Iraqi soldiers urged to lay down arms in latest American propaganda effort

US and British forces have been stepping up propaganda efforts to encourage Iraqi soldiers to lay down their arms – dropping millions of leaflets over major cities and encouraging the troops to tune in to special anti-Saddam radio broadcasts.

The moves are seen as an intensification of efforts to prepare for possible military action against Iraq. They come as President Bush warned US troops likely to be sent to the region: "We are ready, we are prepared." Speaking at Fort Hood military base in Texas, he added: "You'll be fighting not to conquer anybody but to liberate people."

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Turkey, Abdullah Gul, yesterday signalled his determination to work with Arab leaders to find ways to avert a war with Iraq. He made his remarks after talks in Damascus with President Bashar al-Assad. Mr Gul will also visit Egypt, Jordan and possibly Iran in the coming days. "We still believe that this problem can be solved without war," he said after the meeting with President Assad. "Turkey and Syria agreed to co-ordinate efforts to bring a peaceful solution to the problem."

In the most recent effort to undermine the resolve of rank-and-file Iraqi soldiers, British and US planes dropped 480,000 leaflets on Thursday over the cities of Basra and Nasiriyah, several hundred miles south-east of the capital, Baghdad.

The leaflets urged the soldiers to tune in to a special radio broadcast, prepared by specialists from the 4th Psychological Operations Group based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and relayed by an EC-130 Commando Solo aircraft. These planes, operated by the 193rd Special Operations Wing, were flown regularly during the Afghanistan campaign to fill the airwaves with pro-US messages.

"Soldiers of Iraq," says the radio message, broadcast in Arabic. "Since the beginning of time, there has been no profession more honourable than that of a soldier. Soldiers are decorated with awards and medals that show their achievements and mark their skills. The uniform of a soldier is an article that demands respect and loyalty.

"Saddam has tarnished this legacy. Saddam spews forth political rhetoric along with a false sense of national pride to deceive these men to serve his own unlawful purposes. Saddam does not wish the soldiers of Iraq to have the honour and dignity that their profession warrants. Saddam seeks only to exploit these brave men."

Lt Col Martin Compton, a spokesman for US Central Command (CentCom) said: "Essentially the message is that there will be less loss of life and that it will be better for everybody if the Iraqi soldiers lay down their arms. You really can't judge how successful the messages are at this stage. It will only become apparent when something happens. The Iraqi government is not telling us."

During the military campaign in Afghanistan, the leaflets dropped by the US were often designed to look like dollar bills and contained offers of rewards for information about the whereabouts of senior Taliban and al-Qa'ida leaders. Experts say that the leaflets and radio messages being used in Iraq are targeted much more specifically.

François Boo, an analyst with GlobalSecurity.org, a Washington-based military research group, said the latest leaflets – the 12th such drop in three months – were aimed at rank-and-file Iraqi soldiers in the field. "They have been leafleting for some time now," he said.

"They are telling ordinary Iraqi soldiers they should not do anything to try and shoot down US planes and that they should not rebuild any air defences that the US destroys. They are stepping up the ground work in preparation for a US invasion of Iraq. They have been slowly doing this."

The visits by the Turkish Prime Minister to several Arab capitals reflects his country's ambivalence about a conflict in Iraq. His government would be hard-pressed to deny the United States access to military bases in Turkey to launch an assault against Iraq. However, it fears being isolated from other Muslim countries, and worries about the possible disintegration of Iraq and the spill-over effect on Kurdish senti- ment inside Turkey.

In an interview with the Turkish newspaper Aksam yesterday, Mr Gul compared Iraq to Pandora's Box. "This box should not be opened," he warned. "Iraq should not disintegrate because it would be impossible to put everyone back into that box again."