With their troops completing the conquest of Iraq, Bush met British Prime Minister Tony Blair for talks here which put the accent on peace moves, promising renewed diplomatic efforts in the Middle East and Northern Ireland, at the end of two days of discussions at Hillsborough Castle, south of Belfast.

At a 26-minute press conference, carefully staged with US and British flags in the background, the two leaders denied a reported split over the UN's role in supervising an interim Iraqi government.

Britain, in line with France and Germany, reportedly wants the United Nations to oversee any interim Iraqi administration while Washington seeks initial US-British military control.

The controversy has threatened to bring about a repeat of the bitter bickering between Washington and Europe that emerged during the run-up to the Iraq war and called into question the future of transatlantic ties.

But an upbeat Bush said: "The rebuilding of Iraq will require the support and expertise of the international community. We're committed to working with international institutions, including the United Nations, which will have a vital role to play in this task."

Blair said: "The important thing is not to get into some battle about words of the precise role here or there, (but to) work together internationally . . . to do what we really should be doing, which is making sure that the will of the Iraqi people is properly expressed in institutions that in the end they own, not any outside power or authority."

In a joint statement the two leaders re-stated their commitment to seeking new UN resolutions to "affirm Iraq's territorial integrity, ensure rapid delivery of humanitarian relief and endorse an appropriate post-conflict administration for Iraq."

Bush said: "We'll move as quickly as possible to place governmental responsibilities under the control of an interim authority composed of Iraqis from both inside and outside the country. The interim authority will serve until a permanent government can be chosen by the Iraqi people."

He said a vital role for the United Nations "means food, that means medicine, that means aid, that means a place where people can give their contributions, that means suggesting people for the IIA (Interim Iraqi Authority)."

In the wake of US troops occupying positions in central Baghdad and British troops controlling the southern city of Basra, Bush said Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was clearly losing power.

The grip "that Saddam had around the throats of the Iraqi people is loosening. I can't tell you if all 10 fingers are off the throat but finger by finger it's coming off."

Bush said he did not know if Saddam had survived Monday's US bombing raid over Baghdad aimed at killing him. But he said that the United States, Britain and Australia, which all have forces fighting in Iraq, would "see it through" to a "free Iraq . . . ruled by law not by a dictator."

Bush said he and Blair would move on to "our vision of broader peace" in the Middle East, and that Northern Ireland was a model for "proving that old patterns of bitterness and violence ... can be broken when one generation makes the choice to break those habits."

Northern Ireland's rival Protestant and Catholics must make a complete and irrevocable break with paramilitary activity, the British, US and Irish governments said Tuesday in a joint statement.

Bush's support for Blair over the thorny issue of Northern Ireland was seen as payback for the British prime minister's strong backing of America in the Iraq war.

But Bush said that despite Britain's desire to move more quickly on the "road map" detailing steps towards peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this will not be published until the Palestinian prime minister Mahmud Abbas "finally (puts) his cabinet in place."

There were reports Tuesday that Abbas was threatening Tuesday to resign, however, as he is facing opposition from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in trying to form a government.

SPACE.WIRE