Marking the conflict’s fifth anniversary, Rageh Omaar returns to Iraq in this one-off special to find the human stories behind the vast number of statistics generated in the five years of the Iraq war.

The documentary uses archive footage and eye-witness accounts to illustrate the effects of war on civilians and military, participants and observers, Iraqis and non-Iraqis.

Omaar, who reported from Baghdad in the lead up to the war and was the BBC’s man on the ground during the invasion itself, tells the programme: “In 2003 I was a fresh-faced young correspondent, full of ambition and fear. For me this is as much a personal quest as it is a professional assignment.

“My six years of coming here from 1997 onwards left me with a lasting affection for Iraqis and their country. Now I want to know what has happened to the colleagues I worked with, the ordinary Iraqis I met back then.”

Rageh arrives back in Baghad to find that there are few areas he can visit, and those he can have been deserted - including Sadoun Street, from where he reported on numerous occasions.

He explains: “The city has changed unimaginably in the last five years, and these side streets are off Sadoun Street which used to be the commercial heart of Baghdad. The only way I’m able to be here is under considerable armed guards, and that’s the reality for most Western journalists working in Baghdad, and what that means is that it’s almost impossible to meet Iraqis under normal circumstances. Since I was last here, Sadoun Street has been the scene of numerous attacks and suicide bombings.”

Statistic: Total number of journalists killed in Iraq = 127

Rageh returns to the Palestine Hotel where he lost his friend and colleague Ukrainian cameraman Taras Protsyuk.

It has become so dangerous for Western journalists to work on the street that nearly all of the international broadcasters and newspapers rely on locals to provide them with the photographs and footage they need. Faleh Kheiber is an award winning photojournalist who Rageh describes as one of his closest friends: “There must have many moments of fear for Faleh taking these sorts of photographs. For me he is one of the unsung heroes of my profession.”

Kadhim Al Jubouri was a weightlifter who represented Iraq at a national level. He was sentenced to nine years in Abu Ghraib prison when he fell out with Saddam’s sons over a business deal. On April 9th 2003 it was Kadhim who initiated the infamous attack on Saddam’s statue with a sledge hammer. Kadhim explains to Rageh how he feels about Iraq five years on: “At the beginning everyone was happy to have got rid of a tyrant of 30 years and an oppressive regime that had destroyed the Iraqi people by enslaving, killing, executions…once the elections started and the government started taking shape, the militias and all killing started, things got worse and I began to change my mind. Now I think that Saddam was a tyrant, a killer, a criminal but at least he gave us safety and the opportunity to work.”

The reality today is that Baghdad’s residents spend hours at checkpoints and have body searches just to move around their own city.

Monday 17 March 2008 10:35pm - 11:35pm on ITV1.