All language subtitles for Michael Palin - Into Iraq - S01E03.eng

It's all rather serene here at
the moment.

But, I mean, last night,
there was a loud bang.

And, being Baghdad, everyone sort of
seemed to brace themselves,

look around.

And it turned out not to be
any ordnance of any kind,

it was a sandstorm which just hit
Baghdad, hit the hotel.

The weather channel I used
this morning said,

Baghdad, 22, dust,

which I think is great.

So we had dust last night,
we had a lot of dust.

But it was, it was extraordinary,
the force of it,

it was just sand.

But now, look at this -

it's cleared the way,

put a shine on Baghdad.

Baghdad sun.

Not "Baghdad, son".

You know, sun, not "my son".
Not "Baghdad, my son!" Sun.

You know, been a long time now...

...it's going to be all right.

It's going to be OK.

Got a bit of dust in the brain.

Iraq.

It's not the most obvious country
to visit,

but after two weeks, I'm learning
that there's much more to this

country than conflict.

Whoa. Happy Nowruz!

I'm warm, at last!

Hello, welcome to Iraq,
welcome to Tikrit.

Following the river Tigris from
north to south...

This is why I like travelling.

On the Tigris,
going through Baghdad.

...I'm travelling across a land
that 6,000 years ago

was the birthplace of civilisation.

You know, I never thought
I would say,

this is Michael Palin in Babylon.

And I'm discovering it is a land
full of surprises.

Oh, breathtaking.

Magical.

However, Iraq remains one of
the most dangerous countries in

the world and my journey has had
its challenges.

Ah, no, close down.

On the horizon, the palaces that
Saddam Hussein built.

As I enter the final stage of
my journey,

I want to get a better sense of
what the future holds for Iraq.

Fantastic, brilliant.

Baghdad to Ur of the Chaldees.
What a journey.

I mean, I'll just stay at home
after this.

Driving outside of Baghdad,

the arid desert that's been
following us

gives way to a sea of green.

Well, now we're in the south,
you notice that there's palm trees,

many, many more than we've seen
before cos this is where the rivers,

both the Euphrates down here
and the Tigris, water this area.

So it's a whole different
kind of landscape suddenly.

As I head south on the final leg of
my journey,

the Tigris slowly comes together
with its sister river

the Euphrates.

First, I'm heading to the historic
sights of Babylon and Karbala

before returning to Baghdad.

From there, I'll catch a night train
to Nasiriyah.

Then, I'll drive onto the
Arab marshes

and finally, the coast of Iraq.

Southern Iraq is a treasure trove of
the country's historic sights.

And there is one place that
stands out above all the others,

a name that has resonated
through the centuries.

You know, I never, ever thought
I would say,

"this is Michael Palin in Babylon,"
but this is where I am,

at the site of the ancient city
of Babylon.

This is the gate, used to be the
royal gate of King Nebuchadnezzar

the second who sort of presided over
the most glorious years of

the Babylonian empire.

Thousands of years ago, Iraq was
home to some of the first

city states in the world, and
Babylon was by far the grandest.

I just can't grasp quite
that I'm in Babylon.

It's quite moving, really,

cos it was part of
my Sunday school education.

In fact, Nebuchadnezzar might have

taken his shoes off
on this very spot.

Got to let the imagination go a bit.
It could have happened!

Walking past the Ishtar gate,

I enter a maze of incredibly tall
and pristine-looking walls.

When you sense
the scale of the place,

it just goes on and on and on,
these enormous courtyards.

This was once a bustling city.

At its height in the 6th century BC,
over 200,000 people lived here.

It's just on a whole different level
of size and vastness.

It's impressive, but Babylon is
meant to be thousands of years old.

These walls of Babylon are
truly magnificent.

Only problem is, they were
actually built in the 1980s.

Saddam Hussein decided
he wanted to give himself

a Nebuchadnezzar complex,

so he actually built all these
walls on top of the old city.

So we're actually where Babylon was,
but it's underneath there,

and all this was done
in my lifetime.

Wanting to know more about
the reconstruction,

I meet a local archaeologist,
Dr Haider Almamori.

