, the capital of the province,
0:34:47 > 0:34:50I went on patrol with Captain Richard Holmes.
0:34:55 > 0:34:56Seems calm enough.
0:34:56 > 0:35:00Yeah. I mean, as I say, we've been here for four months
0:35:00 > 0:35:05and this area especially, people have always been very welcoming.
0:35:05 > 0:35:07They're very friendly.
0:35:07 > 0:35:10But within minutes, everything would change.
0:35:12 > 0:35:15We've just walked about 150 yards through town
0:35:15 > 0:35:17and clearly our military escort is worried.
0:35:17 > 0:35:20We're not able to stay here much longer.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27Heading out of town, I realise something was wrong.
0:35:27 > 0:35:29Tanks roared past us.
0:35:30 > 0:35:33A roadside bomb had destroyed the Snatch Land Rover carrying
0:35:33 > 0:35:37Captain Holmes and another soldier, Private Lee Ellis,
0:35:37 > 0:35:38as they drove back to base.
0:35:39 > 0:35:42They had both been killed.
0:35:43 > 0:35:4727 British soldiers died in bomb attacks on their Land Rovers
0:35:47 > 0:35:52in Iraq, raising serious questions about British Army equipment.
0:35:52 > 0:35:56Some of the relatives say that the equipment just wasn't good enough.
0:35:56 > 0:36:00It was the best that was available at the time, but the vehicles
0:36:00 > 0:36:04we were using, the Snatch, were not up to the job.
0:36:04 > 0:36:09They didn't have adequate levels of protection
0:36:09 > 0:36:12and we were slow to replace them
0:36:12 > 0:36:15and provide adequate protection to our people.
0:36:18 > 0:36:22By now, dwindling British forces had retreated to a few bases in Basra.
0:36:22 > 0:36:24Three years on,
0:36:24 > 0:36:28reconstruction was grinding to a halt for lack of security.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33The only way in from the airport was by helicopter.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36We weren't driving anywhere any more.
0:36:36 > 0:36:40You began to get a sense that things were not going our way.
0:36:40 > 0:36:44Mark Etherington was trying to coordinate British aid.
0:36:44 > 0:36:46There was still no plan.
0:36:46 > 0:36:49There were countless scattered islands of effort where
0:36:49 > 0:36:54people were working very hard and often bravely,
0:36:54 > 0:36:57but they didn't seem knitted together in any way.
0:36:57 > 0:37:01One didn't sense that all of this amounted to a strategy.
0:37:03 > 0:37:06In the Shia Flats, just a few hundred yards from where Matthew
0:37:06 > 0:37:10Bacon died, there's a sad reminder of what the British tried
0:37:10 > 0:37:12and failed to achieve in Basra.
0:37:14 > 0:37:19They built three huge water towers and spent £10 million trying
0:37:19 > 0:37:23to provide clean water for half a million people.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28- TRANSLATION:- A British company came to work on the project here.
0:37:28 > 0:37:31It was meant to supply water for this area.
0:37:31 > 0:37:33We didn't have drinking water.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36It was salty, full of dirt and bacteria.
0:37:36 > 0:37:38But then later, the project was abandoned.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43Eventually, the towers were handed over to the Iraqis
0:37:43 > 0:37:46but, to this day, the project hasn't been connected
0:37:46 > 0:37:50and people still don't have clean water.
0:37:50 > 0:37:53Well, this was meant to be a showpiece,
0:37:53 > 0:37:56to show that the British could actually improve
0:37:56 > 0:37:58the infrastructure of Basra.
0:37:58 > 0:38:00But the failure to secure the city
0:38:00 > 0:38:03meant that this place just couldn't be maintained.
0:38:03 > 0:38:06It never actually worked and, in the end,
0:38:06 > 0:38:08it turned out to just be a white elephant.
0:38:16 > 0:38:18Four years after the invasion,
0:38:18 > 0:38:22the British were hunkered down in their main base at the airport.
0:38:25 > 0:38:29I've come back with Graham Binns to what's left of the airbase today.
0:38:31 > 0:38:34Well, I mean, it's a trip down memory lane.
