Indifference, concern

When White House spokesman Ari Fleischer came out to announce Wednesday night that the war in Iraq had begun, the sound on the TV at Yak-Zies bar in Chicago was turned up and patrons stopped to watch.

But after Mr Fleischer concluded his statement, the volume was turned down and people went back to their beer and burgers.

"I'm still going to live my life exactly as I would," Susan Packard, 37, said as she tucked into a chicken sandwich before going to play volleyball. "I'm interested in what's going on. (But) I won't be glued to the TV."

Americans ran a gamut of emotions from patriotic breast beating and strong support for President George W. Bush to disbelief, disinterest and even disgust as they reacted to the start of the country's latest war.

One Hollywood screenwriter complained that it just didn't seem real. Others thought it was real enough, just not serious.

At the All Star Lanes bowling alley and bar in east Los Angeles the predictions were that the war would be quick and painless.

"I'll bet you within two weeks it will all be cleaned up," Armando Hernandez, 57, a contractor, said. "I'm all for it, it had to be done, there's no two ways about it."

Wally Moreno, a security technician, said he thought his life would not change because of the war. "If I worried I wouldn't be here," he said.

Rod Valido, a bartender at the All-Star Lanes, said he had had to send money to cousins working in Iraq and Saudi Arabia so they could get back to the Philippines. He also said his wife had spent $300 stocking up on canned goods and bottled water.

"It's about time to get Saddam Hussein, he's a cold-blooded killer," Mr Valido said at the bar in the heavily Filipino area. "Terrorists are like the gangs around here, if you don't stop them they'll keep coming and coming."

Watching a report on MSNBC about air raid sirens in Baghdad, Mr Valido said, "Come on already bring my gas prices down!"

Wesley Wag, a vendor at the Glendale Galleria, said about an hour into the conflict, "I haven't talked to a customer for an hour. Everybody is shaking right now."

At the ESPN Zone sports bar and restaurant in New York's Times Square, the large screen televisions switched from basketball games to showing President Bush's speech, and people clapped and cheered when the four-minute talk was over.

Afterwards, patrons sitting at the bar began to discuss various aspects of the military campaign and the political implications.

"I think we're nervous but supportive," said Mike Kennedy of Marblehead, Massachusetts, who was travelling on business to New York. "We hope it ends quickly and nobody wants to see people die."

"I got four kids at home and never in all the years of travelling have I thought of safety so much," he said. Mr Kennedy added that he was concerned about staying at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square hotel on the 42nd floor because of the possibility of terrorism.

"We'll be watching news around the clock," he said. "We have triplets and we were going to throw a birthday party for them and rent a hotel in Boston this weekend, but not now."

"When I watched Bush speak, all I could think about was September 11," said Jeff Casner, of Wall Township, New Jersey, who said he knew several people who died when the World Trade Centre was attacked.

Some remained sceptical about the war: "I feel that President Bush is lying to us," said Joe Bonanno of Valhalla, New York, who is a volunteer fireman.

"We're supposed to be going after Saddam because he is a bad man, but there are a lot of bad men in the world, why aren't we going after them?"

Kelly Cooper, 24, an unemployed actress, sitting at Bull McCabe's pub in New York City, said she was afraid the war will worsen the job market. Out of work for two months, she said that she has been doing odd jobs in theatres and bartending. "I feel a little vulnerable... my mum wants me to go back to Texas but I'm concerned about flying."

She was not the only one. Checkpoints were set up at entrances to Los Angeles International Airport as the first explosions were heard over Baghdad.