Arab reaction: While crowds in Baghdad celebrated the demise of the Iraqi regime, there was no jubilation on the streets of countries neighbouring Iraq yesterday. A university professor in the Jordanian capital explained.
"The price the Iraqis paid is too high. We cannot celebrate. War is no way to liberate a country if you destroy it."
Others were sorry to see Baghdad fall because, as Assad, a Palestinian student put it, the Iraqi President "is the symbol of resistance to the US and Israel. There is no one else prepared to do this.
"Who knows what will happen to us now? Israel will do whatever it wants in Palestine, and America will do what it wants in Iraq. The first thing the Americans will tell the new Iraqi government will be to recognise Israel."
The primary concern of Iraqis living in Jordan is the fate of family members in Baghdad.
"My mother lives in Mansur, not far from the restaurant demolished when they tried to bomb Saddam," stated Hamid, a businessman. "She's 80 and too ill to travel. We've had no news from her for more than a week."
He intends to go back as soon as possible. "We don't care about our houses and possessions. We only care about the lives of our relatives."
Most Arabs were deeply disappointed by the rapid collapse of Baghdad's defenders.
"It's amazing, unbelievable," remarked Noor over the phone. "Why did the Iraqis fight in the south and north if they were not prepared to fight in Baghdad?" asked Dima, a journalist.
Many others asked the same question. In an interview with The Irish Times, Maj Gen Abdel Jalil Ma'aytah, a former commandant of the Jordanian military academy, speculated. "Perhaps there was a deal between certain political and military leaders. I suspected as much ever since the Americans seized Saddam International Airport."
In his view, the Republican Guards, reputed to be the most formidable of Iraq's fighting forces, "may have grown soft living comfortably in Baghdad".
Both Iraqi exiles and Jordanians expressed disbelief that the the head of the opposition Iraqi National Congress, Mr Ahmad Chalabi, could be appointed by Washington to lead Iraq. "He has no following inside the country," said an Iraqi businesswoman.
Everyone asks "where is Saddam?"
"What if he just disappears like bin Laden?" asked a hotel desk clerk. "What if they never find his body?"
Arab television channels across the Middle East played down the news of the fall of Baghdad yesterday, focusing on scenes of chaos and looting.
They showed empty streets in the Iraqi capital, and a few civilians waving white flags to protect themselves from US forces. Only rarely did some channels mention that in parts of the Iraqi capital people were cheering the incoming troops.
Al-Jazeera, the most popular independent channel, had shots of US tanks outside the Palestine Hotel, the main base for foreign media, and reports that looters were ransacking government buildings and homes.
State TV in Jordan was surprisingly downbeat in an apparent attempt to keep in line with the hostile views of most Jordanians. "The next few days may witness strong fighting between Iraqis and US troops as they spread out over the country," its announcer said in a clear signal that the channel's editors did not want to imply the war was over yet.
Egyptian state TV also concentrated on showing civilians holding white flags rather than crowds celebrating. Lebanon's LBC channel was rare among Arab channels in reporting that Iraqi civilians were welcoming US troops. (Additional reporting: Guardian Service)