TURKEY OUT

Turkey's top general said the country's troop withdrawal from Iraq had nothing to do with U.S. calls to keep the cross-border campaign against Kurdish rebels as short as possible, a newspaper reported Saturday.

Gen. Yasar Buyukanit said withdrawal had already begun when U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked on Thursday for a quick end to Turkey's military operation in northern Iraq against separatist rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, Milliyet newspaper reported.

Announcing the pullout then would have been a security risk, the general was quoted as saying.

Turkey withdrew is troops from northern Iraq on Friday, eight days after the military began a ground incursion to hit the rebels, who use their bases in northern Iraq as a launch pad for hit-and-run attacks on Turkish targets.

"This decision (for withdrawal) was made due to military reasons only," Buyukanit was quoted as saying.

President George W. Bush had also asked Turks to "move, move quickly, achieve their objective and get out."

Turkey declined on Thursday to set a timetable for withdrawal, saying troops would pull out once the job was done.

Buyukanit said timing of the pullout was decided before Gates' arrival in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Wednesday, Milliyet reported.

He said troops had already started returning when Gates was in Ankara, the newspaper said.

"But announcing a withdrawal then would be a murder. Announcing withdrawal is equivalent of telling those terrorists there to set up their traps and ambushes," Milliyet quoted him as saying

Turkey, a NATO-member, has long sought cooperation from Washington in its fight against the PKK, which it considers a terrorist organization. The U.S. and the European Union also consider the group as terrorist.

Bush and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in November, when Washington agreed to share intelligence about the rebel group.

Turkey has launched a series of air assaults against PKK targets in Iraq since December, the first such operations since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The ground operation, launched on Feb. 21, was also the first of its kind that Turkey has conducted in almost a decade.

The PKK has waged a guerrilla war against Turkey since 1984, seeking self-rule for Kurds in southeastern Turkey. The fighting has claimed up to 40,000 lives.

Turkey's military said Friday it has ended a ground offensive against Kurdish rebels in Iraq, but said that foreign influence did not play a role in its decision.

At least 200 trucks carrying Turkish troops were seen leaving the Iraqi border area and heading into Turkey's interior.

The move came a day after Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Turkish leaders during a visit in Ankara that they should end the offensive as soon as possible. In Washington, President Bush made a similar point Thursday, saying Turkey needed to move quickly and get out.

"Both the start and end dates of the operation were decided by us solely based on military reasoning and necessities," the military said in a statement. "Any influence, either foreign on domestic, on this decision by the Turkish Armed Forces is out of question."

Turkey launched the incursion into northern Iraq more than a week ago against the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, a group fighting for the autonomy of predominantly Kurdish southeastern Turkey. The rebels have carried out attacks in Turkey from bases in Kurdish Iraq.

It was the first major, confirmed incursion in Iraq by Turkey in almost a decade.

In Washington, National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Friday that "it was a targeted and relatively short operation."

"But I would certainly expect that in the future, that unless the PKK gives up terrorism, that we're going to have to continue to work with the Turks and the Iraqis to go after them," Johndroe said.

Iraqi authorities have said they do not support the PKK but objected to Turkey's military action. On Friday, Iraq's foreign minister said he welcomed the troops' departure.

"The timing is good. I think the military carried out its promises" to remove Turkish troops after finishing the operations, Hoshyar Zebari told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Zebari credited the U.S. with playing an "instrumental" role in pressing Turkey to leave.

"The U.S. played a very important role on all fronts to remind Turkey of the seriousness of the situation," Zebari said.

The Turkish military said in a statement that the operation targeted some 300 rebels in Iraq's Zap region, and 240 of them were killed. Turkish losses stood at 27.

"Without a doubt, it is impossible to render the entire terrorist organization ineffective with an operation in only one region. However, it is shown to the group that Iraq's north is not a safe area for terrorists," the military said.

The military said it would not allow northern Iraq to be used as a springboard for attacks against Turkey.

"Terrorist activities in Iraq's north will be observed in the future and no threat against Turkey from this region will be allowed," the military said.

At least 200 military and civilian trucks ferried Turkish troops from the border with Iraq and through the Turkish town of Cukurca on Friday, bound for barracks in Turkey's interior. Some soldiers in the trucks gave thumbs-up signs as they returned. Some had camouflage paint on their faces and held machine guns.

PKK spokesman Ahmad Danas confirmed Turkey's withdrawal, and speculated that American pressure had forced Turkey to pull out.

ONE CROWN DOWN

Prince Harry is to be pulled out of Afghanistan amid fears for his safety.

The 23-year-old Household Cavalry officer, who has been fighting the Taliban in Helmand Province for the past 10 weeks, is set to be flown home to the UK.

The move, which will be a bitter blow to the Prince, follows the breakdown of a news blackout deal agreed across the UK media after foreign websites leaked details of his deployment.

The final decision on whether to extract him was taken today by the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup after discussions with the head of the Army, Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Richard Dannatt.

