Prince Charles Drops In on British Troops in Iraq

Wearing desert camouflage and boots, Prince Charles made a surprise morale-boosting visit to British troops in Iraq on Sunday, becoming the first member of the royal family to visit the country since the ouster of Saddam Hussein.

At a former Hussein palace in the southern city of Basra now serving as a British base, the prince mingled with about 200 soldiers, shaking hands, sipping tea and praising their work.

“What you’re doing, many of you, training Iraqis to become almost as good a bunch of soldiers as you are, is ... of enormous importance because this part of the world doesn’t have much chance unless their armed force can learn a lot from your experience,” the prince said, according to the Press Assn., a British news agency. News of the prince’s visit was embargoed until he left Iraq.

The prince, who later flew to Iran, spent nearly six hours in Basra, where he heard Iraqi leaders discuss a range of political and economic problems.

“I basically talked with him about people’s complaints about salaries and how they are demonstrating,” tribal leader Morahim Kannan said. “We told him that Iraq must have elections because otherwise there will be no stability.”

At one stage, gunshots rang out from a nearby neighborhood.

Iraq’s majority Shiite Muslim population is demanding elections before a planned handover of power by June 30. The U.S. says elections cannot be held by then.

Iraq won independence from Britain in 1932. There are some 8,000 British troops now in the country. Britain has lost 58 soldiers since the start of the war.

After leaving Iraq, Charles arrived in Iran late Sunday and planned to meet President Mohammad Khatami this morning before flying to Bam, the city in southeastern Iran devastated by a massive earthquake Dec. 26.

“The prince is a patron of the British Red Cross and is visiting Iran in that role. It’s an official but completely a nonpolitical visit,” said Andrew Dunn of the British Embassy in Tehran.

The prince, accompanied by a small entourage that includes the head of the British Red Cross, will meet with earthquake victims and assess how Britain can help the survivors.