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Concern over war reverses

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON MARCH 24. At the end of the first week of the war, there is deep concern here that it is not turning out to be an easy ride for the coalition forces which have not only suffered unusually heavy casualties so early in the campaign, but are meeting unexpectedly strong resistance from Iraqi troops — belying months of propaganda that they would crumble or rise in rebellion against Saddam Hussein's regime at the first sight of British and American `liberation' army.

The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, whose political survival depends on an early and `neat' end to the war, acknowledged in a TV interview that "there will be some difficult times ahead'' but insisted that "despite the tragedies'' the campaign was "going to plan''. The official line was: be patient, and we will be in Baghdad, "accidents notwithstanding''.

However, TV images and newspaper headlines were embarrassingly negative with even The Times, a cheerleader for the war group, admitting that the "human cost of war overshadowed the limited advances'' made by coalition forces.

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