A symbol of the desolation of Iraq

When British troops arrived at Basra Palace after weeks of fighting in 2003, it seemed like another world after the blood, dust and squalor they had been through.

Built for Saddam Hussein on what used to be a public park on the banks of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, the main building alone had 18 huge halls, five staircases and 12 balconies. There were 14 other rooms with equally sumptuous appointments, including gold-trimmed bathroom fittings. Ornate stone bridges spanned the many pools and channels filled by the river. Yet it is believed that Saddam, who did not trust the Shias of the south, never visited the complex.

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In quieter times Basra used to be a refuge during Iraq's searing summer for Baghdad's elite, who would stroll the esplanade which led up to the gates of the palace. After the 2003 ceasefire, when the complex housed the British and US consulates, as well as UN staff, British and US troops and smaller national contingents carrying out reconstruction work, off-duty foreigners could mingle with locals on the riverside walkway and watch boats weaving between cargo vessels blasted during the war.

Such relaxed activity became impossible as the Shia militias turned against the foreign presence, and the palace complex became shut off from Basra. It was a relatively comfortable isolation all the same: there was a social club with a bar and swimming pool, bottles of Australian cabernet sauvignon on sale in the shop and electric golf carts to whiz around the spacious grounds. After the heat of the day, there was a shady rose garden in which to relax. Those fortunate enough to be guests of the Foreign Office rather than the military enjoyed fortified mini-apartments with blast-proof doors, hot showers and kitchenettes instead of a camp bed in a tent.

Those days are long gone. The UN withdrew after its headquarters in Baghdad were demolished and its chief representative killed in a suicide bombing. The increasing number of mortars and rockets fired into the complex gradually drove away civilians, with Foreign Office staff moving to Kuwait. (They refused to be stationed at the Basra airport base, where most military personnel are still in tents, until suitable "hard accommodation" was constructed.)

But now it is too dangerous for any soldier left behind to sleep under anything but "hard cover" as the steady barrage of incoming fire gradually demolishes the splendours of Basra Palace. By the time they hand over to the Iraqi army and leave, the complex will look just as damaged and neglected as the rest of Iraq.