Washington: Hinting that US may attack Iraq without Britain as Premier Tony Blair is facing enormous opposition from his country's anti-war forces, Washington has said UK's role in a military conflict is "unclear" at this time, but asserted that London will help in reconstruction process in the post-war period.

"This is a matter that most of the senior officials in the government discuss with the UK on a daily or every-other-day basis," Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a Pentagon press conference on March 11.

"And I had a good visit with Minister of Defence of the UK about an hour ago. Their situation is distinctive to their country, and they have a government that deals with Parliament in their way, distinctive way. And what ultimately will be decided is unclear as to their role, that is to say their role in the event that a decision is made to use force," he said.

He said, "There is the second issue of their (UK's) role in a post-Saddam reconstruction process or stabilisation process, which would be a different matter. And I think until we know what the resolution is, we won't know answer as to what their role will be and to the extent they are able to participate in the event the President decides to use force; that (British participation) would obviously be welcomed."

Later, after reports that UK officials were surprised by his comments, Rumsfeld said in a statement that the main point of his press conference was that "obtaining a second UN Security Council resolution is important to UK."

"In the event a decision to use force is made, we have every reason to believe there will be a significant military contribution from UK," the statement said.

When asked during the press conference whether US would consider going to war without Britain, Rumsfeld said, "that is an issue that the President will be addressing in the days ahead, one would assume."

The Defence Secretary attributed the hesitation of some of the UN Security Council members to authorise the use of force to the fact that unlike the US, they did not have the experience of September 11 terror attacks.

PTI