Last week I was in Basra, Iraq’s second largest city, located along the Shatt al-Arab waterway. The city is rich with potential: It sits on some of the world's largest untapped oil reserves; the port of Umm Qasr is downstream, while the International Airport is close by. The city still suffers from the effects of five years of conflict, rule by militia and competing political factions. Sewage runs along the streets in the city’s slums, the lack of fresh water remains an issue, electricity is temperamental and trash lies everywhere. But the city is arguably the safest it has been since the start of the conflict in 2003. And this is good news.

To test this theory we were invited down to look around Five Mile Market, one of the most notorious areas of the city. Seven months ago it was home to the once highly influential Jaish al-Mahdi (JAM), a paramilitary force created by Muqtada al-Sadr, the Iraqi Shi'ite cleric.

We travelled to the market in Iraqi Humvees before pulling over on the main drag to wander through the market.  You might have seen some recent photos of Kate Jackson, the Mirror journalist having an ice cream in Basra – surrounded by a posse of Iraqi and British troops. It's a telling sign of how things have changed - even if her body armour remains on. But confidence in the Iraqi Army has increased of late (since August when Kate had her photo taken) and we were told to leave our helmet and body armour in the Hummer. Which we did (even if we did look a tad similar to Tony Blair after a particualrly heart felt conference speech).

Below are some photos I took of us chatting to a mixture of traders, and locals. We mainly debated the merits of Chelsea under Scolari, Beckham’s move to Milan, interspersed with the odd comment about the sewage problem (which isn't great - believe me).



Five Mile Market



'Chelsea', 'Beckham', 'Sewage' and 'Unemployment' (from L-R - our brilliant interpreter, Colonel Richard Iron, and Dr Paul Cornish)



The crowds waving us off. (Check out the goats in the background - rural life has come into the city)

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