UN: The UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, has called the US-led invasion of Iraq "illegal", setting off a round of angry denunciations in the countries that joined the US in a coalition to topple Saddam Hussein.
At the same time the Bush administration's conduct of the war in Iraq has been undercut by a report from its own intelligence services and by scathing comments from key Republican allies on Capitol Hill.
"There should have been a second resolution" from the UN Security Council to authorise the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein's regime, Mr Annan said in a BBC World Service interview.
The US and British governments were unable to get sufficient support from the 15-member council for a separate resolution backing an invasion of Iraq. Pressed on its legality, he said: "I've indicated that it was not in conformity with the UN charter from our point of view, and from the charter point of view it was illegal."
President Bush did not respond directly to the charge, which is likely to be dismissed by most Republicans, who have little sympathy for the UN, but said he had hoped diplomacy would work.
"Knowing what I know today even though we haven't found the stockpiles of weapons we thought were there, I'd still make the same decision," he said, campaigning in Minnesota.
"America and the world are safer with Saddam Hussein sitting in a prison cell."
A previous Security Council resolution had warned Iraq to be prepared for "serious consequences" if it didn't meet UN obligations but critics of the war argued for more time to let arms inspections work.
Major US allies on the war, some of whom, like the Bush administration, are facing re-election campaigns, angrily rejected Mr Annan's claim, with the office of the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, pointing to three UN resolutions that Britain said justified the use of force.
It reiterated that the British attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, had found Britain was acting legally in supporting the military action against Saddam Hussein's regime.
The British Trade Secretary, Ms Patricia Hewitt, said she respected Mr Annan, but disagreed with him.
The Australian Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, said the war was "entirely legal", while the Polish Foreign Ministry also insisted the invasion was legal, and listed other resolutions relating to Iraq.
The government of the Italian Prime Minister, Mr Silvio Berlusconi, made no comment, but Mr Germano Dottori of the Centre for Strategic Studies in Rome said he suspected Mr Annan was trying to undermine President Bush before the US presidential elections.
A Spanish government spokesman said: "We're not surprised by Annan's comments. That's what Spain said and that's why we pulled out the troops."
Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Mr Hiroyuki Hosoda, said his country would seek clarification about Mr Annan's remarks.
The UN Secretary General also cast doubt on the possibility of national elections scheduled for January in Iraq. There could not be credible elections if the security conditions continued as they were now, he said.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Mr John Danforth, insisted to the Security Council on Tuesday that there should be no doubt "we are committed to this timetable."
However, a classified national intelligence estimate for Iraq reportedly paints a bleak picture of the prospects for the coming months which is at odds with the upbeat tone of President Bush, who insists in every campaign speech that progress is being made. The estimate was prepared for Mr Bush in late July and according to the New York Times outlines possibilities for Iraq through the end of 2005, ranging from the worst-case scenario of a civil war to the least pessimistic forecast of an Iraq where political, economic and security stability remained tenuous.
Two Republican senators rebuked the Bush administration over its handling of Iraq, during debate on Capitol Hill on a proposal by the White House to divert $3.46 billion from reconstruction funds earmarked for large-scale water, sewage and electricity projects to increased security and other priorities.
Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska said the proposal did not add up to a "a pretty picture, to a picture that shows that we're winning, but it does add up to this: an acknowledgment that we are in deep trouble."
Senator Richard Lugar of Indiana told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that the upsurge in violence in Iraq had exposed as "nonsense" the "blithely optimistic" assurances from the Bush administration last year about the reception US troops would get.