Barack Obama's visit to the green zone in Baghdad far eclipsed a similar trip by Gordon Brown two days earlier in terms of the media frenzy it generated.

Journalists camped for three hours outside the residence of Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, hoping for a glimpse of the Democratic presidential hopeful as he paid a visit.

There was another scrum as Mr Obama departed, surrounded by half a dozen burly security guards and an entourage of aides.

The circus was repeated outside Jalal Talabani's presidential compound, which sits just outside the green zone but is also formidably guarded.

The contrast with the attitude of ordinary Iraqis could not have been greater. Most were oblivious that the Obama visit was even taking place.

“Who is Mr Obama?” asked Muhammad Saed, 29, who owns a small supermarket in Baghdad. “I stopped reading the news after the invasion because it only talks about car bombs and people being killed.”

Ahmed Chaseb, a 29-year-old traffic policeman in the Shia slum of Sadr City, had also never heard of the senator.

“I'm not interested in politics and I don't trust Americans,” he said.

Down in the southern port city of Basra most people were unaware that Mr Obama had begun his Iraq tour at the British military base near by.

Sheikh Mohammad al-Zaydi, however, said that he had great respect for the senator and wished him success in the elections.

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