"It marks the start of the reparation of the damage caused to the United Nations by the decision to attack Iraq unilaterally," said Vatican Radio chief Pasquale Borgomeo.

Borgomeo, a Jesuit priest, said in an editorial on the radio that Blair's comments were "small glimmer of hope amid the horror" of war in Iraq, and "attributes to the United Nations the task of managing post-Saddam Iraq".

He said it also served to dissipate the suspicions of the Arab and Muslim world about the real reasons which pushed to United States to start the war."

Blair said in an article published Sunday in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram that the United States and Britain will place Iraq's future oil revenue in a UN-supervised account.

US "President (George W.) Bush, Prime Minister (of Spain Jose Maria) Aznar and I have pledged Iraq's oil will be placed in a UN trust fund to benefit the people of Iraq and renew a once great nation," wrote Blair.

"We will work together towards lifting UN sanctions as soon as Iraq meets its obligations," he added, referring to the embargo imposed after Baghdad's August 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

"I want all Iraqis -- Arab, Assyrian, Kurd, Turkoman, Sunni, Shiite, Christian and all other groups -- to share in the fruits of this new, prosperous Iraq, united within its current border," Blair said.

SPACE.WIRE