Other members of the US-led coalition insist the goal will be met, although all express concern over the impact of a decision by the United States to scrap and rebid a multi-million-dollar contract for badly-needed army equipment.

"Cutting through the bureaucracy to get the allocated US money released seems to be enormously difficult," said Nigel Aylwin-Foster, deputy commander of the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team (CMATT), a group created last July to build a new armed forces for Iraq.

"We are about two weeks behind the curve on getting the appropriate funding for the things we want to do next," he told AFP in an interview.

CMATT has a mission to create an army of 35,000 troops by September 30 -- likely the shortest timeframe in modern nation-building, according to Aylwin-Foster -- with the majority scheduled to be signed up by the end of June when the US-led coalition is due to hand power to a caretaker Iraqi government.

On top of the manpower, whose training and salaries cost a sizeable amount, is the need to build new barracks or reconstruct old bases that were destroyed during the US-led war to oust Saddam Hussein launched a year ago, and buy weapons.

Washington has pledged some 1.6 billion dollars from an 18.4-billion-dollar Iraqi reconstruction fund to help rebuild Iraq's once-feared military, which will comprise of a ground forces with a small navy and airforce contingent.

But problems with the contracting process and the need to navigate red tape has meant that only 217 million dollars of the promised cash has been spent to date although more is in the pipeline, said Aylwin-Foster, a British brigadier.

"It leads to a dynamic where on the one hand we are trying to go very fast and on the other hand it's as if there is a whole bunch of people who are making it difficult for us to go very fast," he said.

Without the promised funding, "we won't meet the mission. We won't have the army created in time."

Government money is notoriously hard to spend because many boxes must be ticked to ensure everything is above board.

"Taxpayers expect us to be good stewards of their money," said Lieutenant Colonel Jo Yoswa, a spokesman for the US defence department in Washington, which is in charge of contracting out the American money.

"But we are working to assist them (CMATT) in meeting their goals and objectives to equip Iraq's security forces," he said.

A decision by the US army this month to terminate and rebid a 327-million-dollar equipment contract due to problems in the bidding process was a setback, acknowledged Yoswa.

But he added that other methods to support the armed forces were being explored, such as using the Development Fund for Iraq.

A top coalition official dismissed fears that the tardy arrival of US cash due to the delayed contract for equipment such as vehicles, radios and body armour would delay the target of producing an army by Septemer 30.

"We will fix that. I have already made arrangements to cover that gap with money from the Iraqi budget," he said.

Iraq's new, mainly US-funded army will be a fraction of the size of Saddam's roughly 400,000-strong, conscript force, and controlled by civilians at a revamped ministry of defence, due to open shortly.

But once control of the embryonic military created by the coalition is transferred to the Iraqis, the number of troops would likely grow provided the money is there, said Aylwin-Foster.

"I imagine they will want to expand the army when their economy will allow them to do so," he said.

The US-led occupying forces have promised to withdraw from Iraq once its army, police force and civil defence corps are capable of ensuring the country's security.

However, the longer it takes to establish Iraq's new security network, the more time the coalition troops will remain here.

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