In Australia, however, even the anti-war Sydney Morning Herald described the celebrations in Iraq's capital over the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime as "vindication enough of the previous three weeks of military action."

The Australian, which supported the US-led campaign, said: "This was a just war, and one that will make the world a better and safer place. Australia's decision to join the campaign is vindicated."

Japan's top-selling daily the Yomiuri Shimbun also said the jubilation of Iraqis showed that the United States and Britain were "correct in their decision to launch a war" and that Japan was justified in supporting the US.

However, the liberal Mainichi Shimbun said: "We should never forget the fact that this war was launched without full support of the United Nations."

South Korean newspapers cheered the collapse of tyranny, but fretted over the message US-led preemptive military action held for the Korean peninsula.

The business friendly Dong-A Ilbo said April 9 marked the day Iraq was freed from despotism, but that Washington's pre-emptive military policy "should stop here," expressing concern that North Korea would be the next target.

The conservative Chosun Ilbo said: "Now the United States has to prove that it means what it says about a democratic and stable Iraq and Middle East, and that the war was about making the world more peaceful and secure."

In Pakistan, the English language Dawn daily commented: "It would be folly if Washington thinks in terms of ruling Iraq by proxy by manouvering a puppet regime into power to serve as a fig leaf for occupation."

The Nation wrote: "While the Iraqi campaign is not yet over, US and UK warmongers have fired warning shots at other targets.

"Muslim countries, which are undoubtedly in the line of fire, should waste no time in formulating a joint policy to defend themselves, lest they are taken one by one."

In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, the Jakarta Post commented: "The war may be deplorable but for what it is worth, the US-led invasion of Iraq has ended the reign of one of the most ruthless and brutal leaders the world has ever known."

In mainly-Muslim Malaysia, the New Straits Times said: "The world could not prevent this war, nor shift the American course by a centimetre on its drive to Baghdad.

"It can and must be part of what comes after, if Iraq is not to be a springboard to further unilateral Western devastation. This madness must stop here, and now."

Many Indian newspapers reiterated their anti-war stand, questioning its validity in view of the fact that it was over so quickly and no weapons of mass destruction had yet been found.

"The very shortness of the conflict may again raise questions about its need," said The Hindustan Times. "The Amercians had really taken a sledgehammer to swat a fly."

In Thailand, the Bangkok Post said: "There is the real danger that anarchy could fill the void left by the crumbling regime. Winning the peace, it seems, is going to be long and difficult."

The Nation meanwhile warned Washington against going it alone in a post-war Iraq. "Without the UN's imprimatur, whatever the US chooses to do in post-war Iraq will not be considered as legitimate in the eyes of the world."

In the Philippines, newspapers that were critical of the US-led offensive sneered at the celebrations in Baghdad. The Today newspaper said: "The riffraff supposedly jubilating -- in fact just plain looting -- we are seeing on television are just the scum of Iraqi society."

In Singapore, the Straits Times said "this is no time to gloat," adding that "the US now faces a test of its credentials as a liberator."

In a bitter comment in the world's third-largest Muslim country, the Bangladesh Today sarcastically compared Iraq to a slaughtered animal and wrote: "The head, heart and major limbs will go, needless to say, to America ... The stomach, the neck and chest to Britain. The penis and the digestive sack to Australia, Spain and Japan."

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