Clare Short returned empty handed from Washington yesterday as Britain's efforts to put the United Nations in charge of reconstructing post-war Iraq ran into opposition from the Pentagon.
Amid signs of widening divisions off the battlefield between the US and its closest ally, Whitehall officials expressed concern that America's military planners appear to be cutting the UN out of any political role in favour of its own plan to put a retired general, Jay Garner, in the driving seat.
Ms Short had hoped to secure agreement on a security council resolution which would have given the UN the leading role in rebuilding the shattered country. But after two days of meeting with Kofi Annan and leading UN officials in New York, and state department officials in Washington, the international development secretary returned home with the issue unresolved
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