Iraq: The vanishing coalition

Amid the chaos, an isolated Mr Bush vowed he would "fight to win", that the so-called troop "surge" was working and that the lesson from Vietnam was that withdrawal had cost millions of lives.

Speaking to US Army veterans in Kansas, Mr Bush sought to soothe relations with the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, who had earlier threatened to "find friends elsewhere", after US officials suggested he be pushed aside.

However, in stark language that clearly riled British military leaders, the US general Jack Keane, who has just returned from Iraq, claimed that the security situation in the British-controlled zone had been allowed to deteriorate to "gangland warfare" with civilians at the mercy of rival Shia gunmen.

The general's comments highlighted the growing rift between the US and UK over Iraq with complaints among American officials over the "inaction" of British forces against militias in Basra. At the same time the UK is resisting American pressure to delay pulling troops out of Basra, the sole remaining area it controls in the country.

A senior Ministry of Defence official in London said "we are not going to get involved in 'tit-for-tat' with the Americans" but British commanders insist that the security situation in Basra is being misrepresented by some in the US forces. Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup said: "Our mission there was to get the place and the people to a state where the Iraqis could run the country if they chose to and we are very nearly there.