SOMETHING truly historic happens in Iraq next week. After decades of oppression and war, the Iraqi people are finally to begin to take control of their own destiny.

Under Saddam Hussein's brutal rule, few Iraqis could ever have dared imagine that the day would ever come when they were governed by representatives committed to building a peaceful and prosperous Iraq.

But that is what will happen on Wednesday when the new government in Baghdad assumes full sovereignty from the "occupying forces" of the coalition. Full elections are due to follow by the end of next January.

Iraqi ministers - six of whom are women - will take over the day-to-day running of their country under their Prime Minister, Dr Iyad Allawi. They will have responsibility for all those areas of policy which we in Britain take for granted, such as education, health, trade, transport, agriculture, defence and foreign affairs.

It is a moment of celebration. But no one - least of all those in the new government - underestimates the task of turning around a country left brutalised and destitute by years of dictatorship.

A key priority of the new Iraqi government will be to improve the security situation in parts of Iraq. So British, American and troops from the 30 other countries of the coalition will remain in the country for the time being, at the request of the Iraqis, to help defeat those who use violence to wreck the democratic process.

While security issues dominate the headlines here in Britain, there have already been significant improvements in the lives of the people of Iraq over the last year.

Health services are improving steadily, with 240 hospitals and 1,200 health care centres now in operation, and more than five million children immunised for measles, mumps and rubella. Education is improving too. More than 2,500 schools have been refurbished and eight million text books have been printed and distributed across the country.

There are now more than 100 newspapers able to report the truth about what is happening in Iraq and around 90 TV and radio stations. A new currency has been introduced successfully and more than 20,000 reconstruction projects have been completed, with more than half-a-million new jobs created by a National Employment Programme.

There is, of course, a huge amount to do in Iraq over the coming years, but there can be little doubt that life there is better than that which preceded it.

Few of us can ever imagine the sheer cruelty and barbarity of Saddam's rule in Iraq. Hundreds of thousands were murdered simply for what they said, who they knew or for where they came from. This, remember, was the regime that dropped chemical bombs on a defenceless village in northern Iraq killing thousands of men, women and children simply because they were of Kurdish origin.

It was a reign of terror that left a proud and sophisticated people traumatised and brutalised. And, yes, I believe that we in the West turned a blind eye to what was happening for too long.

But I am proud that by removing Saddam Hussein and his evil regime - a regime responsible for the more Muslim deaths than any other in modern times - our forces have made a contribution to helping the people of Iraq build a better future for themselves.

Only a few weeks ago, when I was in Brixton in London, a young man approached me to tell me how grateful he was at Saddam's demise. "I am an Iraqi from the Kurdish area," he explained, "and I want to thank you for helping to free my country."

Next week, we are going one step further by helping to give Iraq back to Iraqis. Whatever one's view about the decision to take military action, this is a moment all of us should welcome.