Why do you think Saddam wanted to
spend so much money

on rebuilding this?
What was, do you think,

his motivation for building this,
re-building this?

To be honest,

you know, this traditionally
happened in ancient time,

you know, for any other kings,
you know?

It's traditional to rebuild
temples or palaces.

So, Saddam, I think,
he tried to copy what our kings,

ancient kings tried to do.

So, presumably, he would then
gain the respect... Sure.

...and the sort of trappings of power
that the ancient kings had?

Exactly, exactly.

It wasn't enough for Saddam Hussein
to rebuild Babylon.

As you walk around
this ancient city,

it's hard not to notice a vast
modern building towering over you.

Constructed in the 1980s,

this is one of the largest and
most extravagant palaces

built by Saddam.

This is actually
about the apogee of vanity.

Looking out over Babylon,

the land he identified himself with,

there's the man above the door
with his beret on

and very sort of like
Soviet-style workers,

digging away, mother and child
and all that sort of stuff.

Walking inside
the long-abandoned palace

is an eerie and
slightly surreal experience.

Its long, dark corridors
echo with a sense of the past.

I feel like I've been given access

to the inner sanctum of
Iraq's fallen dictator.

The scale of the main rooms
remains staggering.

Their ceilings must be
ten metres high in places.

Wow! I mean, that is extraordinary.

Extraordinary scale,
I mean, you know, this is...

...not just the scale of it,
but actually the decoration

and all that,
and all these carvings.

I just can't get over the symbolism
of this whole thing, you know.

You build this, you spend
the country's money

and then what do you get?

Your buildings left empty and
all your fine work is just sort of

graffitied over.

But he thought big,
he certainly thought big.

Look at the size of
these doors and windows.

I've never seen...| mean, really,

I don't think there's anything
we have comparable at home.

Yeah, the ego.

Hubris House, this is.

Vanity Villas.

While the front of the palace
overlooks Babylon,

the balcony on the back reveals

one of the most stunning views
I've seen in Iraq.

Thousands of palm trees set against

the glittering waters of
an offshoot of the Euphrates...

...Iraq's other great river.

Saddam certainly knew what
he was doing when he wanted to

get a nice view. I mean,
this view's all the way round.

There are plans to turn
this palace into a museum.

And one day, Babylon itself
could be a big draw for

international tourists.

But next, I'm heading to a site of
such spiritual importance

that it already draws in people from
around the world in their millions.

Iraq was once famous for having
over 30 million palm trees.

And as we leave Babylon, our fixer
Ammar suggests we stop to try

what appears to be a piece of wood.

These are what?
What is this, exactly?

This is the heart of the palm tree.

Oh, right! OK. Yeah. Palm heart...
real palm hearts, yeah, yeah.

Is it a health-giving food,
or is it a delicacy?

Well, it's very healthy,
very useful for a lot of things.

Ancl specifically, I was told,

it's very good to help
the weak people in sex,

to get them a lot of energy.

Oh, really! Oh, I don't need
any of those then, absolutely.

Well, I'd like to try some.
Let's try some, yeah.

All right, I will ask the man
to get you a little bit.

Yeah, I want to see
how it's done. That's it, yeah.

Ah, so, this is...yeah.

There's a first time for everything!

This is the first time,
I think, I've had palm.

Mmm!

Palm tree heart will
probably soon catch on

as the latest health supplement,

but I think I'd rather
have a coconut.

An hour west of Babylon is Karbala,

which on first impressions
seems a rather nondescript town.

HORN HONKS
Ooh!

But as we approach the centre,

the increasingly busy roads
and crowds of people

tell a different story.

Karbala is one of the most
important places in the world

for Shia Muslims. Each year,

over ten million pilgrims come here

to visit the shrines of
Imam Husayn,

the grandson of
the Prophet Muhammad,

and his half-brother Imam Abbas.

Everything happens here.

In 680 AD, Imam Hussein and
his brother were killed here

in the battle of Karbala,

which led to a split in Islam
between Shia and Sunni,

a split which is
all too often blamed

for some of the divisions
in Iraq to this day.

