In an article published Tuesday in "The Hindu," India's leading newspaper, political analyst Mushirul Hasan wrote that a large number of the American and British people recognize the "new face of colonialism, ruthless, aggressive and inhuman" through the Iraq war.

"What are the immediate consequences of this war against Iraq? An American 'victory' is assured. But the U.S. has lost the moral authority that it wielded in certain circles; it may be hard to recover the ground that it has lost in recent months and weeks," he wrote.

Overriding the United Nations and disregarding public opinion will cost the United States dearly, he said in the article. In addition, the Anglo-American hopes of mass desertions and popular support for their mission of "liberation" has not borne fruit, he added.

He said that the Iraqi army has, in fact, offered stout resistance that is very commendable indeed.

Furthermore, he said that there is, as of now, no evidence of the great divide between the Iraqi regime, the Shias, and the Kurds.

"What the Kurds might do in response to Turkey's intervention is difficult to predict, but the Shias have not, contrary to earlier predictions, deserted Saddam Hussein. This is a silver lining in an otherwise dismal picture," he noted.

The fact that the American and British troops have not so far found any weapons of mass destruction and the chemical and biological warfare has not taken place has belied the American propaganda unleashed by US President George W. Bush and orchestrated dutifully by the CNN and the BBC, he said in his article.

Another analyst Siddharth Varadarajan wrote Wednesday in another newspaper, Times of India, "If Saddam Hussein is overthrown, US oil companies would be well placed to gain control of Iraqi reserves from the extraction to marketing stage."

The United States could also block Russian, French and Chinese oil majors from benefiting, he said, adding that control over the international oil trade will help to protect the dollar's dominant position vis-a-vis long-term rivals like the euro.

"But this war is about more than just oil: It is about cementing the domination of the U.S. in a world that is likely to undergo fundamental economic and strategic changes in the next few decades," he went on to say.

Meanwhile, Kulbir Krishan, an anti-terrorism expert of the Institute of Defense Studies, wrote Wednesday in "The Hindustan Time," "The current U.S.-led attack on Iraq is significant in that it is an attempt to use the post-Cold War global dominance of the US to realign political and economic realities in West Asia."

The attacks on Iraq are a part of the new US policy of pre-emption, he wrote. It also brings out the US willingness to act unilaterally to pursue its global objectives without bothering about the UN, etc., he added.

He stressed, while the reasons for the attack on Iraq may be varied and have political, economic and long-term objectives, in large parts of the Arab and Islamic world, they are seen as yet another example of US bullying and disregard for Muslim sentiment.

(Xinhua News Agency March 26, 2003)