Each of the final scenes offers the hope of a triumphant finish, but none set that ending in concrete.

Thousands of people, including young men with headscarves and old women wearing the chador, march along the road waving bold single-coloured flags of red, green and black.

A US soldier says they are Shiite Muslims taking to the streets to express their religious beliefs following the fall of their persecutor, Saddam Hussein.

An elderly couple work together, bent over from the waist in a freshly ploughed field while a group of boys play soccer in a dusty patch of cleared farmland amid expanses of green wheat crops.

It is late afternoon and the fading sun casts a soft, warm light on two children standing next to a herd of sheep and cows.

And two trucks full of onions travel the same path as a bus full of live chickens.

But everywhere there are reminders of the fragility of these prospects for better times in the wake of the US military's march through southern Iraq in its successful mission to topple Saddam.

Two young boys play in the charcoal shell of a van that was destroyed by the US forces as they powered their way into Baghdad.

A rough tally in three hours of driving puts the number of burnt out cars along the side of the highway at 23.

There are 24 trucks that were hit by US bombs or missiles while a 25th somehow avoided the onslaught and still stands by the side of the road with missile launchers attached to its tray.

Eight tanks and four air defence batteries are also sitting destroyed along the highway.

There is seemingly a pattern for the vehicle devastation with it occurring almost always on the outskirts of towns.

Inside some of the villages and towns Iraqi men sit around defaced portraits of Saddam and near the rubble of bombed out buildings.

They appear to harbour no grudge nor hold particular affection for the Western pair driving in a four-wheel drive.

Many offer matter-of-fact advice in a few words of English and sign language on how to get to Nasariyah, a city in the south where Iraqi political figures are due to meet on Tuesday to discuss a post-war government for the country.

And while Baghdad is still ravaged by looting and lawlessness, the smaller towns south of the capital appear to be relatively calm despite the absence of any visible US troop presence.

Some shops have begun to open, with fruit and vegetable sellers the most keen to get back to business.

SPACE.WIRE