AFTER making the commitment to rid Iraq of Saddam Hussein, Britain has a duty to ensure that a viable and secure alternative regime is in place.

There can be no dispute, therefore, over the Government's decision to send 1,000 extra troops to Iraq.

Further military resources are needed to stem the threat from terrorists and Saddam loyalists, and to protect members of the armed forces and Iraqi civilians.

However, the Defence Secretary's insistence that our troops will remain for "as long as required" does cause concern. It suggests that our commitment is open-ended.

While the military invasion was meticulously planned and executed, it appears that little thought was given to what would happen post-Saddam.

The criticism levelled at both the United States and Britain for failing to plan for peace has some justification.

Some five months after the fall of Saddam there appears to be no coherent strategy for re-building the economy and the infrastructure, and for developing a self-sufficient and democratic government.

The country is as chaotic today as it was when the Coalition tanks and military convoys were sweeping across the desert earlier this year.

The Iraqis were promised a new era of peace and prosperity. Those promises look rather empty.

Within ordinary Iraqi people there is a growing frustration at the painstakingly slow pace of reform. Increasingly, this frustration is turning into resentment of the occupying powers. This resentment is, in turn, encouraging the terrorists and the armed dissidents to continue their campaign of violence.

On its own, the deployment of extra troops will do nothing to improve the situation.

What is required is a commitment by the United States and Britain to bring the lasting peace they promised. They can begin re-building trust by drawing up a timetable for the handing over of control of the country to a civilian democracy.

Having sidelined the United Nations in going to war, it is imperative that Britain and America re-engages with the UN to establish peace.

Only a genuine effort by the international community to re-build Iraq will transform the perception of the British and US troops of an army of occupation to an army of liberation.