The slow movement in Washington from a policy of containment to one of regime change reached a significant milestone in 1998, with the Clinton Administration passing the Iraq Liberation Act.

The U.S. Administration noted and was angered by the use of populist anti-war rhetoric made by then German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in his bid for re-election in September 2002.

As military action began to look more and more inevitable in the first months of 2003, French President Jacques Chirac became the main spokesman for the view that UN weapons inspectors needed more time to search Iraq for banned arms.

It may be seen as an aspect of Berlin's increasing desire to play an independent, assertive role in international affairs in line with its own public opinion, as well as very deep skepticism in Europe regarding the reasons for war with Iraq.

Blair placed more stress than did the United States on the need for a clear international mandate for action over Iraq, and was a leading voice in arguing for a second UN Security Council resolution before any further steps were taken.

The rift between the UK and France over the Iraq question cast into bold relief two starkly different positions regarding the role of Europe in world affairs.

Thus, broadly supportive of the French and German position were Belgium, Greece, Luxembourg, and neutral states such as the Republic of Ireland.

[2] The support of Central European and Baltic EU member states for the U.S. position, as declared in February 2003, served to anger the French and led to President Chirac's famous outburst that the government of these countries had "missed an excellent opportunity to keep silent.

[2] Following the invasion and the destruction of the Saddam Hussein regime, the initial stance taken by France, as the main Western opponent of the war, was for the rapid ending of the U.S. and British occupation, and, in its place, the creation of a UN administration of Iraq.

On April 5, 2003, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin was scathing about U.S. plans for reconstruction in postwar Iraq.

De Villepin's statements were made at a joint press conference with the German and Russian foreign ministers and are indicative of the atmosphere of anger and suspicion engendered by the war.

For France and its anti-war allies, the issue of the rapid recovery of Iraqi sovereignty and the ending of the American occupation was paramount from the outset.

For the UK, leader of the pro-war faction among European countries, the most pressing diplomatic problem following the war was preventing further deterioration in U.S.-EU relations.

On June 28, 2004, power was formally handed over by CPA Head Paul Bremer to an interim Iraqi government to be led by Ayad Alawi.

The essential dividing line in European perceptions on Iraq ran between France and Germany on one hand, and Britain, Poland and Spain on the other.

Smaller neutral countries then tended to align with France and Germany, and a number of new member states were with the UK, Poland and Spain.In mid-2004, however, following José María Aznar's defeat in elections by the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spain effectively crossed over to the other camp.

The announcement on November 22, 2004 of elections in Iraq played a further important role in the slow, cautious re-engagement of European countries.

The Netherlands, which had supported the war and which held the EU presidency in the year 2004, was keen to promote practical assistance in the elections.

This did not take place, however, the responsibility for international supervision of the elections of January 30 was undertaken by a relatively small group of 35 UN staffers.

In addition, an ad hoc group called the International Mission for Iraqi Elections monitored the electoral process from Jordan, because of fears related to the security situation.

The "hands off" policy of France, Germany, and the countries that had opposed the war seemed to them to be justified by the failure to return stability to Iraq following the toppling of Saddam Hussein.

The new prime minister, Romano Prodi, used his first speech in parliament following his victory to issue a harsh criticism of the war in Iraq.

Countries that opposed the war have been reluctant to contribute largely to the rebuilding of Iraq in a process that they regarded as fundamentally illegitimate.