The thousands of pamphlets printed in Arabic and English feature a smiling British soldier shaking the hand of an Arab man. They are given to any pedestrian or driver who is willing to take one, in this city which has been surrounded by British forces for well over a week.

"People of Basra, we are here to liberate the people of Iraq," the pamphlets proclaim.

"Our enemy is the regime and not the people. We need your help to identify the enemy, to rebuild Iraq. We will stay as long as it takes."

The leaflets encourage Iraqis to tune in to Nahrain FM, a radio station run by British troops that is filled with similar conciliatory messages alongside the latest hits by Jennifer Lopez -- or older tunes by Abba and the Bee Gees.

Iraqis generally accept the leaflets with a smile and a polite "thank you." Once they are a few yards (meters) away, many of them trash the pamphlets.

"The British don't really care what happens to us. They just want Saddam's head. After that they'll forget about us as they've done until now," said Ahmed, who did not stop for a leaflet as he entered Basra with his sack of tomatoes.

The British are well aware of such skepticism. Like US forces, their military plans seemed to be built around the theory that Iraqis would rise up and help them end President Saddam Hussein's 24-year stranglehold on power.

After the 1991 Gulf War, an anti-Saddam uprising in Basra led by the majority Shiite Muslim community was brutally crushed after the US-led multinational coalition at the time failed to provide assistance.

The leaflets address the historical legacy head-on.

"This time we won't abandon you. Be patient, together we will win," they read.

But as the soldiers tried to demonstrate their good intentions, their position here was hit with Iraqi artillery -- a stark reminder that there are still some here who don't welcome them.

"In the last couple of hours, they've been shooting at us with RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) and mortars," said officer Mickey O'Flynn, from the Seventh Brigade of the British forces known as the Desert Rats.

He estimated that several hundred militiamen were entrenched in central Basra. But he believed residents' attitudes were growing warmer to the British forces.

"They are more friendly every day because they realise that the regime is collapsing," O'Flynn said.

"We are waiting to move into Basra," he said, assuring that thousands of British troops had the city surrounded.

But why have they been waiting so long? Are they waiting for more troops, or for US forces to capture the capital Baghdad?

"I'd like to know, too," grumbled one soldier, his fatigue apparent, as he sported a bullet-proof vest and helmet in the 40-degree (100-Fahrenheit) heat of southern Iraq.

SPACE.WIRE