Arabs everywhere are shocked by yesterday's US armoured probes into central Baghdad, writes Michael Jansen in Amman
"We knew the Iraqis could never win this war," observed a Jordanian businesswoman. "Iraq is just a small country up against the world's superpower and all its latest weaponry. The Iraqis have done much better than we ever thought in Basra, Karbala and Mosul, but what is happening in Baghdad? We expected the regime would put up much more of a fight there."
She dismissed the idea that President Saddam, might have decided to make his last stand in Tikrit, his hometown where his clan is all powerful. "Baghdad is Baghdad, the centre of an ancient civilisation. Who cares about Tikrit? Even though we have all expected this will come, I can't imagine Baghdad is falling."
Ms Betool Khedairy, an Iraqi novelist living in Amman, retorted to reports that Iraqi resistance is collapsing in Baghdad: "We don't really know what is happening. There is so much confusion. We cannot trust the media . . . Knowing my people, I'm certain they will not give up without a fight. They have fought for 20 days. They fought the British, they will fight the Americans."
She added that "most Iraqis feel that civilians are being shredded".
The overwhelming majority of Arabs see the US campaign as a "war of aggression and occupation", asserted Mr Laith Shubailat, a maverick Islamist who sat in both Jordan's parliament and Jordan's jails. President Bush, "previously occupied the Arab world without fighting a shot. He did not need to fight to occupy Iraq. He controlled the Arab world through the \ oligarchs and Israel."
There is serious concern in both official and popular circles in Damascus that Syria will be next on the Bush administration's agenda for effecting regime change. The accusation made by the US Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, that Syria was assisting the Iraqi war effort has been taken as a serious threat by many Syrians.
Most Arabs, including Syrians, blame Arab rulers for this war.
"We should have worked harder to forge a common front and we should have remained united," a Syrian professor stated. "If we had done this then Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain would not have allowed America to launch the war from their territory. Imagine a handful of rulers from these tiny countries are deciding the fate of the entire Arab world."
While in Damascus, The Irish Times sampled Iraqi refugee opinion at a market near a deeply revered Shia shrine. This mosque, built over the tomb of Saida Zeinab, the daughter of Ali, the adopted son of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, has been a magnet for Iraqi refugees for more than 20 years: 50,000 now live in this quarter.
Mr Bassem Abdullah, a Shia from the southern town of Samawa, condemned the war. "America is against the Arabs," he stated. "We don't want Saddam and we don't want Bush."
Asked if he would go back to Iraq after the war, he said: "I will wait to see what happens. I will not live under American occupation."
Sitt Amina, an elderly lady from the town of Amara, said, her eyes glistening with tears: "My whole family is there. I do not think I will see them again."
Until yesterday's events in Baghdad, an average of 150-200 Iraqis from this community was returning to Iraq every night, most of them young men to fight for their country against the invading forces.
One of Jordan's leading commentators, Mr Fahed Fanek, writing in The Jordan Times yesterday, put the question on every Arab's lips.
"What can the world do to stand up to the overwhelming superiority of the US airforce? Nothing more than face up to it with hatred of America, its policies and the Bush administration. It is possible that the weapon of hatred will prove more effective and enduring than that of the American airforce . . .
"Hatred . . . is the godfather of terrorism. It produces terrorists, on the one hand, and provides them with support, on the other."
Mr George Hawatmeh, editor of the mass circulation semi-official Jordanian newspaper, al-Rai, observed: "This war should be brought to a speedy end so the rebuilding of Iraq can begin. We must look to the future when Iraq is governed by its own people who enjoy full human and political rights, democracy and possess their own natural resources."