Bush's dilemma deepens as Japan backs away from Iraq

By RUPERT CORNWELL in Washington and PHIL REEVES in Baghdad

Washington's failure to secure additional outside help for Iraq in the face of a rapidly worsening security situation on the ground, was exposed today as Japan backed away from sending troops to bolster the US- led coalition.

The death toll in Wednesday's suicide bombing against an Italian base in Nasiriya rose to 31, adding impetus to the Bush administration's efforts to extract itself from the country's worsening conflict. Washington is more anxious than ever to hand over power to Iraqis - but without Iraq collapsing into chaos in the process.

At the White House last night, President Bush said America wanted to speed up the transfer of power. "We want Iraqis to be more involved in the governance of their country," he said.

But in response to Wednesday's carnage, Tokyo indicated that it would be postponing plans to send 1,000 troops by the end of the year because of the instability.

Japan's move made it but the latest important potential troop contributor to refuse- after India, Pakistan and, most important of all, Turkey, which would have signalled the first significant involvement of or Muslim nation.

Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are the only two Muslim countries in the 34-nation coalition, providing just 175 troops between them. The United Nations and the Red Cross have also withdrawn from Iraq in recent weeks.

In another setback for the White House, South Korea - another traditionally close US ally - yesterday scaled its contribution back to 3,000, from the 5,000 originally requested by the Pentagon. Nor was there any date for their deployment.

France - vocal opponents of the invasion from the start - piled the pressure on Washington calling for an urgent change in its approach to Iraq.

"Everyday, it is spiralling in Iraq with American, British, Polish, Spanish, Italian deaths," France's Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin, told French radio.

"How many deaths does it take to understand that it is essential to change the approach?"

The coalition has not yet disintegrated but it is under great strain. Of those that sent troops to Iraq, no countries have yet signalled they are pulling out - though if parts of the Italian opposition have their way, the third largest national troop-contributor should do precisely that. And many more may be reviewing their presence in the light of continuing attacks on occupation forces.

From the outset, America, despite claiming back in February that it had a coalition of at least 30 nations, was unable to assemble a credible group that could provide troops in the strengths required. It was forced to rely on nations including Azerbaijan, Estonia, and Honduras.

Even Poland, which controls one of the Iraqi sectors and leads 9,000 men in the most ambitious multi-national force ever assembled has little or no experience to equip it for such an operation.

France has ruled out sending any troops before a swift handover of sovereignty to the Iraqi people.

But the real failure of the US has been its inability to expand the coalition, and attract a second international division to join the one already in Iraq. That failure in turn reflects the deteriorating security situation.

"The goal of the enemy is not to defeat us militarily," General John Abizaid, head of US central Command which has overall responsibility for military operations in Iraq, declared yesterday.

"The goal of the enemy is to break the will of the United States, to make us leave." And, he might have added, to deter other countries from sending troops into harm's way.

The targeting of the Italians has been especially adroit, hitting representatives of a country which has 2,400 men in Iraq - a number exceeded only by the US, with around 130,000 and Britain with 9,900 men - which has a distinguished peacekeeping record in the Middle East, but where public opinion was strongly against the war.

The bomb - some 650lbs of high explosives - blew the front off a three -storey concrete building used by Italian paramilitary. Hospital officials estimated the number of injured at 80. Yesterday Italy's Defence Minister, Antonio Martino, toured the scene.

"Slightly over a month ago I was in New York City at Ground Zero, and I was struck by the similarity of the impression of my feelings, " he said, "And then I realised why - because they are the same people, they are the people we are fighting against."

The shock of the attack - the deadliest so far against western troops supporting the American occupation and the worst against Italian forces since World War II - was compounded yesterday by more setbacks for Washington and its allies.

US officials admitted that yet another American soldier had been killed, pushing the overall number of American deaths to close to 400. The heightening number and widening scope of guerrilla attacks is corroding American domestic support for Mr Bush's occupation of Iraq, and is deepening the lack of enthusiasm within the international community in supporting the US by sending forces.

The Bush administration thus finds itself in an increasingly uncomfortable position: trapped between its desire to hand over power as soon as possible to some form of Iraqi government - even before a new constitution has been approved - and the need to avoid giving the impression of cutting and running.

Any sense that the US is being driven from Iraq could be disastrous for President Bush as the 2004 election approaches. 'Operation Iron Hammer,' the recently introduced tougher tactics against what Gen. Abizaid claimed was a hardcore resistance of only 5,000 or so, is an attempt to square this circle.

But, it is pointed out, a more aggressive approach risks increasing alienation and resentment among the very population the US is trying to win over.

Speaking before a meeting in Washington with Jack Straw, the British Foreign Secretary, Secretary of State Colin Powell stressed that Britain and the US want to see an effective Iraqi government in place as soon as possible - and certainly before the previous target date of summer 2004.

But the fate of the existing Iraqi Governing Council, whose performance is criticised by many US officials, is unclear.

Mr Straw said yesterday that Britain's contingent in Iraq would be increased as necessary, and that the US position was similar. But the Pentagon insists that its commanders in Iraq say that existing forces are sufficient. But in some parts of the country, he acknowledged, "tremendous difficulties" faced the coalition.

"No-one can or should disguise that," Mr Straw said.

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Herald Feature: Iraq