The BBC's Bridget Kendall: Can the Foreign Office turn back the tide of public scepticism?

But as the UK Government continues diplomatic efforts to win support for last week's UK-US strikes and its plans for the "containment" of Saddam Hussein, there has been backing from other quarters, including Germany and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

An editorial in Tuesday's Gulf News - headlined "Britain loses its way" - says backing of US air strikes on Iraq has been a "disaster for British foreign policy".

The Gulf News, based in the United Arab Emirates, is the region's leading English-language newspaper.

It's leader column says the UK has lost its independence in the Middle East and has become the mouthpiece of the US.

It reads: "The unquestioning backing which Britain has given to the Clinton administration over its attacks on Iraq has been a disaster for Britain's foreign policy.

"It is sad that Britain, a country with a lot of knowledge of the Middle East and many friends in the region, could surrender its independence of thought to a US president from Arkansas, who hardly knows the world beyond the borders of the US.

Tony Blair is now seen as an aggressor, says our correspondent

"The policy of bombing Iraq was a mistake, and to do so with so little consultation with other countries was a disaster, and to do so without fresh authorisation from the UN Security Council was even worse."

The UAE - with which the UK has the strongest military commitment outside Nato - has been the Gulf state most outspoken against the air strikes.

The BBC's Gulf Correspondent Frank Gardner said that at the time of the attacks, Tony Blair sent a letter to the country's ruler explaining UK policy.

He added that the prime minister, who was widely praised in the Middle East for his role as a peacemaker in Nothern Ireland, is now seen by many there as an aggressor.

George Carey: "We must find diplomatic solutions"

Meanwhile, Germany reiterated its support for the air strikes in a joint Anglo-German press conference clearly intended to bolster the UK government's attempts to build an international consensus on Iraq.

Appearing beside UK Defence Secretary George Robertson, German Defence Minister Rudolf Sharping said: "The German government has made clear that we are supporting the US and the UK because military action was necessary.

"Step by step we need to develop a political strategy to make Iraq a civilised country.

"We need to give military pressure and give signals that we are not acting against the Iraqi nation."

Mr Robertson disputed Iraqi claims that 62 military personnel died in the strikes. He said that serious damage had been done to Saddam's elite troops.

He said: "You can bet a million pounds to an orange that we will never hear of the real casualties of the Republican Guard."

Despite the World Council of Churches's attack on the air strikes, the Anglican church's most senior figure has also spoke out in support of air strikes.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, said he personally believed that there had been "no alternative" to the action taken.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Those who actually believe this is wrong, to my mind haven't produced a satisfactory solution to say what alternatives were possible."