"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.

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.

But Washington warned the three-week-old war was not over yet.

"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," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

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 likewise 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.

The joy in the Iraqi capital was echoed in cities across the globe that are home to Iraqi exiles.

In London, Saddam opponents 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 postwar role.

The issue 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.

But US Vice President Dick Cheney said the US-led coalition, not the UN, should be at the center of the country's reconstruction.

"We don't believe that the United Nations is equipped to play that central role," Cheney said in New Orleans.

"They'll play a very important role, but I think the central role needs to still reside with the coalition until such time as we can pass it to the Iraqi people themselves, and hopefully that process will begin within a matter of days," he said.

At a summit 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.

Humanitarian aid for Iraq must be made an "absolute priority", Chirac told British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the president's office said.

Asked about Paris' position on the US-led war against Iraq, a spokeswoman said: "France wishes the conflict to end as quickly as possible, as it has consistently said."

Kuwait -- occupied by Iraq 13 years ago and the only Arab state to openly back the war -- sent congratulations to Iraqis on their "liberation."

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

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar compared the "fall of the Baghdad wall" to that of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

The Spanish prime minister, one of the prime backers over vociferous popular opposition of the US-led war against Iraq, said that in three weeks the military campaign was able to "obtain the near total collapse of the regime of Saddam Hussein."

SPACE.WIRE