IRAQ AFTER THE WAR: Evening Advertiser reporter Martin Vincent was invited to Iraq to see how the country is being rebuilt after the war. During his visit to Basra in the south of the country he met several RAF men from Lyneham who are heavily involved in this project.

It's still not the best of places to be and several of them are obviously missing their families and loved ones and are counting down the days before they return home. But there is a visible pride in the job they are doing.

In just a few weeks, working long hours in often stifling heat, they have performed miracles. And Lyneham Station Commander Group Captain Ray Lock, was only one of many people Martin met who praised the work being done.

GROUP Captain Ray Lock says the end of Saddam Hussein is the successful climax to a campaign that began twelve years ago.

And it's a campaign he has been heavily involved in. Today he is helping to rebuild Iraq so it can be given back to the people.

But back in 1991 as one of the RAF's elite Tornado pilots he destroyed strategic targets in Iraq.

He flew then as a squadron leader with No 9 Tornado Squadron which was based in Germany, and during that first Gulf War carried out 16 successful operational missions.

He recalled: "It was an incredibly difficult time for us. We never dreamed when we were back in Germany what damage would be caused with our laser guided bombs.

"Then we destroyed Saddam's strategic targets.

"Now we have gone from destruction to reconstruction. Back in 1991 we were attacking and taking out his roads and bridges. But that is all finished now.

"The Baath Party no longer controls the country it is the people of Iraq."

It's ironic that Group Captain Lock, a married man with three children, has now been given the responsibility of relaunching Basra International Airport.

For just a couple of miles up the road is a bridge that the former Tornado jet pilot bombed during the first conflict.

And not too far away close to the centre of Basra is the oil refinery which he also destroyed.

I visited the site of the still-destroyed bridge with the Group Captain and he said: "I am not surprised they have not rebuilt it.

"The money was there but the regime chose not to rebuild. They had the food for oil programme and plenty of money but never spent it on the things they should have done."

Group Capt Lock is particularly pleased that he has been sent to Basra to help in the rebuilding of Iraq.

But he will never forget the time he was sent to bomb the country.

He said: "They were exciting times and of course I will never forget them.

"We came under fire but really the only way we knew we were was from the flashes of the anti-aircraft shells.

"They could never reach us and our jets had gone before the shells started to explode."

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