The aftermath of the Iraq war continued to dog Washington and London today after leaders of major industrialised nations agreed to work together to help the country.

The pledge by the just-ended Group of Eight summit in Evian, France, to cooperate in creating a stable, democratic society in Iraq came as British lawmakers vowed to probe the decision to go to war.

The British Department of Defense meanwhile confirmed military police were investigating the deaths of two men in custody in Iraq.

Reports said the two were in the custody of soldiers from Britain's Black Watch regiment and died in separate incidents May 13 and May 18.

And in what appeared to be a separate incident, defense officials said two British troops were ordered out of Iraq after allegations that prisoners of war were beaten.

In Washington, a leading Republican representative dismissed mounting calls for a probe into possible US intelligence failures in assessing Iraq's weapons programmes yesterday.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay said the calls for congressional hearings were being made by "detractors who want to undermine the successful war".

DeLay said those advocating a congressional probe are, for the most part, George W Bush's political adversaries who are merely interested in "playing politics".

"They just can't accept the fact that the president through his moral leadership is right in the war on terror, and he was right going into Iraq," the Texas legislator said.

Back in London, war opponents were also making political hay.

A powerful parliamentary committee decided late yesterday to probe Britain's decision to go to war in Iraq, amid claims the government had embellished intelligence on weapons of mass destruction to justify the conflict.

The decision by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs committee followed growing demands from deputies for an independent inquiry into allegations Prime Minister Tony Blair's office exaggerated intelligence reports to make Saddam Hussein's regime appear more menacing.

In Baghdad, US administrator Paul Bremer and UN envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello agreed they would work together to help Iraq recover from nearly three decades of dictatorship and war.

Before adjourning their Evian meeting, the G8 leaders set aside the rancor generated by the debate over whether to unseat Saddam long enough to express their unity over Iraq's reconstruction.

"Our shared objective is a fully sovereign, stable and democratic Iraq, at peace with its neighbors and firmly on the road to progress," they said in a final statement from their three-day summit.

French President Jacques Chirac however could not resist again taking aim at the US-led invasion, repeating his view that it was illegal.

"I didn't approve of it and I still don't approve of it," he said.

"One can possibly make war alone, but one cannot make peace alone".

Blair and Bush continue to insist Iraq had to be stopped from developing banned nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, though little evidence of these weapons programmes has emerged.

The lack of evidence has increased the pressure on the two leaders' justifications for war.

"If they don't find anything, obviously there are going to be lots of questions," UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said.

In Baghdad, Bremer and Vieira de Mello met for the first time and pledged cooperation on the road to Iraq's recovery.

"We had a very good first meeting on the wide range of issues in which we can work together to create a democratic independent and peaceful Iraq. We have a very good sense of mutual mission," Bremer said.

Vieira de Mello nodded agreement, saying: "We share the same goal which is to empower the free people of Iraq as soon as possible".

The US military began distributing food rations in Baghdad for the first time since the war broke out in March, although the UN's World Food Programme said only 1 000 people received handouts.

The ration program, begun after the UN imposed sanctions on Iraq following its 1990 invasion of Kuwait, was the main source of food for about 60% of Iraq's 26-million people before the war.

But US plans for Iraq's political future suffered a setback when a Pentagon-backed opposition group lashed out at plans to appoint an interim political council instead of allowing Iraqi delegates to choose representatives at a conference.

"The US can't cancel a conference that is led by Iraqis," Iraqi National Congress spokesperson Entifadh Qanbar said.

"The leadership council is unified around it ... This is an Iraq-led effort. It isn't a US issue. We're serious about having this conference".

The 25- to 30-member council would advise the US occupying power on political and economic issues and name "key advisers" to Iraq's ministries, who will work in close coordination with the US-British coalition's own overseers, a senior US official said.

By the end of the month, the coalition would start recruiting soldiers for a new Iraqi army in the face of mounting protests by jobless demobilised soldiers, Bremer said.

Meanwhile, the annual Pew Global Attitudes Project survey revealed the image of both the US and the United Nations had declined worldwide in the wake of the fighting in Iraq.

"The speed of the war in Iraq and the prevailing belief that the Iraqi people are better off as a result have modestly improved the image of America. But in most countries, opinions of the US are markedly lower than they were a year ago," the Pew survey said.

"The war has widened the rift between Americans and Western Europeans, further inflamed the Muslim world, softened support for the war on terrorism, and significantly weakened global public support for the pillars of the post-World War II era, the UN and the North Atlantic alliance".

Nearly 16 000 people in some 20 countries were polled during the last month for their view on how the war had affected opinion of the US, Bush, the United Nations and the Middle East.

The Pew survey, chaired by former Clinton administration secretary of state Madeleine Albright, has a three to four per cent margin of error. – Sapa-AFP.