Iraq

In surprise Iraq visit, Powell vows faster aid

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Secretary of State Colin Powell made an unannounced visit Friday to Iraq, where he pledged that the United States would try to undermine the continuing insurgency by speeding up reconstruction aid and jump-starting the economy.

"Reconstruction and security are two sides of the same coin. Those who are setting off these bombs, those who are conducting these kidnappings are doing it for the purpose of returning to the past, returning to the days of a Saddam Hussein-like regime," Powell said at a news conference after talks with Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih.

With his nine-hour visit, Powell is the highest ranking U.S. official to come to Iraq since American administrators turned political power over to an Iraqi interim government on June 28.

Iraq's hopes of building security forces capable of putting down the insurgency got a lift, meanwhile, when NATO countries agreed Friday to begin training Iraqi recruits. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said a 40-member advance team would leave for Iraq "as soon as possible" to begin the training, the Associated Press reported from Brussels.

The United States, which has transferred less than $500-million of more than $18-billion approved by Congress for Iraq last year, hopes to send at least $300-million a month beginning in September. Washington also hopes to overcome red tape and inefficiency and identify specific projects for up to half the total funds by year's end, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials.

"We want to rebuild the infrastructure. We want to create jobs. . . . We want to show the Iraqi people that this money is being used for their benefit and do it as quickly as we can," Powell told reporters. "As people start to see their neighborhoods improve, their housing improve, the infrastructure improve, they will gain confidence about what we are doing. But more importantly, they will gain confidence that their government will be delivering."

The main purpose of Powell's visit was to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to help Iraq's interim government during the tough times Washington anticipates before elections for a national assembly are held in January.

FALLUJAH BATTLE: Marines battled Iraqi insurgents for hours in the volatile city of Fallujah, killing 13 Iraqis and wounding 14 others in a series of gunfights, mortar barrages and airstrikes, local officials said Friday. The U.S. military said insurgents started the fighting Thursday night by ambushing a patrol and then fled into buildings to continue the battle.

MUSLIM FORCE: Muslim countries being sounded out by Saudi Arabia about sending troops to Iraq want a sizable reduction in U.S. and other coalition troops as part of any agreement. As troops drawn from Muslim countries, most or all from outside the Middle East, took up positions in Iraq, there would be a parallel exodus of coalition soldiers, a senior Saudi official told the Associated Press. A partial American withdrawal also could have domestic political dividends in this U.S. presidential election year, where sentiment against American peacekeeping operations is strong. About 138,000 U.S. troops are there, backed by 22,000 troops from 31 other countries.

KIDNAPPINGS: The kidnappers of four Jordanians in Iraq have promised to release them today because their relatives and others staged an anti-American demonstration as demanded of them, the brother of a hostage said late Friday.

PRISONER ABUSE: Testifying under immunity, three U.S. Army commanders admitted Friday that soldiers were told to cover up an incident in which two Iraqi civilians were forced off a bridge into the Tigris River, where family members say one of them drowned. The commanders, however, said they don't believe anyone died, despite what the family and prosecutors say.

Information from the Washington Post and Associated Press was used in this report.

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