Pro-Saddam t-shirts about to hit streets of Jakarta

Sporting his trademark beret, Saddam Hussein peers out from dozens of freshly-made t-shirts at a garment workshop in Indonesia's capital Jakarta.

With war looming in Iraq, shop owner Syahrul Arief has tapped into growing anti-American sentiment and opposition to an attack on Baghdad across the world's most populous Muslim nation.

Should war break out, sales of the shirts bearing the Iraqi leader's face and the words "Ready for War" and "We Support You", could take off, Mr Arief predicts.

Workers finished the first batch of 50 on Thursday, and a few orders have begun coming in.

Indeed, the buildup to a possible war in Iraq is increasingly worrying moderate Muslim leaders and foreign security experts in Indonesia who fear it will radicalise Muslim opinion and raise the chance of fresh attacks on Western targets.

"I'm responding to Saddam Hussein's fight as his country and people are being attacked by an unjust power," Mr Arief said, as several veiled women hunched over sowing machines nearby.

He claimed his were the first t-shirts of Saddam for sale in Indonesia.

While not everyone supports Saddam in Indonesia, there is genuine concern for the Iraqi people and a perception the United States will attack Baghdad with or without United Nations (UN) backing over allegations the country has weapons of mass destruction.

Diplomats and moderate Muslims expect large-scale protests in the event of any US-led attack on Iraq.

Even UN backing for a raid would go down poorly on the streets, they have said.

One foreign security expert said war in Iraq would put Western interests in Indonesia at threat of attack.

A US-led attack could also cut Jakarta's cooperation in the war on terror, even over the probe into October's bomb blasts on the holiday island of Bali, which killed at least 193 people, mainly Western tourists, the security expert said.

Indonesia has so far been praised over the investigation.

"I'm concerned about the war on terror as are some regional governments," the expert said.

"They are concerned this could stop action here against those they regard as terrorists.

"The militant Muslim groups that have lost a lot of popularity because of the Bali bombing might also get the opportunity to become the avant-garde in anti-US protests."

Indonesia's moderate Muslim leaders have gone out of their way to warn against an attack on Iraq.

"We do not want anarchy here but we couldn't control (Muslim) radicalism," Syafii Maarif, head of the 30 million-member Muhammadiyah Muslim group, said after meeting British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw when he visited Jakarta this month.

But Mr Arief was quick to tap into support for bin Laden when the US bombed Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

The United States blamed bin Laden, who was sheltering in Afghanistan at the time, for those raids.

Mr Arief claims sales of those shirts topped 100,000.

"If bombing starts in Iraq it could be a big opportunity for sales," he said.

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