But power outages and the collapse of Baghdad's television channels meant that the Iraqi population did not see the messages recorded by US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"Our military forces will leave. Iraq will go forward as a unified, independent and sovereign nation that has regained a respected place in the world," said US President George W. Bush.

"This Iraq will not be run by Britain, or by the United States, or by the United Nations. It will be run by you, the people of Iraq," said British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bush's closest ally in the military campaign.

The two messages were recorded Tuesday as the leaders met in Belfast and were to have been broadcast on an Iraqi state television frequency from a specially equipped US Air Force plane flying over Iraq.

The message was to launch a coalition-run television service, Towards Freedom, that is to broadcast five hours a day.

But power supplies have been cut in Baghdad and the three television stations, including the main state-run channel, have not broadcast for several days after coalition warplanes targeted telecommunications centres.

A day after US forces helped jubilant Iraqis topple a bronze statue of Saddam in the heart of Baghdad, Bush and Blair promised that his regime will never rise again.

"We did not want this war. But in refusing to give up his weapons of mass destruction, Saddam gave us no choice but to act. Now the war has begun, it will be seen through to the end," said Blair.

"We will not stop until Saddam's corrupt gang is gone. The government of Iraq, and the future of your country, will soon belong to you," said the US leader, whose father left Saddam in power at the end of the Gulf War.

Baghdad has always denied possessing banned chemical or biological arms, and as US-led forces have pushed deep into Iraq without finding any, Bush's stated rationale for the war has shifted from disarmament to liberation.

Washington and London officials have insisted that proscribed weapons caches will be found.

In a bid to defuse widespread concerns in the Arab world and elsewhere, the two leaders said they had no designs on Iraq's oil wealth and that their 300,000 soldiers were liberating Iraq, not occupying it.

"The nightmare that Saddam Hussein has brought to your nation will soon be over," Bush said. "We will not stop until Saddam's corrupt gang is gone. The government of Iraq, and the future of your country, will soon belong to you."

"The money from Iraqi oil will be yours; to be used to build prosperity for you and your families," said Blair, who vowed to move "as soon as possible to an interim authority run by Iraqis."

Speaking just 22 days after Bush launched the war, both leaders vowed to safeguard the country's territorial integrity and eventually place a "representative government" at its head.

"The goals of our coalition are clear and limited," said Bush, citing the need to meet the urgent demand for humanitarian aid in war-torn Iraq and enforcing "law and order" amid widespread looting.

"We are taking unprecedented measures to spare the lives of innocent Iraqi citizens, and are beginning to deliver food, water and medicine to those in need," said Bush.

"Our only enemy is Saddam's brutal regime - and that regime is your enemy as well," he added.

"We will respect your great religious traditions, whose principles of equality and compassion are essential to Iraq's future. We will help you build a peaceful and representative government that protects the rights of all citizens," said Bush.

"You deserve better than tyranny and corruption and torture chambers. You deserve to live as free people. And I assure every citizen of Iraq: your nation will soon be free."

SPACE.WIRE