WHEN I wrote last week about my visit to Afghanistan I didn't know that I was journeying back not only with some powerful impressions and a long list on my "to do" sheet, but a quite unwanted souvenir too -- food poisoning.

There's no need for me to go into the gory details -- suffice it to say that for the first time since I became a Minister I had to miss a debate (on the Intelligence Committee's work).

It would, shall we say, simply have been unsafe for me to do so. And, since it's a long time since I've had such a bug, I'd forgotten that even after the initial symptoms have gone, it drains the energy out of you. However, there's nothing like the week I'm having to get one fired up.

On the way back from Afghanistan I visited Iraq. I stopped briefly at Basra Airport, to see British troops there, and in particular, the comrades of the six Royal Military Police who were killed so terribly, and the Paras who had been engaged in the parallel attack.

My admiration and respect for our forces, always high, simply goes up and up the more I see of them. They are quite remarkable men and women. It was a sombre occasion -- but there was a light moment when a Para came forward to tell me that he was a Rovers supporter. (I immediately asked his Commanding Officer to ensure that he got an extra commendation for judgement and character.)

Travelling across Southern Iraq was odd. This crescent -- the cradle of civilisation -- is astonishingly fertile. Neat, tilled, green fields -- it all looked so normal; little evidence of any conflict.

Why oh why, I asked myself, could such a well-endowed country end up in a situation where 60% of its population had to be fed by the international community rather than being the bread-basket for the whole region, as it once was. Then I saw part of the answer -- clear but fading field patterns in what now looked like desert. Saddam had allowed the extensive, centuries-old irrigation system to collapse.

In Baghdad I saw where he'd spent Iraq's riches instead -- in part, at least -- on the most vulgar, extravagant obscene palaces and monuments you have ever seen.

Most of Baghdad -- overwhelmingly -- is unscarred physically by the war. But of course it has left its legacy. Getting on top of the security problem is top of the agenda for the coalition. That, of course, requires action by the US and UK forces, and the rebuilding of Iraq's police force, from one which ruled by terror to one which operates by consent.

I visited the Police Academy and saw the new training programme led by a former New York City Police Chief. This impressive work gives me hope.

There is progress being made elsewhere too. A new City Council in Baghdad met for the first time on Monday evening. With the appointment of a City Council in Basra last week, every major city in Iraq now has its own, new local government.

These people have had, necessarily for the moment, to be chosen from more local neighbourhood representatives rather than elected. But it's a start -- and soon we expect a new Governance Council to be appointed which will for the first time give Iraqis a real voice in the running of their country.

Already, the Iraqi people have a much more open system than ever under Saddam. Moreover, if they voice criticism today they'll be listened to. Under Saddam, if they were rash enough to utter words against the regime, they could end in jail, or worse.