Wearing desert camouflage and boots, Prince Charles made a surprise morale-boosting visit to British troops in Iraq on Sunday, the first member of the royal family to visit the country since the ouster of Saddam Hussein. At a former Saddam palace in the city of Basra, the prince mingled with about 200 soldiers, shaking hands, sipping tea and praising them for their role in keeping security in southern Iraq. "What you’re doing, many of you, training Iraqis to become almost as good a bunch of soldiers as you are, is ... of enormous importance because this part of the world doesn’t have much chance unless their armed force can learn a lot from your experience ... not only in the military but in the hearts and minds," the prince said, according to the British news agency, Press Association.
Security was tight for the prince’s 5 1/2-hour visit. His staff only allowed journalists to report that he’d been to Iraq after he had left for Iran - the first member of a British royal family to visit that country in 33 years. Charles met L. Paul Bremer, the top American official in Iraq, and Sir Jeremy Greenstock, the top Briton, during the visit. Charles arrived from Kuwait at Basra’s airport in a C-130 Hercules aircraft. Wearing desert camouflage, boots and a flak jacket, he rode a Chinook helicopter across the city to the Al-Sarraji Palace. The palace, built in the 1980s for Saddam, now serves as the headquarters of the British 2nd Battalion of the Parachute Regiment. Inside the palace, Charles met servicemen and women on a terrace. "He asked about the situation here. It’s improved a hell of a lot since we arrived, and it’s improving all the time," said Color Sergeant James Wilson, 35, after meeting the prince. "It’s an honor to have him come and find time to speak to the boys." Charles also met local Iraqi leaders, including Shiite clerics and Sunni representatives. |