America will have to negotiate its way out of Iraq, a leading defence expert has warned.

In an interview with ePolitix.com, top military analyst Paul Beaver said the US would be unable to leave Iraq because of the rising level of terrorist attacks.

"The Americans can't run on this. This is not Mogadishu where they can cut and run," he warned.

"This is not Vietnam - they can't do a 1972. They've got to hand it over to a civilian power and that has to be Iraqi. They've got a lot of work to do and they've got to do it quickly."

He warned there were few options open to a US president who had been hoping for a speedy victory with few casualties.

"There is no military solution to this. It has to be done by politics and that means having a government in Baghdad that is representative of all the people. Let them work out if it is going to be the Shia, the Kurds or the Sunni that are going to be in the majority. That's up to them," he said.

"This is the problem the Americans have got now because they have delivered themselves to their enemy."

Beaver argued that the current battles with terrorist groups had not been foreseen by US military planners.

"The problem the Americans have is that they did not think further than winning the war. They did not think about winning the peace. It's not traditionally what the Americans have done," he said.

Coalition forces were now locked into a deadly conflict similar to the early stages of the Vietnam war or the war Britain fought in Malaya during the 50s.

"It needs a totally different mindset and I'm not sure the Americans have got that mindset," he said.

"Guerrilla wars by tradition are ended not by military means but by politics. Guerrilla wars in South Africa led to Nelson Mandela becoming president. The EOKA rising in Cyprus led to Archbishop Makarios becoming the president of Cyprus.

"The only place where there has been total success has been General Templer's campaign in Malaya which created Malaysia. It's been the only time since 1945 that a counter-insurgency war has been won."

He strongly rejected the idea of UN peacekeepers taking over. "The last thing we want in this there at the moment are UN peacekeepers," he said.

"What you need is for the UN to do the civil things which the UN does brilliantly - UNICEF - they really know what they're doing. Peacekeepers no thank you. Keep the blue helmets out.

"Paul Bremer and President Bush and Tony Blair need to engage in what's really happening and not - in president Bush's case playing for re-election in the states."

President Bush is set for a state visit next week and Beaver predicted there would be plenty of issues to be raised with Tony Blair.

"President Bush, I'm sure, will be plugging away for Boeing to win the future strategic tanker PFI order and the joint strike fighter," he said.

"I think he'll be looking for a bit of support from Tony Blair. In the United States, Britain is still viewed as an important political player when it comes to supporting the US. Tony Blair is rated by the voters from Iowa and Texas to California and Washington."