Britain's failure in Iraq defined by intangible legacy left behind in Basra
ITV News Correspondent Dan Rivers reports
Britain achieved little in Basra, the largest southern Iraqi city where UK troops were stationed after the invasion in 2003.
On the day the long-awaited Chilcot report criticised efforts to plan for post-invasion Iraq, it is painfully clear that Britain's legacy in the city it was tasked with overseeing is intangible and contested.
While stationed in Basra, British troops were involved in the rescue of two SAS troops who had been captured while on an undercover mission and were going to be executed.
The British rescue mission, which saw a British armored car break down a wall at the police station, sparked local anger.
The ensuing scene of a burning vehicles surrounded by angry locals, captured on film, came to define Britain's failure in Iraq.
The scenes highlighted how far Britain's aims had changed from hunting WMDs to simply surviving in the face of a growing terrorist threat.
Today, it is hard to pinpoint any British achievement in Basra.
Colin Maclachlan, who was one of the hostages, told ITV News: "It's quite surreal thinking that was such a pivotal moment."
Speaking about his mission in Iraq, he said: "Initially we were sent to look for these 23 scud-type WMDs," he said, referring to so-called weapons of mass destruction.
"We had some locations, we had some intelligence that proved either dated or false and we never found any. I would say its inevitable that the presence of us alone is going to encourage not just al-Qaeda but all kinds of foreign fighters," he said.
British troops pulled out of Basra in 2007, in what then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown described as a "pre-planned" move.
But the withdrawal of troops followed near daily attacks on British forces as the Iraqi insurgency spread into the city, initiating a huge uptick in violence in an area that had been relatively peaceful following the initial invasion.