Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who heads the world's largest Muslim-populated nation, was among the first foreign leaders to express condolences to the United States after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

But just last month she bitterly criticised the war in Iraq as "exceptional injustice" against a Muslim country.

"The general view here is that the US and its allies have lied because the existence of weapons of mass destruction cannot be proven, therefore the invasion is unjustified," Din Syamsuddin, deputy chairman of Indonesia's second largest Islamic group Muhammadiyah, told AFP.

"America is viewed as arrogant and imperialistic, trying to impose its values on other countries."

An international opinion survey published last June by the US-based Pew Research Center concluded that the Iraq war had further inflamed Muslims worldwide and softened support for the war on terror.

It found that favourable ratings for the US had fallen from 61 to 15 percent among Indonesians within a year.

Sidney Jones, of the International Crisis Group of political analysts, said Iraq was a major factor in the change of mood. But the detention of terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay and tighter US visa regulations for Muslim visitors had also soured attitudes.

"The cumulative effect is that in Indonesia and many other Muslim countries the US is seen as having interpreted the war on terror as a licence to take harsh steps against Muslims," she said.

"The war on terror is still seen as a war on Muslims. Many Muslims see the US as engaged in a systematic campaign against them."

Jones said the "cumulative effect of Bush administration policies including Iraq is that the US has lost a lot of influence and its image as a champion of democracy and human rights has been tarnished."

That loss of influence was clearly demonstrated when Indonesia last May launched a major military campaign to crush Aceh separatist rebels despite US objections.

"Honestly, what we are doing or will do in Aceh is much less than the American power that was deployed in Iraq. We aren't violating anyone's sovereignty," said Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda at the time.

Last December Wirayuda said scathingly that the struggle against terrorism "calls for wise policies, not smart bombs." Civilian casualties created martyrs and fuelled support for extremists, he said.

Azyumardi Azra, rector of the state Islamic University, said the decision to go to war without United Nations backing was partly to blame.

"Most Indonesians including the Islamists believed Saddam Hussein was a ruthless dictator," he said. "But unilateral efforts by the US were quite unacceptable for Indonesians at large."

Azra said the invasion created much resentment among Muslims and there was also some resentment over its tougher immigration policy

"Many Muslims see the war on terror as a war against Muslims, especially the Islamists."

He said anti-US sentiment was now abating slightly in Indonesia. "If the US is able to expedite the process of forming a new government in Iraq, the situation will be better."

Neighbouring Muslim-majority Malaysia also bitterly attacked the Iraq war.

Then-prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, who had been feted by the US for his support in the campaign against terrorism, described the invasion as a cowardly and imperial act "by those who still want to rule the world."

He predicted it would encourage more angry Muslims to join militant groups.

Abdul Razak Baginda, executive director of the Malaysian Strategic Research Centre, said Malaysia felt its opposition to the war had been vindicated by the failure to find any weapons of mass destruction.

But it was not only the war which had tarnished the US image.

"Don't look at the war in isolation. There are other factors, such as the treatment of Muslims entering the US and discriminatory policies against Muslims."

WAR.WIRE