Iraq’s slide into violent anarchy will trigger a humanitarian disaster if US and British troops are unable to fill the power vacuum and reassert order quickly, UN and other aid officials warned yesterday.

It was supposed to be one of the most important missions of the war in Iraq — securing the country’s vast northern oil fields. But when we arrived at Iraq’s biggest oil well yesterday afternoon, just outside the newly liberated city of Kirkuk, the US Special Forces were nowhere to be seen.

All roads to the palace passed by corpses — a mini-van with the fighter who had tried to ram it into US soldiers carbonised at the wheel; the attendant sprawled by the towering arch; the guard lying in the shadow of a golden dome; the body of a middle-aged man rotting in his green BMW near the north gate.

The US won the war with relative ease: the peace is proving to be a lot harder. The collapse of Saddam’s regime has left a power vacuum that has taken America by surprise.

With the US capture of Hilla and the ancient ruins of Babylon the coalition consolidated its hold on southern Iraq yesterday and the military focus shifted to the north — in particular to Saddam Hussein’s hometown, Tikrit.

Britain and the United States projected a post-Saddam television service towards the homes of millions of Iraqis yesterday, broadcasting what officials insist is ”balanced” news of the conflict from a converted US military transport plane above the war zone.