But I don't get
a sense of division here.

This is a place that seems to
bring people together.

It's a huge, huge organisation.

People come here from
all over the world,

They come here
quite a lot from Iran,

they come from America,
they come from Europe.

You know, they employ
something like 20,000 people here

making sure that
everybody knows where they're going,

they can be comfortable,
they can get fed,

they can get accommodation.

It's a big enterprise
bringing Shia pilgrims here

to pay their respects to
Imam Abbas and Imam Husayn.

All goes on, all the time,
people of all ages,

including very, very small boys
like you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Many Shia Muslims wish to be buried
close to Imam Husayn,

and walking around, I see groups of
mourners carrying coffins towards

the shrine before they're
buried nearby.

And as I enter, it's also obvious
that this place is unlike anywhere

else I've been in Iraq.

Here we go.

It's dazzling, really,
the whole thing.

It's absolutely massive,
bewilderingly massive.

The sheer scale of this place
is astounding

and it's positively sparkling.

No expense spared.

Many of the millions of pilgrims
who come here every year

donate money at the shrine,

and next to oil,

religious tourism is one of
the largest parts of Iraq's economy.

But ultimately, this is a place of
immense spiritual importance

to those who visit.

This is the closest we can get to
the actual shrine where the body of

Imam Husayn, grandson of
the Prophet Muhammad, lies.

It's behind me now,
and he...you can see it.

A huge gold casket raised
about 20 feet off the ground.

There are so many people,
wheelchairs, there are coffins,

there are people reading the Koran,

there are people
telling their beads.

I saw a man just
down beside me there just

sitting by a pillar sobbing,
you know.

All kinds of emotion here.
It's a pretty amazing...

It's a pretty amazing sight.

After the serenity of Karbala,

we returned to the traffic-filled
streets of Baghdad.

After much negotiation,

we've finally been granted access
to a local school.

I'm interested to get a sense of
what lies ahead for Iraq -

and the future relies on
the next generation.

This is the Iraqi Gifted School
in Baghdad,

a government-run school created for
the best students in the city.

What are you going to do
when you grow up?

Architecture, and I want to be
a doctor and I want to be...

I think I forgot it,

I want to be a fashion designer,
because I really like fashion.

You can be the first
fashion designer-doctor-architect.

That would be brilliant,
wouldn't it?

You could just do everything!
Yeah. Yeah.

Less than 20 of Baghdad's top pupils

are accepted to this school
each year,

from around 1,000 applicants.

And surprisingly for Iraq,
it accepts both girls and boys.

Just, I have one question.
What do you think about Iraq?

What do I think about Iraq?

I think Iraq's a terrific country

with lots of people
who are very friendly

and they're very welcoming to us.
Oh, thank you.

The history of Iraq is fantastic.
Yes, the history of Iraq is great.

Iraq's education system
was once hailed as

the best in the Middle East,

and Saddam Hussein was given
an award by UNESCO

for his attempts
to eradicate illiteracy.

And although sanctions and conflicts
have not been good for education,

I'm keen to hear what these students
have to say for themselves.

Hello! It's very nice
to be here at your school.

May I ask you,
what are you studying here?

Our school is for maths and science.

The school is for maths and science?

Yes.

And would anyone here,
apart from science,

want to do other things or be
interested in any other subjects?

Yeah, what about you?

For me, I am really into
English literature

and poetry and, actually,
when I try to write things,

I feel like I am more in sync with
my personality than I am when

I am doing biology or chemistry.

Mmm. Do you feel that you've got
a lot of opportunities here?

I mean, the education system
in Iraq offers you choices?

Not really. If you are
looking for choices,

I think your best chance
is to study abroad,

because if you are studying in Iraq,

I think your main focus
would be medicine.

That is the main focus here.

One of the problems Iraq has is that
its economy is not very diverse.

There are jobs in government,
engineering or medicine,

but creative expression
has few outlets.

And with over 60% of the population
aged under 25,

youth unemployment is a big concern.

But this doesn't seem to dampen
the children's enthusiasm to learn.

Hello, good morning.

Hello!

