The US Defence Secretary yesterday warned that the war in Iraq was closer to its beginning than its end, after setbacks to advancing allied troops at the hands of pro-Saddam Hussein "terrorists", writes Frank Millar, London Editor.
The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, flies to the US today for a summit with President Bush which will review the military campaign and plot the post-Saddam reconstruction of Iraq.
Mr Blair's determination to re-engage the United Nations in that reconstruction task will be underlined by his meeting with Mr Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, in New York tomorrow .
Speaking ahead of Mr Blair's trip to Washington, the Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, last night expressed confidence that a UN resolution covering Iraq's reconstruction and future government would be obtained at the appropriate time.
Mr Straw told a media briefing in London: "We anticipate we will get a UN resolution on reconstruction at the appropriate time. Obviously the overwhelming effort at the moment is going into the military action.
"But it is the responsibility of everybody at the UN, whatever position they may have taken in respect of the military action, to ensure that we come together for the reconstruction, the redevelopment of Iraq and for its governance in a post-conflict situation."
The International Development Secretary, Ms Clare Short, who yesterday announced a further £30 million in aid, told MPs that she had made progress on re-engagement of the UN during her visit to New York last week.
Speaking at his regular monthly press conference earlier yesterday Mr Blair again left no doubt about the priority he attaches to overcoming the diplomatic fallout caused by the failure to secure agreement on a UN Security Council resolution authorising the war against Iraq.
Having given a promise to stand by the Iraqi people, and assured the British public the allied action was unfolding as planned, Mr Blair said he and President Bush would address how Europe and the US could work together again "as partners and not as rivals".
He said: "There is no point in hiding it. This has thrown up a profound issue about the nature of the transatlantic alliance."
And he insisted: "It is not just the responsibility on me, but on all of us, whether in the French or other European systems or in the US, to find a way of putting it back together, because otherwise the conflicts in the world will be less susceptible of solution and the dangers the world faces will be exacerbated."
Mr Blair added: "I think most people, when they really sit down and reflect upon the interest of Europe, would regard the idea of sacrificing the transatlantic alliance as madness. Because it would be, absolute madness."
These comments were being interpreted in some quarters last night as evidence that Mr Blair was ready to cast himself in the role of peacemaker between Europe and the US.
However, while accepting that Mr Blair's words could be seen as "a challenge to both sides", Downing Street sources emphasised his absolute commitment to "partnership" with the US and his profound opposition to any vision of Europe as an alternative power centre.
Mr Blair told the British public that in the first five or six days since hostilities began allied forces had penetrated twice as far into Iraq as they had done by the end of the first Gulf War, when ground operations followed five weeks of aerial bombardment.
Repeating his view that Iraqi citizens were holding back from welcoming allied forces because they had been let down by the West in the past, Mr Blair promised them: "This time we will not let you down. Saddam and his regime will be removed."
Acknowledging there would be difficulty, danger and resistance to the end, Mr Blair said no one should be surprised that elements of the Iraqi forces were determined to fight because they knew that when the regime failed they would have nowhere to go.
However, the Prime Minister also insisted: "Nobody, least of all the forces loyal to Saddam, should be in any doubt that the resistance will be broken down and that the goals of the coalition forces will be met."