U.S. soldiers guard the area where a bomb was detonated under an American convoy in Fallujah

BAQUBAH, Iraq, July 18 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – A U.S. soldier was killed in the flashpoint town of Fallujah on Friday, July 18, as a panel of independent Pentagon advisors warned Washington was running out of time and had three months to restore law and order in Iraq or risk descent into chaos.

The American soldier died when a roadside bomb blew up as his convoy passed west of Baghdad, the U.S. military said in a statement carried by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"One soldier was killed at 3:20 pm (1120 GMT) when the convoy headed east through a traffic circle and passed an improvised explosive device. The vehicle took the brunt of the explosion as it crossed over two lanes," it said.

Earlier, witnesses said a rocket-propelled grenade hit three U.S. military vehicles in farmland on the edge of Fallujah.

AFP quoted witnesses as saying there were at least three casualties in the roadside ambush in an uninhabited area, thick with palm trees, where the attackers could easily hide.

Two American medical helicopters took the casualties from the site where two of the vehicles were in flames.

In a second separate incident, unknown attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) at two U.S. tanks in the town of Baqubah northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad early Friday, July 18, witnesses said.

They added the Iraqi fighters fled after the attack, which occurred at around 3:00 am (2300 GMT Thursday, July 17).

"The tanks were not hit. The RPGs fell on the roadside and there were no U.S. casualties," one witness said, adding that U.S. troops opened fire in the direction of the attackers.

At least 36 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraqi resistance attacks since May 1 when United States President George Bush declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq.

Sailor Dies

In another development, a U.S. sailor has died in a non-hostile incident in Iraq, the U.S. military said in a statement Friday.

"A Navy sailor from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force died yesterday from a non-hostile gunshot wound," the statement said, adding he was treated at the scene but died before arriving at a nearby medical facility.

It did not say where the incident took place, but the Marine Expeditionary Force is believed to operate mainly in central Iraq, south of Baghdad.

A U.S. military spokesman said that non-combat gunshot incidents could include suspected suicides and accidental discharges of a weapon, for example during cleaning.

Facing almost daily attacks with no promises of their return, U.S. troops in Iraq complained Wednesday, July 17, of low morale and little faith in their commanders.

"If Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was here, I'd ask him for his resignation," one soldier of the Third Infantry Division based in Fallujah north of Baghdad in a report broadcast by the ABC news.

The latest death brings to at least 51 the number of U.S. service personnel to have died in accidents or other non-combat-related incidents since May 1, when the United States declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq.

U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz visited Baghdad Friday on a low-key tour to boost flagging U.S. morale, 100 days after troops entered the Iraqi capital.

Wolfowitz and U.S. top civil administrator Paul Bremer flew by helicopter to the Abu Gharib prison, a symbol of the horrors of Saddam's regime, just west of Baghdad, while other details of his trip were being kept tightly under wraps.

The visit comes amid mounting criticism from ordinary Iraqis over the time taken to restore electricity and water supplies.

Time Running Out  

With frustration on the streets mounting with the searing temperatures, a Pentagon-commissioned study warned that the Anglo-American forces were running out of time its efforts to harness Iraqi goodwill.

The study, by the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, warned of escalating violence, amid daily attacks on U.S. forces.

"If Iraqis do not see progress on delivering security, basic services, political involvement and economic activity, the security situation will likely worsen and U.S. efforts and credibility will falter," the report said.

"The enormity of the task ahead cannot be underestimated," added the report, requested by Rumsfeld and Bremer.

"It requires the entire effort be immediately turbo-charged by making it more agile and flexible, and providing it with greater funding and personnel."

The report further urged a broad expansion in the number of states involved in efforts to rebuild Iraq after a decade of crippling economic sanctions and a blistering war that paralyzed the country's faltering economy.

"Financial and human resource needs cannot be met by the U.S. coalition alone," it said, also urging Washington to pump more money into the reconstruction effort.

Private Security

Feeling the heat in Iraq, the Pentagon is considering a plan to train a private security force to guard up to 2,000 Iraqi sites to ease the burden on its troops, The New York Times reported Friday.

The force would guard pipelines and government facilities around Iraq, providing jobs for unemployed Iraqis and easing tensions created by the U.S. occupation, military officials told the daily.

Pipelines are among the sites that have been targeted in almost daily attacks against U.S.-led forces.

The private force, which would be separate from the U.S.-styled Iraqi Army and Iraqi police force, would be composed chiefly of former Iraqi soldiers armed with small weapons, which has raised some security concerns, the officials said.

They added the plan was being discussed at the highest level of the Pentagon and with the so-called Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad and private American companies, including Kroll Inc.

"The idea, first and foremost, is to have Iraqis providing security for Iraq, at places like the national museum and other fixed sites, and there are civilian companies that do this very well," a senior military official said.

"An added benefit is that we definitely want to reduce the load on American soldiers," added the official, whose identity was not disclosed.

Kroll senior executive Anne Tiedemann told the daily her company had been involved in "brainstorming sessions" in Baghdad with "coalition" members.

"Our sense is that the (U.S.) military has too much on their plate right now, and that these are issues that need to be addressed, and the way to do that is through the private sector," said the regional managing director and head of Kroll's Europe, Middle East and Africa Region.

Tiedemann and the U.S. military officials stressed the talks had not gone beyond a discussion phase and no final decision had been reached.