0:38:34 > 0:38:38This was the main British garrison before we left.
0:38:38 > 0:38:40It's changed an awful lot.
0:38:40 > 0:38:44Most of the infrastructure's been stripped out.
0:38:44 > 0:38:47The commander who had easily taken Basra came back four
0:38:47 > 0:38:50years on to a very different challenge.
0:38:50 > 0:38:54So the whole place was just covered in these things, which are just
0:38:54 > 0:38:58tea walls, made out of concrete, that protect buildings and people.
0:38:58 > 0:39:00GUNFIRE
0:39:03 > 0:39:07I was on the airbase then, as the British battled a constant
0:39:07 > 0:39:10barrage of mortars from the militias.
0:39:13 > 0:39:19At its height, there were up to 30 different attacks a day.
0:39:19 > 0:39:23Each one could have been up to a dozen rockets coming in.
0:39:23 > 0:39:26I lived at the bottom of that tower
0:39:26 > 0:39:30and I always believed that that tower was an aiming mark.
0:39:30 > 0:39:35It was now that Tony Blair made his farewell visit to Basra,
0:39:35 > 0:39:37still justifying the Iraq War.
0:39:39 > 0:39:42There's been terrorist acts in Morocco, in Algeria,
0:39:42 > 0:39:46in Pakistan, in Saudi Arabia. Essentially, everywhere.
0:39:46 > 0:39:51This threat is on the march and we are here on the frontline
0:39:51 > 0:39:55trying to defend ourselves and our way of life against it.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58Mr Blair insisted Iraqi forces would soon be
0:39:58 > 0:40:03capable of taking control, but he couldn't actually leave the airbase.
0:40:05 > 0:40:07EXPLOSION
0:40:07 > 0:40:10- TRANSLATION: - We showed Basra Airport,
0:40:10 > 0:40:14the location where the British Prime Minister was visiting.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18We struck with more than 300 Grad missiles.
0:40:18 > 0:40:20We hoped we could kill Tony Blair.
0:40:25 > 0:40:30The Prime Minister, who had taken us to war in Iraq, now stepped down.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33Mr Blair declined our request for an interview.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36He told us he would make a full statement
0:40:36 > 0:40:38when the Iraq Inquiry reports.
0:40:38 > 0:40:41But he had this to say recently on American television.
0:40:44 > 0:40:46I can also apologise, by the way,
0:40:46 > 0:40:51for some of the mistakes in planning and certainly our mistake
0:40:51 > 0:40:55in our understanding of what would happen once you removed the regime.
0:40:57 > 0:41:00But I find it hard to apologise for removing Saddam.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03Mr Blair claimed removing Saddam
0:41:03 > 0:41:07would make the world a safer place post-9/11.
0:41:09 > 0:41:12I need you to help me, Mr Blair, because...
0:41:12 > 0:41:15Instead, there's been hostage taking, beheadings,
0:41:15 > 0:41:18suicide attacks in London.
0:41:18 > 0:41:20We are at war and I'm a soldier.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23Now you too will taste the reality of this situation.
0:41:25 > 0:41:29The Iraq War has fuelled extremism and instability across the region.
0:41:31 > 0:41:34This British man has to pay the price.
0:41:34 > 0:41:38The so-called Islamic State emerged from the chaos of Iraq.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42A magnet for jihadis, they're now attacking Europe.
0:41:42 > 0:41:46Yet intelligence chiefs had secretly warned before the Iraq invasion
0:41:46 > 0:41:50the threat from terrorism would be heightened by military action.
0:41:53 > 0:41:59There is so much tinder in the region, the slightest spark sets
0:41:59 > 0:42:03off a conflagration, so we don't know where this is going to end.
0:42:03 > 0:42:07But look at Iraq today, it's a failed state.
0:42:07 > 0:42:11Look at Syria, it's a failed state.
0:42:11 > 0:42:15A lot of this derives from the fact that, on the basis of faulty
0:42:15 > 0:42:20intelligence, the US and the UK went to war in 2003.
0:42:24 > 0:42:28Roger and Maureen Bacon are visiting an Iraqi family whose lives
0:42:28 > 0:42:31have also been devastated by the war here.
