WASHINGTON, Sept 16: Top Democrats in the US House of Representatives said on Tuesday President George Bush must fire the key architect or architects of his Iraq operations to gain help from the international community to rebuild the country.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California and Rep John Murtha of Pennsylvania, top Democrat on the Appropriations defence subcommittee, said it should be up to Mr Bush whom to fire and refused to say who they felt should take the blame for policies they said were disastrously flawed.

“Somebody has to go. Somebody has to be held responsible,” said Murtha, regarded as one of the US Congress’ most pro-defence Democrats and an early supporter of the war.

Nancy Pelosi said, “I don’t think you are ever going to have the appropriate change in policy” without a change in key policymakers. Mr Bush, she added, should “decide whose head should roll”.

Mr Murtha said such a firing would be necessary to gain critical international help.

“Until this happens, we’re not going to get international support. You’re not going to get cooperation internationally,” he said.

Mr Murtha and Pelosi also said Congress should act quickly to provide the additional 87 billion dollars Mr Bush has requested largely for operations in Iraq to better protect US troops and improve security and living conditions for Iraqis.

But Nancy Pelosi said she wanted “accountability” for how the previous 79 billion dollars Congress approved in April mostly for Iraq was used, and how the new money would be spent.

“It is clear that whatever plan may have existed for dealing with post-war Iraq, that plan has failed,” Pelosi said. “These miscalculations have been extremely costly.”—Reuters