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Iraq is broken, says UK peacekeeper

IRNA

London, Dec 5, IRNA - A UK reservist has returned after spending 
four months as a peacekeeper in Iraq describing the utter destruction 
he witnessed in the war-torn country. 
"The whole country is broken and the Basra province, which was 
largely abandoned by the regime in the late 1980s, is a criss-cross 
of abandoned trench lines littered with left-over gun emplacements," 
Major Nick Sparks said. 
The 40-year old army reservist was one of 5,000 extra British 
troops sent to southern Iraq in July to act as a peacekeeping force. 
It was the first time in his 20-year Territorial Army career that he 
had been called up for action. 
In an interview with the local Gloucestershire Gazette in western 
England, he said that when he arrived all seemed relatively quiet in 
Basra province but that "things seemed to deteriorate quickly into 
riots." 
The major said that he witnessed great poverty in the district 
and that there had been much looting. He suggested that it was a 
reflection of bad feeling towards the former government and that at 
times the soldiers felt threatened. 
"In some places people were friendly, other times there were 
crowds of some 200 people throwing stones. But regardless of the 
strength of feeling, you never went anywhere unarmed," he said. 
Sparks said that he was slowly getting used to the cold of the 
English winter after having to endure extreme heat in Iraq with the 
temperature reaching the high 50C in the shade and the high 60C in 
the sun. 
HC/214 
End