"What would you write to a soldier in Iraq?"

Welcome Home, well done, looking forward to seeing you.

Here's what some of the locals have said about them:

Mohammed Qassim, 35, father-of-three, credits British forces with achieving a cherished new peace, he insisted: "I say to British soldiers and their families, many, many thanks. You should be very proud, you have given our children a future. No one wanted foreign forces to come here — we are a proud people. But it was the only way we could get rid of Saddam Hussein. We now have democracy and no one can tell the people who will be their leader."

University lecturer Dr Juliana Dawood Jousif, 52, said that, despite the carnage: "The war was worth it. We would never have got rid of Saddam's regime otherwise. I appreciate the British Army changed the lives of many Iraqis for the better. It's sad these people (MNF Troops) had to come to Basra and lose their lives for something they aren't responsible for."

Youth worker Shatha Ibrahim, 32, helps local school leavers find work training schemes, said: "If you disagreed with Saddam, you were not safe. His guys would follow you until you were dead. Then, under the militias, women were not leaving our homes much. In the street and in the markets they would tell us to wear the veil and not to wear make-up or jeans. Now we have picnics by the river and we can wear whatever we want."

Abdul Al Moosawi, 49, the Imam at the sprawling Moosawi Mosque in Basra's centre hit out at last month's protests by extremists in Luton who labelled British troops the "butchers of Basra". Standing beside the vast domes of the mosque which can hold 11,000 worshippers, he said: "We appreciate the sacrifice British troops made in bringing democracy to our country. Saddam had a sick mind but the British and Americans changed the regime for good. I thank the parents of these soldiers for the sacrifice their children made and ask God to send their souls to paradise."