"This is a very good day for the Iraqi people," US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared. "Saddam Hussein is now taking his place alongside Hitler, Stalin, Lenin ... in the pantheon of failed dictators."

"Watching them, one cannot help but think of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Iron Curtain," he said.

But Washington warned the three-week-old war was not over yet, as world attention turned to the task of bringing aid to Iraq and rebuilding the country after 24 years of iron-fisted rule and almost 13 years of UN sanctions.

"We are still in the midst of a shooting war, and men and women are still in harm's way. The war is not over. There remain a lot of dangers ahead," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

But the US army now controls most of Baghdad and the battle for the city has advanced without the degree of feared vicious street-to-street fighting.

The unprecedented scenes in the Iraqi capital, where people dared for the first time to openly denounce Saddam's feared regime, were echoed in several cities across the globe that are home to Iraqi exiles.

"Our nightmare is over, this is a renaissance for Iraqis," said Salah Abdel Razaq, a member of an Iraqi association in the Netherlands.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the staunchest ally in the US-led war, said he was delighted at the outpouring of joy in Baghdad but warned: "It's not over yet."

"There are still some very difficult things to do, and as we speak there is still intense resistance ... among those parts of Saddam's regime that want to cling on to power," he said.

In London, dozens of opponents of Saddam's regime broke into Iraq's empty diplomatic mission -- one tearing up a portrait of the Iraqi leader -- only to be arrested at the scene.

Iraqi opposition leader Ahmad Chalabi, who enjoys strong backing from the Pentagon, made it clear the long-term future of the oil-rich country lay in the hands of Iraqis despite Washington's plans for a US-led interim administration.

"I salute you who have suffered under Saddam's tyranny and oppression over so many years. I can tell you that those days are finished," he told a mass rally in the southern city of Nasiriyah, according to a statement.

Four of Washington's closest Arab allies -- Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia -- called for the future government to be chosen by Iraqis themselves.

"The fact of Iraq being governed by its sons, and as soon as possible, is the quickest way to ensure stability for the Iraqi people," Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was quoted as saying.

Several government leaders also repeated calls for the United Nations -- sidelined in the war after Washington abandoned efforts to win its support for military action -- to play a central role in rebuilding post-war Iraq.

The issue, which has already fuelled a diplomatic row, was set to top the agenda Friday at a three-way summit of the leaders of Germany, Russia and France in Saint Petersburg.

The trio vehemently opposed the US-led war and have insisted the United Nations be given a central role in post-war reconstruction and the formation of a new government.

French President Jacques Chirac said humanitarian aid to the Iraqi population should be the "absolute priority" and called for military operations to be halted as soon as possible.

Arab countries are also closely monitoring Washington's plans amid fears the United States may already have its sights on the regimes in Syria and Iran.

"We are hopeful that a number of regimes will draw the appropriate lesson from Iraq -- that the pursuit of weapons of mass destruction is not in their interest," John Bolton, US Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, said in Rome.

NATO chief George Robertson said there was no consensus yet within the transatlantic military alliance about its role in Iraq, amid suggestions it could provide peacekeepers.

Kuwait -- which was occupied by Iraq 13 years ago and was only Arab state to openly back the war -- sent congratulations to Iraqis on their "liberation" and called for the UN to have a key role in a future government.

In Italy, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini appealed to EU members to mend their damaging split over the war to ensure the bloc plays a key role in a future Iraq.

At a summit in Northern Ireland this week, US President George W. Bush and Blair said the United Nations would play a vital role, offering reassurances that Washington would not act unilaterally.

But it remains unclear how big a role Washington forsees for the United Nations, with a Pentagon-led team headed by former general Jay Garner already in Kuwait to assist in governing Iraq immediately after the conflict.

Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said the United Nations should have a "leading and determining role."

"We should not forget that the United Nations is the primary international organisation tasked with protecting peace."

SPACE.WIRE