0:42:33 > 0:42:37- I'm very sorry. - It is a real tragedy.
0:42:37 > 0:42:41Our sons are victims of an unjust war.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54Nibras was just 22.
0:42:54 > 0:42:58One of five policemen killed on a checkpoint by Islamist
0:42:58 > 0:43:00militants after the British left Iraq.
0:43:15 > 0:43:20From one mother to another mother, I'm very sorry.
0:43:20 > 0:43:24I understand how you feel and I see your picture of your son
0:43:24 > 0:43:26and that's the picture of my son, too.
0:43:26 > 0:43:29So I understand your pain.
0:43:31 > 0:43:37- Cos we live it every day... Yes. Every day.- Yes.
0:43:37 > 0:43:43We're very sorry that we left Basra in the state that we did.
0:43:43 > 0:43:45We wish that it was a better place.
0:43:49 > 0:43:52GUNFIRE
0:43:53 > 0:43:58OK, the scenario is that you have stopped a vehicle...
0:43:58 > 0:44:01In the last years the British spent in Basra, I saw their big
0:44:01 > 0:44:05push to train up local police and security forces.
0:44:05 > 0:44:06They wanted to hand over
0:44:06 > 0:44:10responsibility for security to the Iraqis as soon as possible.
0:44:13 > 0:44:17Today, Basra's police chief, Abdel Karim Al-Ameri,
0:44:17 > 0:44:20is not short of manpower but that is part of the problem.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26- TRANSLATION:- If you look at the police in Basra,
0:44:26 > 0:44:30we have around 29,000. This is an insane number.
0:44:30 > 0:44:33I am sure this doesn't happen in Britain, right?
0:44:35 > 0:44:39Though the British spent millions training the police,
0:44:39 > 0:44:42the emphasis was on quantity, not quality.
0:44:44 > 0:44:50- TRANSLATION:- People applied who weren't fit to work in the police.
0:44:50 > 0:44:53Some were thieves, murderers, wanted men.
0:44:53 > 0:44:55But they gave them ID cards and weapons,
0:44:55 > 0:44:59a government licence to start looting.
0:44:59 > 0:45:03And now, in most of the gangs we catch, we find policemen.
0:45:08 > 0:45:12This road outside Basra, near the Iranian border,
0:45:12 > 0:45:16became kidnap central after the invasion.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19It is only now the police chief's set up a ring of checkpoints,
0:45:19 > 0:45:24manned by more professional forces, that kidnaps dropped substantially.
0:45:25 > 0:45:29The British spent a lot of money and time here, training the police.
0:45:29 > 0:45:33- Did it do any good? - No, just the opposite.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36If the British had built a police force using a more scientific
0:45:36 > 0:45:38approach, we wouldn't have had these problems.
0:45:40 > 0:45:44Building up Iraqi security forces meant Britain could
0:45:44 > 0:45:48move troops and equipment to fight in Afghanistan,
0:45:48 > 0:45:49now seen as the priority.
0:45:50 > 0:45:54Meanwhile, America was reinforcing Iraq with a massive
0:45:54 > 0:45:55surge of soldiers.
0:45:57 > 0:46:02Emma Sky was now political adviser to the head of US forces.
0:46:02 > 0:46:04With the Americans like, "We're coming back
0:46:04 > 0:46:06"and we are going to make this work."
0:46:06 > 0:46:10With Basra, there became a sense that the Brits calculated that
0:46:10 > 0:46:14Iraq was lost, that Afghanistan was still saveable,
0:46:14 > 0:46:17that they would get out of Iraq and go to Afghanistan.
0:46:17 > 0:46:20We had lost the strategic will to endure.
0:46:20 > 0:46:23We were measuring success by the rate at which
0:46:23 > 0:46:28we could draw down and move people to Afghanistan.
0:46:28 > 0:46:32Actually, what happened is that we resourced
0:46:32 > 0:46:33neither particularly well.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36We went into Afghanistan with too little
0:46:36 > 0:46:40and we drew too much away from here too quickly.
0:46:40 > 0:46:42EXPLOSIONS
0:46:45 > 0:46:49By now, the Shia militias were determined to push the small
0:46:49 > 0:46:51British force out of the city.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55Here it goes again.
