WASHINGTON, April 23: The Bush administration underestimated the organizational power of Iraqi Shias and is unprepared to prevent the rise of an anti-American, “Islamist” government in Iraq, U.S. newspapers said on Wednesday.

Commenting on the Karbala gathering, the Washington Post said US officials were “now concerned that the sentiments (displayed in Karbala) could coalesce into a fundamentalist government”.

The U.S. government, the daily said, was “focused on the overriding goal of defeating Saddam Hussein and paid little attention to the dynamics of religion and politics in the region”.

A State Department official expressed similar concerns, acknowledging that the US government was ill-equipped to figure out how this is going to shake out. “I don’t think anyone took a step backward and asked, ‘What are we looking for? The focus was on the overthrow of Saddam Hussein,” he said.

The New York Times said the “common thread linking religious groups (in Iraq) is strong opposition to American influence in Iraqi affairs, now that Saddam Hussein is no longer in power”.

The newspaper quotes an Iraqi religious leader, Shaikh Khadem al-Ebadi al-Nasseri, as telling a congregation: “Anyone supported by the United States is cursed by us.”