IRAQ: Picture the scene. A patrol of American Abrams tanks rumbles down the main street of Falluja, the toubled city in which six US soldiers have so far lost their lives. The noise is deafening in the early afternoon.
The gunner of the second tank, on the look-out for targets, swings the gun turret to one side of the street. Those shopkeepers who have not already hidden behind their stalls dive for cover. The gunner then swings his gun to the other side, creating an equally terrified response.
By the time the tanks have turned a corner at the bottom of the street, the once bustling marketplace has been completely deserted.
This is called "force protection, American-style", one of a number of procedures stepped up in recent weeks to counter the daily attacks on US soldiers by Iraqi resistance groups.
There are, of course, other ways in which an Iraqi family might describe their experiences during patrols, or at vehicle checkpoints, or during dawn raids and house-to-house searches, through which US forces aim to root out the enemy: words such as "intimidating", "scary", "obtrusive" might be used.
But the term "unprofessional", suggested by a senior British officer, explains best why American "force protection" is having the opposite effect to what it is intended to achieve and why the British approach in the south of Iraq has generated little violence.
"It is not so much in the substance of what we do that we differ with the Americans," the British officer explained. "We also conduct patrols and raid houses to maintain security. It's in the style."
Not that that style at first appears any more professional. Indeed, in the best tradition of the bumbling village bobby, the British patrols are conducted on bicycle by soldiers in berets with guns slung over the shoulders. There is a certain amateur charm. Sunglasses have been banned.
It is difficult to imagine a solder wobbling through the marketplace on his mountain bike in the badlands of Falluja making quite the same target for an RPG attack as a Abrams M1 tank.
"It's all about contact with people," said the officer. "We aim to create an atmosphere of confidence and trust. Wearing flak jackets, helmets and shades during peacetime is simply unprofessional. It's the wrong sort of mentality."
A member of the political council which will begin to take over the running of Iraq from the Americans early next year characterised the American mentality. "The Americans are very good at fighting, but when it comes to running a country they are inept and dangerous. We sometimes wish the British would come and take charge for a while. Iraqis remember them as fair and good rulers in the old colonial days."
"We did Vietnam. The Brits did Northern Ireland," said an American officer bluntly. "What we have now is a good old-fashioned counter-insurgency campaign. We have targets hiding in a civilian population. We have to take them out, and sometimes you take out a few civilians, too."