UK, US show differences over policies on Iraq: report

Britain and the United States have been showing great differences on their policies toward Iraq, a British newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The United States and Britain disagreed with each other "basically because of disputes over how realistic was the pursuit of democracy," Michael Rubin, a former adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Baghdad, was quoted by The Daily Telegraph newspaper as saying.

Rubin, who resigned from the Pentagon more than a week ago, also said that the United States was surprised to see the British attempts to strengthen the relations between the CPA and Iran through its presence in southern Iraq.

"We got a sense that Britons were using the CPA as an outreach to Iran, which was not the Americans' intention," he said.

In Rubin's opinion, the CPA which is under the control of the US Administrator Paul Bremer is following the US agenda, as more and more British politicians are concerned about the volume of London's voice in the CPA.

"In general, most British diplomats still don't agree with the (US) president's agenda," he told the newspaper.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to visit the United States on Thursday during which he will hold talks with US President George W. Bush over the issue of fully transferring the sovereignty to Iraq.

Source: Xinhua