The 35 men, women and children bearing placards reading "Wake Up Arabs, Join the Iraqi Joy in Freedom" and "Welcome Freedom, Goodbye Tyranny" cheered Jones when he appeared at the gates of the embassy.

"This is the kind of demonstration we like to have," the ambassador said, shaking hands with some in the crowd and accepting flowers from two boys.

Kuwait played an essential role in the US invasion of Iraq, Jones told journalists, adding: "Of course it was in their interests, but it was also the right thing to do ... I think their courage has been rewarded."

The demonstrators were called together by several Kuwaiti student associations and an organisation lobbying for the return of more than 600 prisoners of war still missing since Iraq's 1990-91 invasion of Kuwait.

"We came for the POWs and to thank the United States for the Iraqi people," said a demonstrator named Fahad al-Qabandi.

Another, Lama al-Othman, said she thought the change wrought by the United States in Iraq "would be like a domino effect" across the Middle East, with Syria and Iran next on Washington's list.

Jones gave non-committal answers to contentious political questions posed by reporters about future US plans and the issue of Israeli-Palestinian relations, preferring to concentrate on the subject of Kuwaiti POWs.

"We still have considerable hope that we will find many of them in the prisons around -- how will we put it? -- Saddam's republic of fear," he told the crowd.

Kuwait Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah told the state KUNA news agency earlier that the search for prisoners of war was his government's main concern and that it was working to resolve it swiftly.

The congratulatory demonstration in Kuwait was in marked contrast to other rallies that took place around the world Saturday against the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Thousands of protesters gathered in London, Madrid, Paris and Rome, and a similar demonstration was due to take place in New York later in the day.

In Calcutta, India, an estimated 15,000 people formed a human chain around the US and British consulates in the latest of near-daily anti-war protests there.

SPACE.WIRE