0:46:55 > 0:46:56EXPLOSIONS
0:46:56 > 0:46:59SOLDIERS EXCLAIM
0:47:00 > 0:47:02Welcome to Basra Palace.
0:47:02 > 0:47:05Soldiers filmed themselves under siege at the Palace,
0:47:05 > 0:47:08the British headquarters inside the city.
0:47:11 > 0:47:14British troops were dying in firefights to keep supply
0:47:14 > 0:47:17lines open between the airbase and the Palace.
0:47:17 > 0:47:19THEY SHOUT
0:47:24 > 0:47:27Iranian mortar crews reinforced the militias.
0:47:31 > 0:47:34Mate, that was close, wasn't it? I'm shaking.
0:47:35 > 0:47:37Incoming!
0:47:38 > 0:47:40EXPLOSIONS SOLDIERS SHOUT
0:47:40 > 0:47:44The Army was about to do a secret deal with the very people
0:47:44 > 0:47:45killing our soldiers.
0:47:45 > 0:47:47GUNSHOTS
0:47:49 > 0:47:52I was there and saw the celebratory shooting
0:47:52 > 0:47:55as militia prisoners were released from British custody.
0:47:58 > 0:48:00You did do a deal with them.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03Well, I am not going to discuss the nature of those talks.
0:48:03 > 0:48:06'At the time, the man doing the deal, Graham Binns,
0:48:06 > 0:48:08'wasn't keen to talk about it.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11'But now it is clear what happened.'
0:48:11 > 0:48:14We started talking to the leadership
0:48:14 > 0:48:18and we reached a deal for the release of prisoners,
0:48:18 > 0:48:21providing the attacks against us stopped.
0:48:21 > 0:48:23Although, they were part of an organisation
0:48:23 > 0:48:25that had killed British soldiers.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28That, I think, is just one of the awkward facts of conflict,
0:48:28 > 0:48:31that we sometimes just brush under the table.
0:48:31 > 0:48:33You have to talk... Normally to resolve a conflict,
0:48:33 > 0:48:35you have to talk to the opposition.
0:48:37 > 0:48:41And so the British Army withdrew from Basra, to the
0:48:41 > 0:48:43airbase outside the city.
0:48:43 > 0:48:48They would finally leave southern Iraq six years after the invasion.
0:48:54 > 0:48:56So was it all worth it?
0:48:56 > 0:49:00What does the man who led the troops into Basra think of the city today?
0:49:02 > 0:49:07Well, it is still dirty, dusty and hot. So some things don't change.
0:49:07 > 0:49:10But what strikes me is that markets are busy
0:49:10 > 0:49:13and there are a lot of new cars on the street.
0:49:14 > 0:49:19What I see here now makes me more optimistic.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22I don't think we did too much harm.
0:49:22 > 0:49:27We ourselves didn't cause overwhelming damage
0:49:27 > 0:49:28when we took the city.
0:49:30 > 0:49:33But did the British achieve anything after that?
0:49:34 > 0:49:36We were simply not prepared
0:49:36 > 0:49:40for supporting the reconstruction of a city this size.
0:49:40 > 0:49:43Do you think it was foolish to think we could?
0:49:43 > 0:49:44I think we probably over-promised
0:49:44 > 0:49:47and under-delivered in that regard, yes.
0:49:49 > 0:49:54On the surface, things in Basra are improving, but underneath,
0:49:54 > 0:49:57democracy is still fragile, corruption is rife.
0:49:57 > 0:50:00The famous canals are choked with rubbish
0:50:00 > 0:50:02and there are frequent power cuts.
0:50:04 > 0:50:08I wondered how things were now in the mansion of Saddam's cousin,
0:50:08 > 0:50:11Chemical Ali, 13 years after I first came here.
0:50:13 > 0:50:15Assalamu alaikum.
0:50:16 > 0:50:20Families are still squatting here. 20 people living in two rooms.
0:50:38 > 0:50:41Security remains the key to everything here.
0:50:42 > 0:50:46Today, Basra Palace is still home to military forces
0:50:46 > 0:50:50but now it is Shia militias who are based here.
