Paul Reynolds BBC News Online World Affairs correspondent

It will be seen by critics as a bad example for the future though it is justified by the United States, Britain and countries willing to take part as a practical way forward in view of the disagreements in the UN about the war.

It will be seen by critics as a bad example for the future but though by the United States, Britain and countries willing to take part as a practical way forward in view of the disagreements in the UN about the war

Under plans revealed in an outline by a senior American official, Iraq will be split into three sectors. Later reports suggested that there might be four sectors.

A division of US troops, about 20,000 soldiers, will run the central sector including Baghdad.

Britain will command the southern sector and Poland, which sent a small contingent of troops to fight in the war, will command the north.

Polish demands cause some uncertainty

The Polish Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz has said that the force should be on the ground in Iraq by the end of May.

"We understand that it is our responsibility to stay there," he said, "Not only guaranteeing security and order but with a lot of know-how of how to democratise the political system."

But Mr Cimoszewicz has also caused a flurry by suggesting that the force should have UN approval, something the US and UK do not particularly want.

Britain and the United States discuss "jumbo" resolution

British officials suggested that cover could be given in a "jumbo" Security Council resolution on Iraq now being prepared by London and Washington. This would grant broad approval to a new Interim Iraqi Authority.

The Poles have also proposed that German troops take part. But Germany has said no. The Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said: "We are not part of the coalition of the willing."

Seventeen countries to discuss contributions

Apart from the US, UK and Poland, countries reported to be interested in the stabilisation force include Ukraine, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Bulgaria, Albania, the Czech Republic, Denmark and the Netherlands.

The role of Qatar, the Philippines, South Korea and Australia and others is being discussed. Australia has always made it clear that it would not play a major role in the force.

Seventeen countries are to discuss their contributions in a meeting in London this Thursday.

Left out

Notable by their absence are Arab countries other than Qatar and the leading critics of the war - France, Germany and Russia.

So not only is the UN being bypassed, but what the US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld once dismissed as "Old Europe" is also being excluded.

The French newspaper Le Monde said that Washington was preparing to deploy the force without seeking the slightest mandate from the Security Council. The force, it said, would operate in a total legal vacuum

Talks are now getting down to detailed military level. For example, it looks as if Dutch troops will come under British command in the South.

Dutch marines have for long provided a company to fight alongside British Royal Marines, though they did not take part in the recent war. A Danish force of 380 will also serve in the South.

French criticism

Already there has been French criticism of the plan.

The newspaper Le Monde said that Washington was preparing to deploy the force without seeking the slightest mandate from the Security Council.

The force, it said, would operate in a total legal vacuum.

The mission was not defined by any international authority or accepted by an Iraqi political authority which did not yet exist. It would be dangerous for that authority and for Iraq and a "terrible example."

The Spanish paper El Mundo was worried.

Spain was about to enter the eye of the Iraqi storm, it said, by supplanting the UN role.

A government which always said that the UN would play a substantial role was taking on serious risks.

UK's man in Iraq

Britain meanwhile has appointed a senior diplomat, John Sawyers, as a Special Representative to Iraq.

He will work for a few months on the setting up of the Iraqi Interim Authority (IIA).

John Sawyers has been ambassador to Cairo, used to work as a foreign policy adviser to the Prime Minister and is due to take up the post of Foreign Office Political Director later this year.