Coalition forces in Iraq begin to be deserted by their allies

The US was under growing pressure last night to grant the UN a greater role over security in Iraq as coalition forces began to be deserted by their allies on the ground after the devastating truck bomb against UN headquarters.

It also emerged that Iraqi officials had warned the US of a possible attack against the UN, before Tuesday's bombing which killed 20 people, including the top UN envoy.

The British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, holds talks today in New York with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and members of the Security Council to discuss the deteriorating security situation inside the country.

He said he was carrying proposals for a "strengthened UN mandate." However Mr Straw faces an uphill struggle to convince more countries to take part in coalition-led operations, and the creation of a UN force of "blue helmets" has already been ruled out by both the Americans and the UN.

Poland, which is to take military control of Iraq's central sector, signalled yesterday that it was handing back some territory to US troops, because of the heightened security risk after the bombing of UN headquarters. In Spain, opposition parties called for the withdrawal of the 1,300 troops committed to Iraq for peacekeeping operations, after the death of a naval officer in the attack.

Before the Security Council met in emergency session last night, in the presence of Mr Annan, to discuss security arrangements for Iraq Mr Straw admitted for the first time that the coalition forces had not properly prepared for the country's reconstruction.

"We had not anticipated that the Saddam regime would collapse that quickly," he said. "And, although that meant there was a success in terms of the hard military action, it also meant that there was a greater vacuum than was anticipated in respect of the post-conflict situation. You may say insufficient planning was done for that, and that's probably true."

Mr Annan said the attack on the Canal Hotel, which followed the bombing two weeks ago of the Jordanian Embassy, would not deter the UN. "We will persevere. We have work to do, we will not be intimidated," he said.

It is far from clear what additional role the UN might be granted by the US and British occupiers, or indeed, may wish to take on. Diplomats said that options that could be discussed included the possibility of some international forces wearing a UN badge, without being part of a fully-fledged UN operation.

France, which opposed the war, yesterday reiterated its call for the UN to be responsible for "restoring peace and stability" in Iraq. With its 150,000 troops inside Iraq stretched thin, America has long requested assistance from other countries to provide troops. Some, such as India, have said they will only agree to that if the UN rather than Britain and the US had primary responsibility for Iraq.

The question for Washington now, is how far it is prepared to go in order to ensure that international support is forthcoming.

Robert Wood, a spokesman for the US mission at the UN, said: "We have not ruled anything in or ruled anything out."

It was claimed yesterday that last week the 25-member Iraqi Governing Council received intelligence, which it passed to the US warning that "Iraqi political parties or other parties including the UN" in Baghdad would be targeted in a truck bombing.

Ahmed Chalabi, of the Iraqi National Congress - one of the political parties represented on the council - said: "The information said that the attack would be aimed at a soft target, not the American military or forces. The information said the attack would use a truck and would be carried out by using a suicide mechanism or by remote control. We shared this information with the Americans."

- INDEPENDENT
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington, Anne Penketh in London and Daniel Howden in Warsaw

Herald Feature: Iraq