Sal am alaikum.

I want to ask you
just one or two things

about what work you're doing here.
What are you studying at the moment?

We're studying English.

Are you? Well, you seem
to know it pretty well.

Yeah, thank you.

What do you think about our school?

It's very lively. You've all got
lots to say for each other,

you know, and that's terrific,

and the teachers seem to be
very hardworking, put it that way!

I know they want you
all studying at the moment,

and they don't want us here because

they know we're going to
get in the way,

but a very nice teacher,
and this class here,

are they a pleasure to teach?

They are my heroes.

They're your heroes! How about that?

OK!

Well, that's a good start, isn't it?

When I was at school, I didn't love
any of my teachers much. Why? No.

Well, I don't know, they were all...

they were all quite strict
sometimes, you know.

Yes, that's right.
"Palin - outside!"

"Outside! No."
My teachers do that with me.

Do they? So you didn't
want to do the same thing?

I wanted from them to love me
and love the lessons

and love the school,
so I don't do that with them.

I have a question.
What do you do in the movie?

In this, I just go around,
and I meet people and I talk to them

and try and find out their stories
and about their lives.

The world is less different
than you think when you go out.

We all have the same ideas
about what we want in the future.

And what we want, hopefully,
is to have a peaceful time,

don't we, really?

Don't want any more wars.

Can I tell you more about Iraq?

Well, yes, yes, do.

I don't know. People...
when you think of Iraq,

they know the famous places in Iraq,
but they don't know what Iraq is.

No.

We got our first electric car,
like, two months ago and,

yeah, I think in about ten years,
we'll be just as good.

I'm slightly bowled over
by these children.

They're so engaged and interested
in the world around them.

A small boy is sitting alone.
He's quiet.

He's sitting next to
the water... water.

I can only hope Iraq manages to find
a way to harness their talents.

Pedro makes a plan.

The boys go to the river.
Pedro starts to fish.

Because with them, the future of
Iraq could be very bright.

"I can't catch a fish today,"
says Pedro.

ALL INCLUDING MICHAEL:
But one of his friends says,

"No, we will catch the second one!"

Fantastic!
Ho-ho-ho-ho.

Brilliant.

That was very exciting!

It's time for me
to finally leave Baghdad.

This is the Baghdad railway station.

Designed by the Scottish architect
jM Wilson,

it was opened in 1953

when the British still held
considerable influence within Iraq.

And it's undeniably impressive.

Breathtaking.

Absolutely breathtaking.

All this for only
three trains a week!

The only service operating
from this magnificent station

is an overnight train to Basra,

although I'm only going
as far as Nasiriyah,

close to my next destination,
the great Ziggurat of Ur.

Ah, ticket office.

One to Nasiriyah, please.

Yeah, there you go.

Buying a ticket is
a somewhat complex affair.

What's your name?

Michael Palin, Michael, Michael.

Passport, Michael.

Passport, Michael. Of course,
I've got that, being a good,

efficient traveller.

There we go, thank you.

Michael Edward Palin.

That's right, that's me.

He's studying my passport
with great concentration,

trying to work out probably
where he's seen me before.

Graham Norton show or something.

Here we go, I think I see the
passport and I think I see a ticket.

You're welcome.

Thank you very much, thank you.

Shukran. Shukran.

Back in the 1930s,

the Orient Express could take you
all the way from London to Baghdad

in some degree of luxury.

These days, you have to leave your
luggage in a line so sniffer dogs

can check for explosives -

a reminder that Iraq remains a
dangerous country to travel around.

And then, it's a somewhat
chaotic rush to get on board.

Oh, they're off, they're off.

Hello, there, hello.

Driver, train.

You're the driver of the train?

Yes. Exciting, good.

Bas ha rat. Basharat.

You will stop at Nasiriyah,
won't you?

Nasiriyah. Cos I've got to get off.
Nasiriyah, OK.

Sun.

CONTINUES IN ARABIC

OK, OK, great, very good.

Nice to meet you.
We're in good hands.

I love that.

Six, five, this must be it.

Yeah, five, OK.

Ah, that's cosy.

