The man at Baghdad Customs opened the briefcase and eyed me quizzically. Despite the language barrier, I sensed all was not well.
Inside the briefcase was our satellite equipment - to allow us to do live broadcasts to the audience back home. It was clear he didn't like the look of it though. Or the back-up kit James Shaw was carrying. Forms were produced. Colleagues were called over. Heads were shaken. "Come this way, sir." Not a sentence you want to be hearing from a stern looking man in uniform at the best of times.
A police escort ensued - to a hangar within the airport perimeter. The vehicle we were travelling in was stopped outside and the sniffer dogs got to work - to hunt for explosives.
If I was in any doubt that security remains a pressing issue in Iraq, this was my first reminder. Inside, more questions, from a man we were later told probably worked for Iraqi intelligence.
A couple of hours later, after many more conversations with many more officials, we were forced to cut our losses. We hadn't even made it out of the airport and yet we were now two broadcast journalists in Iraq without the means to broadcast.
I was trying to remain positive (here's some material for the 5 live blog, if nothing else, I told myself), but whichever way I looked at it, things hadn't started well.
Reporter James Shaw and producer Liam Hanley are in Iraq marking ten years since the US led invasion to see how the country has changed.
