UK and US clash with France again over Iraq; Bush warns: 'choose

The British and US governments are preparing a re-run of their pre- war battles with the French over the future of occupied Iraq.

Last night, the Foreign Office in London tried to mask the failure of talks in Geneva among the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

Although the FO described the outcome of the talks as "positive" there was no agreement between the five members as to how or when sovereignty could be restored to Iraq.

With US-led forces in Iraq taking casualties on a daily basis, alongside the mounting costs of keeping occupation forces inside the country, Washington is desperate to ensure that the UN passes a resolution it has already drafted, that will internationalise the occupation and see the cost shared among the international community.

Last night, in his weekly radio address, President George W Bush, with an eye on Geneva, called on the international community to make a choice between "civilisation or chaos". He also promised his "war on global terror" would continue and insisted that Saddam's regime "possessed and used weapons of mass destruction", despite the fact US- led inspectors have so far failed to uncover any WMD since the war ended.

But the pressure is starting to take its toll on Bush, whose job approval rating has dropped to 52% - close to the lowest level of his presidency, according to the latest CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll, released last week.

Both Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, and US Secretary of State Colin Powell were anxious not to talk up expectations. Before the Geneva talks yesterday, there had been some hope that a consensus would emerge. However, the only positive spin to come from the Geneva meeting is a basic agreement in principle that Iraq should eventually run its own affairs.

But a Foreign Office spokesman admitted last night: "There is no timetable. There is no strategy to get a timetable and there is no suggestion that any gulf between the French position and the US and UK positions has narrowed."

Britain, as it did before the war in Iraq, again finds itself on the diplomatic sidelines, unable to do anything other than back the US position.

The French foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, has insisted that France remains firm on its position of handing executive powers to the Iraqis within a month. The French also want to see a general election in Iraq by spring of next year and new constitution for Iraq overseen by the UN Security Council.

Although France suffered from an initial period of isolation after it was blamed by both the US and the UK governments of blocking a second UN resolution that would have meant the war against Saddam receiving UN backing, the French government remain determined not to offer any diplomatic concessions that would retrospectively deliver UN backing for the Iraqi war.

The US are also resolute. Powell - who will be in Kuwait today and will then travel to Iraq - branded the French demands as "totally unrealistic, insisting that the US would "not buy into what minister de Villepin was saying". Both Russia and China, the others of the Big Five, have so far taken a mute position on Iraq's post-war progress.

Powell is said to have made it clear in Geneva that progress would not be halted by the permanent five members, but by all 15 members of the security council.

When the full UN General Assembly meets in New York next week, the US and UK diplomatic teams are expected to begin a massive charm offensive on other countries, especially those inside the security council, aiming to line up as many votes as possible to again be able to point to France as the barrier to progress in Iraq.

Although Washington has de facto control in Baghdad, and has appointed those who serve on the Iraqi Governing Council, it does not want the Iraqis to resume overall control at the speed France demands.

However, Bush's administration knows time is not on their side. Yesterday the US military apologised for the deaths of 10 Iraqi police officers and one Jordanian security guard who were killed by US troops in a so-called "friendly fire" gun battle. The incident is being seen as a diplomatic catastrophe by Washington.

IRAN CRISIS: Following intense US lobbying and mounting pressure on Iran from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to prove it had no secret atomic weapons programme, Tehran has warned it might follow North Korea's lead and quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

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