Very cosy. Oh, I've got
a nice red carpet to put over me.

And television! Good lord.

And the blind goes up,
which it does.

Hey! You can see...
well, a lot of mud.

I mean, the window's
incredibly dusty.

Probably, I'll say, a result of
a sandstorm the other night,

everywhere in, everywhere...

God, it's dusty inside, actually!
That's rather strange.

There's dust all over Baghdad
after that great sandstorm,

so maybe that's it, but...

I somehow don't expect
an Iraqi train to leave on time.

We're moving!
Seven o'clock dead on. Fantastic!

Oh, dear, I do love railways.

Baghdad to Ur of the Chaldees.

What a journey. I mean...

I can just stay at home after this.

The train will be taking me over
200 miles south to the city of

Nasiriyah, close to
the ancient city of Ur.

As we leave Baghdad, the train
crosses several main roads...

TRAIN HORN SOUNDS

...with not a level crossing
in sight.

Oh, God. Traffic piled up there.

Traffic jam!
Yah boo, we're on the train.

Off with the light...

Soon, it's time for bed.

Now, that light
doesn't appear to go off,

unless I'm missing
the sequence of buttons.

Ah... Hee-hee! I have a plan,
I have a plan. Ahhh.

Le vrai chose.

HE CHUCKLES

Ahhh.

Ahhh!

Roll on the south.

ALARM SOUNDS

My head barely feels like
it's hit the pillow

before my alarm wakes me at 2am.

Oh.

Nasiriyah.

Early, I think.

Didn't sleep a wink.

Time to retreat to our hotel
for some proper sleep

before I finally get to see
the great Ziggurat of Ur.

I wake up in the Al-Zaitoon Hotel,

which overlooks the other great
river of Iraq,

the Euphrates.

My room also has a reminder that
Nasiriyah has seen its fair share of

problems recently...

...with what appears to be
a bullet hole.

Well, this is the view that
confronted me when I opened

the curtains of my hotel
here in Nasiriyah this morning.

There are more plastic bags
flying than birds at the moment,

but nevertheless,
here I am in Nasiriyah.

I'm in a very southern part of Iraq,

quite exciting,
and it's all legendary stuff.

I'm heading 12 miles outside of
Nasiriyah to visit a building that's

been etched into my mind
from childhood schoolbooks.

This is the great Ziggurat of Ur,
constructed around 4,000 years ago.

Ziggurats were religious temples,
although this looks more like

something from a futuristic
science fiction movie

than an ancient monument.

This is one of the most...

...distinctive buildings in the world
and it was part of a city,

the city of Ur, which kind of
captures the imagination.

Certainly captures mine,

because there was a city here
about over 6,000 years ago.

To get it in perspective,

it was Abraham's home city
where he was born.

Thousands of years ago,
Ur was a thriving Sumerian city,

the world's first
known civilisation.

And one thing is quite interesting
in that Sumerians,

the first people to measure
time into 60 units.

I mean, something which is so
fundamental to our world nowadays,

was first thought up
in these Sumerian city states.

Like Babylon,

the Ziggurat was partially rebuilt
by Saddam Hussein in the 1980s,

meaning you can now
climb to the top.

But unlike Babylon,
most of the structure is original.

And as I reach the top,

I realise I'm walking on the actual
remains of a temple first built

4,000 years ago.

Amazing.

I think it's just the contrast,
the height of this man-made mountain

and the flatness all around.

I think they built it,
as I remember...

...to celebrate the god of the moon.

Must have had such
enormous significance,

if you can imagine being below this
and waking up every morning

to see something of this scale.

Even today, it remains
quite awe-inspiring.

It's hard to sum up, but I really
feel I've achieved something,

because from when I can remember
looking at children's encyclopaedias

and all that,
the Ziggurat at Ur

was one of those magical buildings

that sort of transcended
its use or whatever it was.

It's quite moving, really,
cos there's a real, real feeling

that I've done something that I
never, ever thought I'd do

in my lifetime.
I've actually been able to get here.

I mean, there are many reasons
I wanted to come to Iraq,

but this, actually, when I...
if I'm honest with myself,

was one of the main ones.

