The latest fantasy out of Washington is that American-trained Iraqi forces will ultimately be able to do what the American forces have not: defeat the insurgency and pacify Iraq.

It is questionable how long the insurgents can hold on in the face of the American-trained armed forces' advantages.

The men were wearing the telltale camouflage outfits of the police commandos, an American-trained paramilitary force that Sunni leaders here accuse of carrying out widespread atrocities.

Exceptional treatment included airlifting Mr. Chalabi and his American-trained 700-man paramilitary force to Nasariya in the middle of the war.

By late last year, though, it had become clear that the new American-trained forces were not shaping up as an effective fighting force, and the old guard was called upon.

Although the American-trained armed forces have improved, the guerrillas operate openly across much of the country.

But the guerrillas, in a broadcast on their radio station, said today that the American-trained armed forces were continuing offensive operations in violation of their unilateral ceasefire.

While the American-led mission effectively drove Abu Sayyaf from Basilan and parts of southern Mindanao, the American-trained Philippine forces have not sustained the momentum.

So efficient is the American-trained force that when asked whom they fear more, the drugs police or the thugs from the cartels, farmers say UMOPAR, without hesitation.

Six months later an American-trained force of Cuban exiles invaded Cuba at the Bay of Pigs and were ignominiously defeated.