Intelligence picked up a series of specific threats to Harry and his comrades in Iraq after details of his planned deployment were announced and received widespread publicity.

In a statement, the Ministry of Defence said: "Following a detailed assessment of the risks by the operational chain of command, the decision has been taken by Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, Chief of Defence Staff, in consultation with General Sir Richard Dannatt, Chief of the General Staff, to withdraw Prince Harry from Afghanistan immediately.

"This decision has been taken primarily on the basis that the worldwide media coverage of Prince Harry in Afghanistan could impact on the security of those who are deployed there, as well as the risks to him as an individual soldier."

The MoD statement added: "The decision by elements of the foreign media to report Prince Harry's presence in Afghanistan without any consultation with the Ministry of Defence is regrettable.

Prince Harry has been secretly fighting the Taliban for 10 weeks and has told how he is relishing life in the Afghan danger zone.

Harry, 23, speaking during a lull in fighting, said: "It's nice to be here with the guys and mucking in. All my wishes have come true."

He hoped he had been a credit to his mum Diana, adding: "Hopefully she'll be proud. She'll be looking down."

Harry, third in line to the throne, was sent to Helmand province on December 14. He has been in firefights against the hardline Islamic fanatics. The British position there comes under missile, mortar and machine gun fire on an average of five times a day.

UK and international newspapers and TV channels agreed to keep Harry's Afghan role a secret so as not to endanger him unnecessarily. But the news was leaked on the US-based Drudge Report website.

Harry has told how the Queen broke the news he was going to the front line - to his relief and delight.

He originally trained as a tank commander and was scheduled to be sent to Iraq on reconnaissance duties.

But in May that plan was scrapped for fear Harry would be targeted by insurgents. The prince was bitterly disappointed.

But he secretly retrained as a Forward Air Controller.

Gordon Brown yesterday said Britain was proud of the prince's "outstanding service."

Finally, we have a prince with a purpose. After fears over his serving in Iraq, Harry's been given the chance to prove himself. His mother would have been proud of him - and so should we.

He is described as a "magnificent soldier", it was ludicrous to keep him confined to barracks while others served their country.

His disappointment was manifested in those boozing sessions and pub scandals.

But these past 10 weeks will be the making of Harry.

That he's earned the respect of his comrades and also earned ours.

Not many members of the royal family can claim to be "one of us".

Now Harry can.

Speaking in December before he left for Helmand province, he told how disappointed was when he could not go to Iraq for security reasons.

"I wish that quite a lot actually. At the beginning of this year (2007), it was very hard and I did think: "Well, clearly one of the main reasons that I'm not likely to be going was the fact of who I am'."

The prince is known as Second Lieutenant Wales, his duties as a Forward Air Controller, involve hours watching surveillance footage beamed from aircraft flying over enemy positions or small unmanned drones. The information is sent to a laptop, nicknamed Kill TV.

On New Year's Eve Harry used it to oversee his first bomb strike. He gave two US F15 jets the all clear and they dropped two 500lb charges on to a Taliban bunker system. A third exploded moments later as enemy fighters fled.

The strike came at the end of a 3 day aerial surveillance operation spearheaded by the prince from a fortified position at Forward Operating Base Delhi.

It is the the southern-most allied outpost in Helmand - little more than 500 metres from the Taliban positions and overlooking no-man's-land. Taliban fighters had been identified over the previous two days, moving between the bunkers and digging trenches.

They were spotted by surveillance craft flying too high for them to detect.

Harry, sitting at his screen, was able to watch the figures live on his Kill TV screen and ensure they were fighters and not civilians.

Harry's target was a fortification system codenamed Purple, which sat 150 metres behind the Taliban front line.

Once ready, the pilots signalled "In Hot" to Harry. He then gave them the final go-ahead with the words "Cleared Hot". In an interview, Harry had earlier told how the secret observation of the Taliban was the key to winning the battle against them.

FREED HOSTAGES IN COLOMBIA

Four hostages freed by Colombian rebels after six years in captivity appealed to President Hugo Chavez to press for the freedom of the remaining captives. It was the second such release this year by the leftist rebels, who are seeking to put pressure on Colombia's U.S.-allied government and persuade the international community to strike them from lists of terrorist groups.

Upon the hostages' return, the Venezuelan president made a direct plea to the rebels' commander for the release of Ingrid Betancourt, one of the most high profile of those still in captivity.

The 4 ex-lawmakers were reunited with relatives amid tears, hugs and grasped flowers at Caracas' international airport.

Then Chavez welcomed them to the presidential palace, where hostage Gloria Polanco made a passionate plea for the Venezuelan leader to help win the release of Betancourt, a dual French-Colombian citizen who has become a cause celebre in Europe.

"As a woman and a mother, I ask from my heart here in front of everyone that you fight to get Ingrid free as soon as possible," Polanco implored. "She is very ill, president, very ill. She has recurrent hepatitis B and is near the end."

