TODAY'S breaking news that the Anglo-American forces in the Gulf are puzzling over whether Saddam Hussein is dead or alive will lead to increasing hopes that the war is nearly over.

Such thoughts were kindled yesterday when US troops charged into Baghdad and grow stronger with every move of the coalition forces.

What's clear is that, even if Saddam managed to survive the attack by a single B-1B bomber, which dropped 2,000lb bunker-penetrating bombs on the residential building in the upmarket al-Mansour neighbourhood, his power is broken.

It's unlikely that Col Chris Vernon, the senior spokesman for the British Army in Iraq, heralded a false dawn when he said last night: "Militarily we have won the war - no significant resistance remains either in Basra or Baghdad. The British now control Basra and US forces will control Baghdad within days."

Clearly, the time has arrived when not only the future of Iraq has to be considered, but also the building of bridges between Britain and France, between Muslim and Christian, between America and - it has to be said - much of the rest of the world.

If such relationships are not developed, the military victory in Iraq will not lead to a safer world - as Prime Minister Blair and President Bush would have us believe - but to an international situation that threatens the well-being of us all.