US should govern Iraq after victory: Australia

The US should govern Iraq with the help of UK and input from Australia in the immediate post-war period, PM John Howard said on Wednesday.

The United States should govern Iraq with the help of Britain and input from Australia in the immediate post-war period, Prime Minister John Howard said on Wednesday.

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He added that disunity within the United Nations suggested the world body may not be suitable to help administer a post-conflict government.

Howard said he had given that view to US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair who would discuss the post-war reconstruction of Iraq at a meeting in the United States this week.

Australia has been one of the staunchest supporters of the tough US Line on Iraq and has 2,000 military personnel fighting as part of the allied coalition.

Howard declined an invitation to the meeting because he did not want to leave Australia while its soldiers were at war.

Speaking to the Parliament, Howard said a coalition victory should be followed by an "appropriate interim period" involving "a leadership role for the United States, the involvement of the United Kingdom, and obviously the Australian viewpoint and others would be expressed in those arrangements."

Howard said he saw a "clear role" for the United Nations after that period but did not say what that role should be, or how long the "appropriate interim period" should be.

Instead, he lambasted the anti-war stance of some UN Security Council members and cast doubt on the United Nations' ability help administer Iraq.