"What I witnessed in the last 10 days in Baghdad was a definite shift in attitude," said Donna Mulhearn, 34, in a radio interview.

"The Iraqi people are very, very angry," she told ABC radio after witnessing days of intensive bombing which Iraqi authorities say have killed scores of civilians.

"Iraqi families who are quite passive or quite neutral towards America and quite indifferent to Saddam Hussein, they now are fully, fully supportive of the Iraqi government," she said.

"They have developed this anger and bitterness towards the US that did not exist a week ago.

"If America is having a battle for the hearts and minds then they are losing, big time," she said.

Mulhearn went to Baghdad before the war began on March 20 as part of an international group of so-called human shields who hoped their presence would help protect key infrastructure installations from US attack.

She left the Iraqi capital early this week and spoke to ABC from the Jordanian capital, Amman.

SPACE.WIRE