Jakarta – With US helicopters dropping noodles instead of bombs and soldiers carrying rice rather than guns, the United States was confident its enormous efforts to help Asian tsunami victims would boost its tattered image in the Muslim world.

But nearly a month into the campaign, US President George W. Bush's predictions of a post-tsunami detente with Muslims appear as likely as immediate peace in Iraq or a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"In general, many people here still maintain suspicions about America," said Mr Din Syamsuddin, the secretary-general of the Indonesian Council of Ulemas, the nation's highest Islamic authority.

A great deal of the US military's aid efforts have focused on Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation and the worst hit by the December 26 tsunamis with more than 166,000 deaths in Aceh province.

Seahawk and Chinook helicopters have saved many lives by delivering water and other emergency relief supplies to isolated communities along Aceh's west coast and bringing injured survivors back for medical treatment. But Mr Syamsuddin and other Muslim religious leaders, politicians, analysts and ordinary people interviewed said the US invasion of Iraq and its pro-Israel policies far outweighed its relief efforts.

"In fact, their quick response is seen here by many of us as a camouflage for their past abuses towards Muslims across the world," Mr Syamsuddin said. (Agence France-Presse)