Six days of mourning and rosy remembrance for Ronald Reagan approached a climax yesterday as world leaders and veterans of the Cold War gathered at Washington?s National Cathedral to take part in the former president?s state funeral.

Many past and present international leaders and veterans of the Cold War struggle against communism that Reagan helped end were attending the service, billed as one of the largest gatherings of international dignitaries in years.

Government departments, the US stock exchange and many businesses were closed as Americans paused to pay tribute to their 40th president.

US President George W. Bush was to deliver a 15-minute eulogy at the funeral. «This will be the president speaking on behalf of the nation as we say good-bye to a great leader,» said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a staunch Reagan ally whose health is too frail to permit her to speak, recorded a message in advance that will be played to the congregation.

Bush?s father, former president George Bush who was Reagan?s vice president, was also expected to deliver remarks. Other dignitaries in the congregation of 4,000 include former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who crossed swords with Reagan at memorable summits in the 1980s and then allowed the Cold War to end peacefully months after Reagan left office in 1989.

Lech Walesa, the one-time Polish shipyard electrician who led the Solidarity labor movement and later became president of a post-communist Poland, was also attending.

Tens of thousands of Americans filed past Reagan?s body as it lay in state at the US Capitol. The public viewing ended yesterday morning, as officials prepared to transport the body to the Cathedral.

A CONTROVERSIAL LEADER

Reagan died on Saturday after a long struggle with Alzheimer?s disease. He bade farewell to the American people in a moving letter 10 years ago and had since lived in seclusion, cared for by his wife, Nancy.

After the funeral, Reagan?s body will be flown back to California one last time for a sunset burial on the grounds of his presidential library overlooking desert hills just north of Los Angeles.

Since his death, the US media has provided blanket coverage and glowing assessments of Reagan?s legacy and sunny personality. Some have rated him as one of the most significant US presidents of the 20th century whose greatest achievement was helping to end the Cold War with big increases in military spending.

Celebrated by supporters as a champion of freedom and free enterprise, Reagan also provoked furious opposition. Critics accused him of ignoring the emerging AIDS epidemic, supporting right-wing hard-liners in Central America and opposing environmental protections and social programs.

He was also blamed for lax control over his administration which led to the Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages scandal. But opponents were frustrated that scandals did not seem to stick to Reagan and dubbed him the «Teflon president.»

Tens of thousands of people filed by Reagan?s casket in the US Capitol after it was placed there on Wednesday, many first having to wait outside for hours in blazing heat. Bush paid his silent respects in a brief visit to the Capitol on Thursday evening. He then met Reagan?s widow, Nancy, at Blair House across from the White House.

About 100,000 others had viewed the casket at the Reagan presidential library in California. Close Reagan friend and aide Michael Deaver said people were flocking to pay tribute to Reagan because of his ability to relate to people no matter who they were.

«He respected people and treated everyone the same whether you were a king or a plumber,» Deaver said.

par Alan ELSNER

Lies and cheats in the name of anti-communism

It will be odd for Iraqis to watch TV tonight (power cuts permitting) and hear the eulogies to freedom-loving Ronald Reagan at his state funeral. The motives behind US policy towards their country have always been a mystery, and if Iraqis sometimes explain to westerners that Saddam Hussein was a CIA agent whose appointed task was to provoke an American invasion of Iraq, it is largely thanks to Reagan?s legacy.

Although Saddam was still a junior figure, it is a matter of record that the CIA station in Baghdad aided the coup which first brought the Ba?athists to power in 1963. But it was Reagan who, two decades later, turned US-Iraqi relations into a decisive wartime alliance. He sent a personal letter to Saddam Hussein in December 1983 offering help against Iran. The letter was hand-carried to Baghdad by Reagan?s special envoy, Donald Rumsfeld. Reagan liked several things about Saddam. A firm anti-communist, he had banned the party and executed or imprisoned thousands of its members. The Iraqi leader was also a bulwark against the mullahs in Tehran and a promising point of pressure against Syria and its Hizbullah clients in Lebanon who had just destroyed the US Marine compound in Beirut, killing over 200 Americans.

It is not surprising that the current international manoeuvring over Iraq is treated with suspicion grounded in that history. Iraqis regard their newly appointed government with scepticism. They see the difficulty France had at the United Nations in trying to persuade the Americans to allow Iraqis a veto over US offensives in places like Falluja. They note that Prime Minister Ayad Allawi did not even ask for a major Iraqi role until the French made it an issue. Iraqis remember that Allawi and his exile organisation, the Iraqi National Accord, were paid by the CIA.