0:50:50 > 0:50:53Ironically, the very people who forced the British out are an
0:50:53 > 0:50:55essential part of the Iraqi army,
0:50:55 > 0:50:58fighting the so-called Islamic State.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02It looks a bit neglected now, doesn't it?
0:51:02 > 0:51:05Well, it, it does, actually.
0:51:05 > 0:51:06It is rundown, it is
0:51:06 > 0:51:11occupied by various elements of the Iraqi military and security forces.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14Yes. And, erm, a few sheep here.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17- Well, somebody's making good use of the land.- Yes!
0:51:19 > 0:51:22So what is the General's final verdict on Britain's
0:51:22 > 0:51:23war in Iraq?
0:51:24 > 0:51:26I think it was entirely the right thing to
0:51:26 > 0:51:30do at the time, to remove the regime.
0:51:31 > 0:51:34I just don't think we resourced it and had a plan that was...
0:51:34 > 0:51:36to replace it with something else.
0:51:41 > 0:51:46No-one can deny the tragedy of this war, which cost Iraq at least
0:51:46 > 0:51:48a quarter of a million dead,
0:51:48 > 0:51:50two million displaced and homeless.
0:51:53 > 0:51:54During the invasion,
0:51:54 > 0:51:58I first came face to face with the human cost of this war
0:51:58 > 0:52:00at the house of Abed Hassan Hamoodi.
0:52:02 > 0:52:05It was hit by a coalition bomb targeting the building behind.
0:52:08 > 0:52:13Before I leave Iraq, I really want to see this place again.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16The coalition mistakenly thought Chemical Ali
0:52:16 > 0:52:17was at the neighbouring house.
0:52:27 > 0:52:29Well, it is really strange being back in this bedroom.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32It looks tidy now and 13 years ago, when I was here,
0:52:32 > 0:52:34it was knee-deep in debris.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37This is where everybody was sleeping that night and the
0:52:37 > 0:52:41blast was right next door and this is the room that took the hit.
0:52:41 > 0:52:45It feels... It is abandoned now and it is really sad.
0:52:47 > 0:52:51Three generations of the Hamoodi family were sheltering
0:52:51 > 0:52:54here from the war. Ten people were killed.
0:52:56 > 0:53:00I managed, luckily, to save the life of my daughter with her two
0:53:00 > 0:53:04sons, four years and six months.
0:53:04 > 0:53:07The third one was killed with his grandmum.
0:53:08 > 0:53:11Dina Hamoodi lost her young son.
0:53:11 > 0:53:13What will your family do now?
0:53:13 > 0:53:16What will the women do?
0:53:16 > 0:53:21Nothing. Just crying. We don't have anything to do.
0:53:21 > 0:53:22Just crying.
0:53:23 > 0:53:26Just crying. Just nothing.
0:53:30 > 0:53:34Abed Hassan, Dina and the family now live in England.
0:53:34 > 0:53:38They still gather every year, on the anniversary of the bombing.
0:53:38 > 0:53:43Every morning I look at the picture and I cry for a while.
0:53:43 > 0:53:47The tragedy is never forgotten. It is with me day and night.
0:53:47 > 0:53:52Something I will never forget. Honest to God.
0:53:52 > 0:53:55Do you think your family will ever recover from what happened?
0:53:55 > 0:53:59I don't think so. I don't think so.
0:53:59 > 0:54:01It is difficult.
0:54:01 > 0:54:04And it is getting more difficult with time.
0:54:04 > 0:54:06They say sometimes time is a solution.
0:54:06 > 0:54:12But myself, I think with time it is getting more complicated.
0:54:14 > 0:54:19When the Hamoodis left Iraq, they shut up the house in Basra.
0:54:19 > 0:54:22They were once pillars of their community.
0:54:22 > 0:54:26Dr Akram goes back to help in the hospital when he can.
0:54:26 > 0:54:29The people have now started to say that they are better
0:54:29 > 0:54:32lived in Saddam's days rather than these days.
0:54:32 > 0:54:36- Better off under Saddam? - Yes, that is what they feel.
