Heres a popular misconception I hear alot on forums: "Ironically the British troops seem to be in relatively friendly areas (e.g. Basra), not in heavily insurgent areas"

Maybe its because they run a tighter ship?

On a serious note, you'd notice a marked difference in the way the area is 'policed'. The US is in battened down tanks,or helmets , body armour, shades and scowling at civilians. The UK is on foot, berets/soft headgear no shades and speaking to civvies ("hearts and minds"). This is not because its a softer area. When the Royal Marines took Basra it was a wild area and there was much house to house fighting. Now its an area largely in control; I believe due to the way soldiers have deployed and behave towards the population. Theses are lessons we learned in Malaya in the 50's and mistakes made in Northern Ireland from the 60's to date. Now that the north of Iraq is going to hell in a hand cart I don't think it can be taken back by "hearts and minds" in the Brit fashion. Its lessons like this we're trying to pass on to less experienced troops, i.e the Americans but sometimes getting heard over 'gung-ho!' and 'hoo-har!' is harder than imagined.

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"The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left."
Ecclesiastes 10:2 (NIV)

A few centuries of imperialism do teach some useful lessons.

Spork, many a true word spoke in jest

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"The key to immortality is living a life worth remembering"