Newspapers condemn war and occupation

IRAQ/In the press: Although popular protests on the first anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq were thin on the ground in the Arab world, editorialists and commentators did not hold their fire.

The Saudi daily, Arab News, summed up the feelings of many Arabs when it said they felt a "deep sense of failure" when the bombs rained down on Baghdad. "It did not have to be this way. The Americans and their coalition allies could have worked for consensus in the UN. \ they chose to ... go it alone ... the Iraqi resistance has been able to justify its murderous activities by saying it is fighting a Washington initiative launched in the teeth of opposition from ...friends and allies." Jordan's al-Rai said: "Iraqis are confronting the greatest military force in history with faith and individual weapons. They have made the cost of occupation more than the aggressors ever anticipated."

Abdel Wahab Badrakhan, a commentator for the London-based pan-Arab daily, al-Hayat, wrote: "What Iraq gained from the war is an end to a despotic regime, but Iraqis still have to gain ... Iraq."

Jordan's al-Destour said the "ghost of the Iraq war" would haunt those who waged it and President Bush could suffer an electoral defeat comparable to that sustained by his Spanish ally.

Riyadh's al-Watan warned: "The continued occupation of Islamic countries will not conquer terrorism. It will, however, feed it and give it fuel to continue and spread." Cairo's al-Jumhuriyah said: "After a year of occupation, has the world become more secure, free, better economically or more united? Has the Middle East become more stable? No-one ... can answer yes to any of these questions."

Anti-US guerrillas fired rockets in Baghdad yesterday, killing two civilians and wounding six people, including a US soldier. On Saturday two US soldiers were killed and seven were wounded near Falluja.