I had to see the Ziggurat
at Ur of the Chaldees

and now I've seen it and I'm here.

The great Ziggurat of Ur is
as impressive as the pyramids,

and a part of me thinks it should be
thronging with tourists,

but there's also something
quite wonderful about

having it all to yourself.

I do like the name Ur,

I kind of imagine someone
on Mastermind being asked,

"What's the oldest city in Iraq?"

"Er..."
"Yes, good, onto the next."

Has a ring to it, doesn't it?

"Michael, where are you?"

"Er..."
"Oh, no, not again!"

As far as the eye can see here,
there's nothing but desert.

But things are about to change.

The next morning,
we're back on the road.

Well, you can see now on either side
it's getting much greener,

because we're into that area of
southern Iraq which is sort of

a triangle formed by
the Tigris and Euphrates,

that come together near here

and they've watered this area
and these are...

these are the marshes.

Surprises go on in Iraq.

The Iraq marshes were formed
thousands of years ago by

the flood plains of
the Tigris and Euphrates.

The only way to travel into the
marshes is by boats that look like

they've been imported from Venice.

CAR HONKS

After a thousand miles
of mostly dry desert,

being on the water
comes as something of a relief.

Here we go, here we go,
nice and narrow,

oh, that's great.

Very adventurous,

very exciting once you're actually
in amongst the reeds on either side,

it's really rather lovely.

And it feels protected
and secluded here in a way which,

I mean, most of Iraq is pretty raw.

Along the roads, there's noise,
there's people everywhere.

But here, whoa...

you're in the water,
and reeds whirl and it's...

oh, it's lovely and relaxing.

Covering an area of
more than 2,000 square miles,

the marshes are like
a giant nature reserve.

I never thought I'd see somewhere
like this in Iraq.

Exotic birds suddenly
fly out of the reeds.

It's rather nice to be in a place
where nature's more in control.

There's somebody. Delivery.

It's like a wonderful...
well, it is a wonderful labyrinth,

and then going
deeper and deeper into it.

Many people think the Iraq marshes
were the inspiration

for the Garden of Eden.

Noticing more and more
amongst the reeds

the very, very tall bullrushes.

And, I mean,
this is biblical country here.

And this is so unchanged.

No wonder the sort of stories
grew up around babes in bullrushes.

Steering me
through the reeds is Abu,

one of around 40,000 marsh Arabs who
still live and work on the marshes.

And now
there's quite a village here,

some very fine work,
you know, the fencing,

and beyond it the houses.

I mean, the reeds seem to provide
pretty much everything they need.

I'm being taken to
the island of a local family.

Ooh.

Off.

Yeah, OK!

This is wonderful!
Oh, my word! The world of reeds.

I'm meeting Saba,
who lives and works on the island

with his parents and children.

It sounds a very, very hard life.

Are you ever tempted to give it up
and move into the city?

Pretty much everything Saba and his
family needs comes from the marshes.

They make a living from fishing and
rearing water buffalo

who live with them on the island.

In many ways,
it's a self-sufficient eco-system.

Every home should have
a herd of buffalos, really.

It's very calming, I think.

Hello.

In the 1990s, this way of life was
almost wiped out by Saddam Hussein,

who thought the marsh Arabs
were working against him.

He built dams that prevented
the rivers from flooding

and the marshes
slowly dried out and died.

When Saddam Hussein
drained the marshes here,

where did you go
and what did you do?

Once Saddam was gone, the dams
were removed and life returned.

The quiet, that's what gets me.

The silence after
what we've been through.

Many, many days on the road,
honking horns and shouts.

And here, just the reeds...

...blowing in the wind.

Sadly, with the water level of
Iraq's rivers falling each year

thanks to global warming,

the marshes are once again
under threat.

It's another reminder of
how important rivers are

to the future of Iraq.

But for me, the Tigris
is approaching its end.

As we leave the Iraq marshes behind,

we soon arrive in Al-Qurnah,

a small town
on the banks of not one,

but two great rivers.

And for me, this place is
particularly special.

