As British troops leave Basra in southern Iraq, the BBC's John Simpson takes a look at the city they will be leaving behind.
It has got 4,000 years of trading links with the outside world. It is also almost exclusively Shia Muslim - so there are no clashes with Sunni Muslims, unlike in divided Baghdad, where the vicious civil war continues.
Basra is doing well. Yet the same old problems remain.
People made a beeline to tell us what was wrong here.
The water supply has been cut off for four days, one woman told us.
There are daily power cuts, another said. That means no air conditioning, though Basra is sweltering now, close to 38C (100F).
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