Liberal dailies The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times both suggested that the United States was too busy with Iraq to be courting war with Syria and warned Washington against being seen as too belligerent in the Arab world.

"Washington will only live up to the worst expectations of the Arab world if it now adopts a belligerent military approach to every nation in the region that it dislikes," The New York Times wrote.

The Los Angeles daily suggested that economic and diplomatic sanctions would be a better approach in dealing with Damascus.

"Unless someone shows that nation to be a clear danger to the (United States), that approach remains the best option -- and the best way to avoid playing into the perception of many in the world that the (United States) is an imperialist power trying to remake the Middle East at gunpoint," the Los Angeles Times said.

The conservative Wall Street Journal suggested that the US defeat of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein would make such an attack unnecessary, saying both Syria and North Korea -- another target of US wrath -- have learned from the example.

"One benefit of liberating Baghdad is that we may improve the behavior of those regimes without having to fight. The power of the Iraq example may cause them to rethink the costs and benefits of supporting terror and other mayhem," the Journal said.

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