This is really quite
a significant point on our journey,

because it's where the Tigris
ceases to be the Tigris

and it joins with the Euphrates.

The two of them meet here,

having flowed all the way
from southeast Turkey,

and they join together and
they become the Shatt al-Arab.

Looks a bit low there.

The Tigris definitely looks
a little bit more threadbare

than the Euphrates,
which is, I think, the winner.

The Euphrates by a few thousand
gallons, I should think,

is flowing much more cleanly,
but there we are.

Thank you, Tigris,
you've been a good companion.

These two rivers have given life
to this part of the world throughout

human history, and I can only hope
they'll continue to do so.

And tomorrow, I'll be visiting
somewhere that many people hope

will help create
a bright, new future for Iraq.

The next morning, we start
the final leg of our journey,

following the Shatt al-Arab

past Basra towards the fishing
village of Al-Faw,

until it finally
releases its waters

into the Persian Gulf.

I really feel now as we are heading
dead straight towards the sea that

Iraq is, sort of, running out.

And it is, really, it's running out
of its own territory,

cos only a, you know, a mile,
a few miles to the left is Iran.

And on the right is Kuwait
and Saudi Arabia squeezing it in.

So, it's a very, very narrow funnel.

As we approach Al-Faw, we turn off

and enter the construction site of
the Grand Al-Faw Port.

The Iraq government claim
this is where Iraq's future lies.

The project is overseen
by the Korean company Daewoo,

and I've been given access to
the site.

And, soon, we're driving along
a breakwater

that is over nine miles long.

Nice to see the dhow go by.

As we go, I notice a traditional
fishing boat drifting past, in total

contrast to the 21st century
modernity that now surrounds it.

At a cost of around $7 billion,

the Grand Al-Faw Port could one day
become the largest cargo port in

the Middle East.

These breakwaters are designed to
provide berths

for over 100 cargo ships arriving
from the Gulf states and Asia.

I think it's in
the Guinness Book of Records

as the longest breakwater in
the world.

And that contains this
and then they'll build the port.

But, I mean,
it's a mammoth undertaking,

and something, I think, that, if it
works, will really put Iraq

on the international trade map

because Kuwait won't have
anything quite like it,

Iran hasn't anything
quite like it, at the moment.

So, if they can bring in
all the trade,

all the potential trade of the
future, it could make the country

rich, it could also actually help
the infrastructure of the country,

better railways, better roads.

The plan is for a railway to connect
the port directly with Europe,

transforming global shipping.

But some claim the project is
riddled with Iraqi corruption

and is a waste of resources,

but, for now, I'll choose
to admire the ambition.

Maybe just also psychologically,
it's good for a country

to have something on this
mega scale,

a world scale project.

Quite, quite something,
quite something.

Leaving Al-Faw,
we head to the coast,

as far as the roads will take us.

And soon, after three weeks
of travelling,

we finally arrive at the place

where the Shatt al-Arab
spills into the Persian Gulf.

This is the Iraqi coast,

not that you'd know it from
looking around.

Surrounded by salt flats,

it looks like the sea has not
reached here for quite some time.

Well, this is it,
I've reached the end of Iraq.

Over there is the Shatt al-Arab

just gorging it's waters into
the Persian Gulf.

And, in fact, this whole area here
is the Persian Gulf.

If you look on maps, it looks
as though we're actually sort of,

we should be under water there

but this is, the sea is right out
there, Kuwait is over there.

I mean,
it's not just the end of Iraq,

it's the end of
a rather amazing journey.

A thousand miles
from the snows of Turkey

to the salt pans here
at the end of Iraq.

I feel we've achieved something.

What it is, is to catch the feeling
of a country that had been, sort of,

written off because of its
recent history,

because of what had been
going on, recently,

or a country associated purely with
violence and danger

and war and find out
that isn't the reality -

people here are trying their very,
very best to put that behind them.

And there is great hopes for
this country.

It's just been a great place to be.

Humankind does its best
everywhere it can.

And here in Iraq, of all the places,

the experience and the joy of seeing
what went on and sharing something

with the people has been, made it
absolutely, 100% worthwhile.

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