After four years, eight months and twenty-seven days, the Iraqis in the south have been “liberated” for a second time – handed the opportunity by the former British occupiers to take control of their own security in the last and most important province.

The first liberation, which began on March 20, 2003, when British troops launched Operation Telic and defeated the forces of Saddam Hussein in the south, promised so much, but due to lack of foresight and unrealistic expectations, the pledges never bore fruit.

The biggest failure in the early phases of the campaign was to fulfil the promise to the Iraqi people that their lives would begin to improve. Years went by and electricity supplies were still intermittent, oil revenues that should have transformed the economy in the south were frittered away by corrupt officials engaged in wholesale smuggling, and violence erupted on the streets as rival Shia militia fought a power battle in which innocent civilians, and British troops, were the victims.

Despite Herculean efforts by the British military, backed up by officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development, it was a sorry tale of disarray, deteriorating security and distrust among the Iraqi provincial politicians.

Worst of all, the British honeymoon period, during which the troops were regarded as genuine liberators from the harsh regime of Saddam, turned sour within a comparatively short time. After a few months of patrolling the streets in their regimental berets, chatting to the locals, they became the targets of a hate campaign. Soldiers, in helmets and body armour, had to batten down in their armoured vehicles and were forced to regard the people they had liberated as the potential enemy.

Security has improved markedly, and investment is beginning to make a difference in Basra city because all the political parties have now realised they can make a difference if they work together. But it is a fragile peace, and despite the glowing tributes at yesterday’s handover ceremony, the fact is that no Briton, whether military or civilian, is now welcome in the city. Indeed, Iraq’s second-biggest city is a dangerous place for any British soldier. It is becoming increasingly dangerous, too, for Shia women who disobey the edict of Iranian-inspired Islamic fanatics to wear the veil in public. Dozens have been murdered, their bodies dumped in the streets.

There is no question, nevertheless, that British troops in southern Iraq have played a significantly positive role, not least in the setting-up of schools, the rebirth of Umm Qasr port, the development of proper governance in Basra city, the training of bankers and judges and the transformation of a ragged Iraq army and police force into a competent organisation.

The British role is also still not finished. But the dream of 2003, converting Iraq into a Western-style democracy that would be the model for the rest of the Middle East, was always naive and will never be achievable.

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