Setbacks fail to dent the resolve of leaders

The Iraq war might be taking longer, and the fighting might be harder than much of the world expected, but day eight was when its chief protagonists, George Bush and Tony Blair, gave clear and unambiguous notice that they would fight to the end, however long it took, and whatever the cost.

Speaking at a press conference after talks in the presidential retreat of Camp David, Maryland, both men refused to put any sort of limiting timetable on military operations against Saddam Hussein, and reaffirmed, forcefully, that the Iraqi leader would be removed from power.

After a week in which the war became a rollercoaster ride for the coalition forces, they showed that military setbacks, troop casualties and harrowing pictures of dead and injured Iraqi civilians had failed to make the slightest dent in the resolve of either leader. That much was obvious in their tone as much as their words. Mr Blair was combative, but concerned. Mr Bush was combative.

The US President was not wearing the charcoal suit with the Stars and Stripes lapel badge he wore while addressing US troops in Florida on Wednesday: now the suit was blue. And if he had left behind the unabashed patriotic emotionalism of that speech, his message to President Saddam was still tough and Texan: Get Out Of Town.

Militarily, Mr Bush appears to have given a green light to an extension of the conflict. Back home in Texas, some 20,000 troops from the US Army's 4th Infantry Division prepared to be shipped out as reinforcements. They could be battle-ready in about two weeks. And in Washington, the Pentagon confirmed it was authorising use of "non-lethal" gases of the type used in last October's disastrous Moscow theatre siege – a move that has already provoked accusations of hypocrisy by a country that claims to be at war to prevent chemical weapons being used.

Mr Blair showed the emotion when he referred to two British soldiers who appear to have been executed after capture by the Iraqis. Their bodies were shown on Iraqi television and the Arab satellite television channel al-Jazeera. Clearly shocked by the pictures, Mr Blair said it proved what he called "the reality" of President Saddam's rule.

"If anyone needed further evidence of the depravity of Saddam's regime, this atrocity provides it," he said. "It is yet one more flagrant breach of all the proper conventions of war. More than that, to the families of the soldiers, it is an act of cruelty beyond comprehension. Indeed, it is beyond the comprehension of anyone with an ounce of humanity."

Al-Jazeera was unrepentant yesterday, saying that it had a duty to show the world casualties on all sides in the Iraq war. "War has victims from both sides," said Ibrahim Hilal, the editor-in-chief. "If you don't show both sides, you are not covering [it]."

The Americans have already rebuked al-Jazeera for airing footage of US prisoners of war and dead soldiers. The Geneva Conventions stipulate that PoWs must be protected "against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity".

Neither Mr Blair nor Mr Bush made any reference to the explosion in a residential area of Baghdad on Wednesday morning that killed at least 15 Iraqis. This may be partly because the Allied forces – to the surprise of some observers – resolutely declined to admit yesterday that it had been a coalition weapon that did the damage.

US Brigadier General Vince Brooks, at Central Command in Qatar, said that US planes were on a bombing mission at the time but over a different part of the city. US weapons systems had been checked and he was "certain" all their bombs had hit their intended targets, he said.

US aircraft were engaged by Iraqi surface-to-air missiles, which were old and did not have radars, he said, adding that it was "entirely possible that this was an Iraqi missile that went up and came down".

In LondonGeoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, made the same claim, saying the Anglo-American coalition had made clear that it did not target the marketplace in Baghdad where the explosion took place.

Suspicions were growing that the deaths were caused by Iraqis, he said. "It could clearly have been caused by fallout from the regime's anti-aircraft fire or the failure of one of the regime's own missiles," he said. This cut no ice on the banks of the Tigris. Umid Midhat Mubarak, the Iraqi Health Minister, said yesterday that 36 people had been killed and 215 wounded in US air strikes on Baghdad on Wednesday, and accused coalition forces of deliberately attacking civilians to break the people's will.

"They are targeting human beings in Iraq to decrease their morale," he said. "They are not discriminating, differentiating." He said that more than 350 civilians had been killed in the past week, and that more than 4,000 civilians had been killed and injured in the war.

The Stop The War coalition gave its own estimate of non-combatant Iraqi casualties yesterday. The pressure group said between 227 and 307 civilians had been killed since the outbreak of hostilities.

Opposition to the conflict was as strong as ever, the group said, announcing that more demonstrations would be held this weekend in towns and cities across the UK. A national protest will be held in London on 12 April to coincide with a demonstration outside the White House in Washington.

Yesterday, demonstrations continued as protesters stormed the Londonderry office of the US company that makes Tomahawk cruise missiles and Patriot missiles – weapons being used in the war.

Police moved in to remove about a dozen protesters who staged a sit-in at Raytheon Systems Ltd. The company stressed that the Londonderry office was principally engaged in software development for air-traffic control systems and had no involvement in weapons manufacture, but Robbie McVeigh, the protest spokesman, said groups throughout Ireland would continue to harass Raytheon. "I think you will find that Raytheon in Derry is going to be a key focus for anti-war protests across Ireland," he said. "Raytheon are the main manufacturers of the missiles that are killing civilians in Iraq."

Lindsey German, of the Stop the War coalition, said that the British public was not being given a true account of what was happening in Iraq. "We are not seeing the true casualties or hearing about the political ramifications throughout the Middle East. We are only being told what the military wants us to hear," she said.

