President George W Bush called yesterday on other nations to take a greater role in policing and rebuilding Iraq and said he would ask for an extra 87 billion dollars to pay for operations in Iraq andAfghanistan.

With US troops suffering a growing death toll in Iraq and his policy facing mounting criticism at home and abroad, Bush acknowledged prewar tensions with US allies but urged them to forget the differences.

"Members of the United Nations now have an opportunity, and the responsibility, to assume a broader role in assuring that Iraq becomes a free and democratic nation," he said in a speech to the nation from the White House.

"I recognise that not all of our friends agreed with our decision to enforce the Security Council resolutions and remove Saddam Hussein from power.

"Yet we cannot let past differences interfere with present duties. Terrorists in Iraq have attacked representatives of the civilised world, and opposing them must be the cause of the civilised world."

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