Britain in Iraq 2003 – 2009: the statistics

Britain today formally ended its combat operations in Iraq with most of the remaining 4,000 troops returning home from the southern city of Basra, where British operations have been based. Approximately 400 troops will stay on in the country, mainly to help train the Iraqi navy.

As the Basra base was handed over to US forces, an MoD official confirmed: "The role of British ground forces is finished."
 
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said today that Britain could be proud of what it had achieved since coalition forces invaded Iraq in 2003 with the dual purpose of ousting the dictator Saddam Hussein and destroying Iraqi weapons of mass destruction which have never been proved to exist.

"Today Iraq is a success story," said the Prime Minister. "We owe much of that to the efforts of British troops. Our mission has not always been an easy one, many have said that we would fail... Britain can be proud of our legacy that we leave there."

THE COST IN LIVES
Since the American-led invasion in March 2003, 179 British military personnel have been killed in Iraq. Of the dead, 136 were killed in action and 43 killed in other cases, including friendly fire and suicide. The vast majority of the deaths (77 per cent) were in the Army with 12 per cent in the Royal Air Force, four per cent in the Royal Navy and six per cent in the Royal Marines. The first month of operations was the bloodiest, with 27 fatalities.
 
THE COST IN MILLIONS
The war in Iraq has cost the British taxpayer approximately £6.5bn - or roughly £1bn each year. That equates to about £100 spent for every man, woman and child in the country. A separate 2007 estimate suggested that the war was costing the country about £31 every second.

THE MEDALS WON
Since the invasion in 2003, one Victoria Cross and two George Crosses have been awarded to British soldiers. Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry received the VC in 2005 for twice saving his unit from ambush by steering his damaged armoured vehicle out of danger. On the first occasion, Beharry, then a private, had to do so with his head and shoulders exposed to enemy fire before rescuing his injured colleagues from the vehicle while still under attack. The second time, only one month later, Beharry’s vehicle was again ambushed and despite injuries to his head, which later required brain surgery, Beharry again steered it out of danger before falling unconscious.

THE POLITICIANS LOST
Geoff Hoon was the Defence Secretary who helped take Britain to war in Iraq - he was later accused of having been partly responsible for the suicide of the UN weapons inspector Dr David Kelly whose disclosures about how much the Government knew about alleged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction caused a major political scandal. Hoon was succeeded by John Reid in May 2005, who infamously claimed that Iraq was not embroiled in a civil war as a result of the US-led invasion. Reid was himself succeeded by Des Browne in May 2006. Then in October 2008 John Hutton became the fourth Defence Secretary to oversee the Iraq war. Hutton attended a memorial service in Iraq today to honour the 179 British dead. ·