THE Government was last night standing firm over its hardline policy on Iraq in the face of growing criticism of Friday's Anglo-US air strikes.

Britain and the US were left looking increasingly isolated as Russia and China led the international torrent of denunciation of the heaviest attacks against Saddam Hussein's forces for two years.

Prime Minister Tony Blair also had to face a swelling chorus of criticism from within Labour's own ranks which extended beyond the "usual suspects" on the party left.

In Baghdad, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to protest against the raids which, according to the Iraqi official media, left two civilians dead and another 20 injured.

Saddam met his senior aides over the weekend to discuss possible military retaliation in the event of any further attacks by the Allies against Iraqi positions.

The air strikes were strongly defended by Foreign Secretary Robin Cook as part of the strategy of containment against the Iraqi dictator.

He warned that unless the no-fly zones protecting the Kurds in the north and the Shi'ites in the south were maintained, there was a danger that Saddam would use airpower to attack his own people.

"Some of those who ask why we do it would be the very people who would be asking why are we not doing more if we were to abandon it and Saddam was to go back to bombing his own people," he said.

"When he was free to fly over the northern Iraqi area, he used chemical weapons against the Kurds. He killed 5,000 at Halabja. He would go back to doing that again if we allowed him to."

However, TGWU general secretary Bill Morris became the latest senior Labour figure to call for a review of the policy on Iraq."You can't bomb a country out of existence," he said.

"Any military action which kills people and fails to bring about peace and security and stability after ten years has got to be reappraised."

Labour MEP Glenys Kinnock also voiced concerns, describing the latest bombing raids as "worrying".

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