0:54:36 > 0:54:40- Who do you blame for what happened in Iraq?- Blair and Bush.
0:54:41 > 0:54:46Those two people that are responsible for everything
0:54:46 > 0:54:49that happened to the British people and to Iraqi people,
0:54:49 > 0:54:50and those people,
0:54:50 > 0:54:55they should be taken to court, court of law and they should be judged.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58What do you feel about Tony Blair
0:54:58 > 0:55:03- and his responsibility for what happened in Iraq?- We want justice.
0:55:03 > 0:55:07We want justice, you know, for the sake of our family,
0:55:07 > 0:55:11for British soldiers who lost their lives there.
0:55:11 > 0:55:15He is responsible for what happened. He and Mr Bush.
0:55:17 > 0:55:19When I first came here,
0:55:19 > 0:55:23Saddam's yacht was still moored on the Shatt al-Arab waterway.
0:55:25 > 0:55:27Now it is barely visible.
0:55:32 > 0:55:35Well, there isn't any trace of Saddam Hussein left here
0:55:35 > 0:55:38in Basra, except this rusting hulk of his old yacht in the water.
0:55:40 > 0:55:43But, you know, the British have hardly left any trace here either.
0:55:43 > 0:55:46It could well be that their only lasting legacy is that they
0:55:46 > 0:55:48did remove Saddam.
0:55:50 > 0:55:52The Iraq Inquiry has promised to tell us
0:55:52 > 0:55:55the lessons that should be learned.
0:55:55 > 0:55:58But for some of those involved, they are already plain to see.
0:55:58 > 0:56:01The lessons are these -
0:56:01 > 0:56:06don't interfere in other people's civil wars, don't try
0:56:06 > 0:56:11and nation-build, it is a fool's errand,
0:56:11 > 0:56:14and don't do regime change
0:56:14 > 0:56:19unless you are utterly clear what the consequences are likely to be.
0:56:21 > 0:56:27I think Blair had the feeling that this was an evil regime
0:56:27 > 0:56:29and that it was the moral thing to do away with it.
0:56:29 > 0:56:31I don't think that is an evil thought
0:56:31 > 0:56:33but I think it was a presumptuous
0:56:33 > 0:56:37thought that the UK and the US alone should do that.
0:56:37 > 0:56:38They were all his decisions.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41He thought it was the right thing to do.
0:56:42 > 0:56:46He has got it on his conscience for as long as he is alive
0:56:46 > 0:56:51and it will remain his legacy in the history books, I'm afraid.
0:56:53 > 0:56:56Clare Short resigned from Tony Blair's government,
0:56:56 > 0:56:59her political career cut short by Iraq.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04I did try but I still feel terrible about it.
0:57:04 > 0:57:06Terrible.
0:57:07 > 0:57:11It sort of ruined the culmination of my life in politics, really.
0:57:11 > 0:57:14Because it is politics at its worst.
0:57:14 > 0:57:18And it has caused untold destruction for the people of Iraq
0:57:18 > 0:57:19and the wider region.
0:57:26 > 0:57:28Has coming to Basra helped Roger
0:57:28 > 0:57:31and Maureen come to terms with Matthew's death?
0:57:32 > 0:57:36I would like to think that he lost his life in a worthwhile cause.
0:57:38 > 0:57:40But I can't. I can't do that.
0:57:40 > 0:57:46As a country, as a people, we would have no wish to have invaded Iraq.
0:57:46 > 0:57:51We were carried into it and I can't emphasise enough how much that
0:57:51 > 0:57:56I feel this was entirely wrong, that it was a complete deception.
0:57:56 > 0:57:59He did lose his life for Queen and country.
0:57:59 > 0:58:02And that is what we have to live with for the rest of our lives,
0:58:02 > 0:58:04every day.
0:58:04 > 0:58:07Should never, ever have invaded Iraq. Never.
0:58:10 > 0:58:14Never. No life lost was worth it. At all. None.
0:58:18 > 0:58:20Whatever the verdict of the Iraq Inquiry,
0:58:20 > 0:58:24the true scale of the damage done to this country, the region
0:58:24 > 0:58:29and Britain's reputation, only history can judge.