Ghazi Yawar, the interim Iraqi President, has given warning that instability could spawn an "Iraqi Hitler" if his country's citizens continue to feel humiliated and despondent like the Germans after their defeat in the First World War.

In a series of media interviews on a trip to London, Iraq's political figurehead also criticised Washington for its disastrous decision to dismantle Iraq's security forces after its invasion last year - which paved the way for a breakdown of law and order.

"We could have screened people out instead of screening them in and this could have saved us a lot of hassle and problems," Mr Yawar told the BBC.

Mr Yawar's criticisms of Pentagon policy in Iraq came a year to the day after the capture of Saddam Hussein created a short-lived euphoria among the US coalition and its civilian administrators.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we've got him," Paul Bremer, the then American governor of Iraq, told a crowded news conference in Baghdad on December 14, the day after Saddam was grabbed from a bolthole near Tikrit after eight months on the run.

In a nationally televised address later that day, President Bush told the United States: "In the history of Iraq, a dark and painful era is over."

Saddam is still awaiting trial for alleged crimes against humanity and US Army officials said today that eight of his jailed lieutenants had begun a hunger strike to protest against their continuing detention.

The situation in Iraq has only worsened since his capture, with bombings, kidnappings and daily attacks on US and British forces.

Seven US soldiers were killed on Sunday in the most costly day for the coalition since the assault on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.

A suicide car bomber killed at least seven Iraqis this morning at an entrance to Baghdad’s Green Zone, the vast compound that houses Government and US diplomatic offices. Nineteen were wounded, four of them seriously.

Responsibility for the Baghdad attack was claimed by a group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terror mastermind who - coincidentally - went on trial in absentia in his native Jordan today charged with "conspiracy to carry out terrorist attacks" on various targets in Iraq, including Amman's mission in Baghdad.

Mr Yawar said that the continuing instability and violence presented a long-term threat to the prospects for democracy in Iraq, where nationwide elections are scheduled for January 30.

"This could in the long term create an environment in which an Iraqi Hitler could emerge like the one created by the defeat of Germany and the humiliation of Germans in World War I," he told the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published today.

Iraq's interim leaders have also come under fire for failing to reach out to some alienated factions and US-led offensives on rebel-held cities have led to further divisions.

Mr Yawar, a Sunni Muslim who was chosen for the largely symbolic post of president in June, also urged Iraq's neighbours to break their "negative silence" about attacks in Iraq and play a positive role in helping stabilise the country.

"When a fire breaks out in your neighbour's house you should act quickly to put it out, not only for the sake of your neighbour but also so that you are not forced to put it out in your own home when it spreads there," he said.

This month Iraq and its neighbours made vague promises to improve security co-operation after a meeting in which Iraqi officials voiced growing frustration that neighbouring states were not doing enough to halt the flow of people, arms and funds linked to guerrilla violence.

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