The war in Iraq is being waged with more than bombs - there's also a battle for hearts and minds, both in the desert and around the world. We report on the psychological war

THE Iraqi soldier clutches a leaflet and waves a white flag.

The US troops ask: "Do you speak English".

He nods and surrenders, waiting for the GIs to pad him down and search him for weapons.

The leaflet, dropped by coalition forces, tells him he will be well-treated by the Allies if he gives himself up.

It is the start of the psychological war, the carrot and stick of holding out a hand to individual Iraqis while mercilessly unleashing "shock and awe" on regime targets.

On Friday, the terrifying air bombardment began in earnest.

Baghdad, Mosul, Basra and Kirkuk burned as hundreds of precision bombs and cruise missiles devastated targets like Saddam's palaces and the ministry of planning.

Military strategists hope the blitzes will bomb Iraqi generals and soldiers into submission. And this time, British and American jets have an array of advanced precision-guided missiles in their arsenal.

Air command and control bases at Tallil and al-Kut, which safeguard the approaches to Baghdad, were earmarked to be the first to come under attack.

And before the bombardment, strategists said up to one in 10 major buildings in Iraq could be destroyed.

British strategists have drawn up a Domesday Book-style list of thousands of buildings, including every public building in the country. Around 90 per cent of those have been identified as "non targets" - including hospitals, schools and mosques - leaving ten per cent which could be bombed.

Craig Hoyale, aviation editor of Jane's Defence Weekly, said: "It's an enormous shindig, much harder than last time.

"They want to make a big impact by going in extremely hard with the first few days being the heaviest of the air campaign.

"The advances in technology over the last decade in precision weapons means that we don't have to use so much to hit the target, but I don't expect the operation in Iraq to be any different from the war in Afghanistan, where they dropped an enormous number of bombs.

"It'll send a very strong message out if we go in harder than last time and get the air campaign over quickly and it'll give the troops a psychological edge."

A key issue in this war is how quickly the Iraqi people will turn their backs on Saddam, and whether the invading troops will be seen as liberators or conquerors.

Symbolic targets of Saddam Hussein's autocratic regime will come under fire as part of a longer-term campaign aimed at unnerving the Iraqi military and exposing their leader's vulnerability, strategists say.

Saddam's home town of Tikrit and a number of presidential palaces are among a list of targets highlighted by Allied commanders.

Saddam's professional army units, the Republican Guard and Special Republican Guard, were also being targeted in a bid to break their morale.