There are no reliable figures for Iraqi military casualties but they are believed to run into hundreds. Yesterday, US military casualties were 24 dead and 10 missing; the UK toll was 22 dead (18 of them in accidents) and two missing. At their press conference Mr Bush and Mr Blair went out of their way to offer public condolences for the dead of each other's country.

As the fighting continued, more wounded service personnel arrived in Britain. Seven injured soldiers – including women – were flown home to be treated in hospital, arriving at East Midlands airport from Cyprus at 11am.

British forces were still engaged in the south of Iraq, and the day began with the heaviest tank battle involving the British Army since the Second World War.

Challenger tanks from the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, part of the Desert Rats, the 7th Armoured Brigade, destroyed a squadron of 14 Iraqi T-55 tanks. None of the British soldiers were killed. A tank officer said that the contest between the ageing Russian T-55 and the modern Challenger 2, which came into service in 1998 with up-to-date Chobham armour, was "like the bicycle against the motor car".

The Iraqi tanks were moving south from Basra towards Al-Faw when they were engaged and destroyed by the British. "This has been a famous victory for the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and one which should go down in the regiment's history," said Captain Patrick Trueman of the regiment.

As the skies cleared yesterday after several days of sandstorms, RAF and US Air Force jets flew more than 600 bombing missions. They attacked Iraqi light armour in the centre of the country as US troops resumed their advance toward Baghdad.

Some US Marines were injured in a 90-minute battle near the southern city of Nasiriyah and reports said that in another incident, more than 30 marines were injured in a "friendly fire" encounter. Fighting was persisting around Najaf, north of Nasiriyah, leading elements of the US army's 3rd Infantry Division to encircle the city, which is about 90 miles south of Baghdad, instead of driving north. A CH-46 marine transport helicopter was fired on by Iraqis with small arms and rocket- propelled grenades and turned back after trying to pick up casualties and deliver supplies to marines in Nasiriyah.

"A lot of forces out there still want to fight. They didn't exactly roll over and surrender," said a marine helicopter pilot who gave only his nickname, Lurch. "We are so wrapped up in not creating collateral damage that we are leaving great enemy strongholds behind."

But although the fighting had resumed, it was the turn of the embryonic humanitarian aid operation to be stalled.

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Sir Galahad, expected to dock in the port of Umm Qasr yesterday with nearly 250 tons of water and food, much of it destined for the trapped people of Basra, was delayed until at least today by the discovery of more mines in the channel leading up to the port.

Mr Blair and Mr Bush spent much of their time addressing humanitarian issues in their press conference, held in a cavernous helicopter hangar that doubles as a basketball court. Yesterday it was liberally bedecked with the Stars and Stripes and the Union Flag.

Both men said they were calling on the United Nations to resume the oil-for-food programme which millions of Iraqis rely on. They also promised that the UN would be involved in rebuilding, probably an unwelcome message to some in Mr Bush's Republican Party. On his way home, Mr Blair had talks about the UN's role with Kofi Annan, the secretary general, in New York.

Repeating that their quarrel was with President Saddam, not the people of Iraq, Mr Bush and Mr Blair promised that the form of the country's post- Saddam government would be chosen by the Iraqi people.

In a gesture to Arab opinion, they also reiterated their pledge to publish a "road-map" setting out a timetable for an independent Palestinian state.

But that wasn't what anyone listening closely to the two men would really hear. The core of their message was something else: we are in this to the finish.

"If the world walks away from the security threat facing us, and if we'd backed down and taken no action against Saddam, think of the signal that would have sent right across the world to every brutal dictator and every terrorist group," Mr Blair said.

"I have no doubt we are doing the right thing, I've no doubt our cause is just and I have no doubt if we were to walk away from this conflict at this time, we would be doing a huge disservice to future generations."

And just in case the key message wasn't clear, he spelt it out. "Just under a week into this conflict, let me restate our complete and total resolve. Saddam Hussein and his hateful regime will be removed from power, Iraq will be disarmed of weapons of mass destruction and the people of Iraq will be free. That is our commitment, that is our determination, and we will see it done," he said.

He looked tired and strained, and the cares weighing heavily on his shoulders were apparent. He didn't look as if he was enjoying it.

But he certainly looked as though he meant it.

Invasion of Iraq day's events

* THURSDAY 5.56am GMT: First ship bringing aid to Iraq delayed by 24 hours after mines are found.

7.00: 37 US Marines hurt after being hit by fire from their own side near Nasiriyah.

8.55: A missile fired at Kuwait from southern Iraq is brought down by a Patriot battery.

9.50: British tanks destroy 14 Iraqi T-55 tanks south of Basra.

3.50pm: Tony Blair and George Bush tell press conference in US that war will go on "as long as it takes" to remove Saddam.

7.07: US 101st Airborne Division is reported to have crossed into Iraq from Kuwait.

8.05: Massive explosions rock central Baghdad. Buildings close to the Information Ministry appear to have been hit.

Words of war quotes of the day

Tony Blair:

"We've seen the reality of Saddam's regime: his thugs prepared to kill their own people, the parading of prisoners of war and now the release of those pictures of executed British soldiers."

Saddam Hussein:

"We will inflict maximum material and human damage among enemy ranks."

Fayez Bataineh, father of Jordanian student killed by US missile:

"Bush is a terrorist, a war criminal, he's taken my eldest son away. Saddam is not a terrorist, he is a fighter, a brave man."