Chavez turned to TV cameras recording the meeting and asked the rebel leader Manuel Marulanda, "from my heart to change Ingrid's location. Move her to a base closer to you, while we continue working to pave the way for her definitive release." Chavez called Betancourt's case "urgent."

Former Sen. Luis Eladio Perez, another released hostage, later said that Betancourt's treatment had been "merciless."

The FARC has proposed trading some 40 high-value captives — including Betancourt and three U.S. defense contractors — for hundreds of imprisoned guerrillas.

The FARC has been fighting for more than four decades for a more equitable distribution of wealth in Colombia, but has in recent years drawn wide reproach for its methods: It kidnaps civilians for ransom and funds itself largely through cocaine trafficking. Colombia's government says it holds more than 700 people, either for ransom or political reasons.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who has tense relations with Chavez, thanked the socialist leader and called for the release of all hostages.

Chavez said he hopes the hostage release will open the way for a peace process. His government dubbed Wednesday's mission "Operation Path to Peace

Venezuela dispatched two helicopters to Colombia's southern jungles, where the rebels turned over the four captives in the same region where they released two others on Jan. 10: Clara Rojas and Consuelo Gonzalez.

The operation was overseen by the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the rebels turned over the four to Venezuela's interior minister, Ramon Rodriguez Chacin, and Colombian Sen. Piedad Cordoba, a close Chavez collaborator.

Once the four landed in Caracas to emotional family reunions, they focused on calling for a quick effort to free more captives. Polanco's three grown sons ran toward the plane, wearing T-shirts reading: "Freedom for all."

On top of tropical ailments, the three U.S. military contractors held by Colombian rebels still suffer injuries from the plane crash five years ago that landed them in guerrilla hands, said a fellow hostage released Wednesday. The 3 also were badly shaken by the 60-year prison sentence a U.S. judge slapped on a Colombian rebel last month after a jury convicted him in connection with their Feb. 13, 2003 capture, said former Sen. Luis Eladio Perez. Perez said he spent the last six months with the Americans, all captives of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, seeing them last on Feb. 4.

"The oldest, the pilot Thomas Howes (aged 54), had a blow to his head that gives him very strong recurring headaches," said Perez. "He's got a problem with hypertension with very little medical treatment, almost none, and it's very difficult to get drugs for hypertension."

Perez said Marc Gonsalves, 35, also has problems "resulting from the accident in his spine and his knees. He's also suffered all kind of illnesses that we also got like leishmaniasis and malaria."

He said Gonsalves had hepatitis recently.

In a radio interview just hours after he was released with three other Colombian politicians who had been held for six years, Perez did not specifically mention the third American hostage, 43-year-old Keith Stansell.

FARC guerrillas captured the three when their surveillance plane crashed on Feb. 13, 2003, in rebel territory in southern Colombia.

Palmera said he never saw the Americans or kept them hostage himself.

Perez said that he imagined the Americans' spirits would have been lifted somewhat by U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield's recent statements that Washington would be disposed to review Palmera's prison term if it would lead to their liberation.

A treaty Washington has with Colombia would allow it to send Palmera to a prison in this country.

BROTHER OBAMA

A photograph of Barack Obama wearing a turban and African garb hit the Internet, sparking a political firestorm - amid reports the Clinton campaign may have been behind it.

The Drudge Report Web site posted the photo of Obama, taken by The Associated Press in 2006 when he visited Wajir (Kenya), where his roots are, and wrote Clinton staffers "circulated" the photo over the weekend by e-mail.

"Wouldn't we be seeing this on the cover of every magazine if it were HRC?" read an e-mail, allegedly penned by one campaign staffer, referring to Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The controversy is one of the few times an anonymous whisper campaign that Obama is a Muslim - waged almost entirely on the Internet - has spilled into the mainstream, preying on fears of some Americans over radical Islamic terrorism, and coming eight days before primaries in Clinton's last-stand states of Texas and Ohio.

Obama said on WOAI radio in Texas, "Everybody knows that whether it's me or Sen. Clinton or Bill Clinton, that when you travel to other countries, they ask you to try on traditional garb that you have been given as a gift.

"The notion that the Clinton campaign would be trying to circulate this as a negative on the same day that Sen. Clinton was giving a speech about how we repair our relationships around the world is sad."

Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams shot back with a tough statement that Team Obama was manufacturing an issue.

Clinton insisted she knew "nothing about" the photo and called questions about whether her campaign leaked it "really laughable."

Obama's campaign has spent the past year dousing Web-based rumors that he, a Christian whose Kenyan dad was Muslim, practices the Islamic faith.

In December, two Clinton volunteers in Iowa resigned after forwarding e-mails stating Obama is a closet Muslim planning to destroy America.

The image was apparently mostly unused by media outlets - until the tabloid National Examiner used it in a Feb. 4, 2008, story that aimed to smear Obama as having a link to the terror group al Qaeda.

Matt Drudge did not respond to an e-mail asking if he could verify that the e-mail came from a Clinton staffer.

NO CHANGE IN CUBA

Cuba's new leader has placed two army generals in key positions in his new government, giving the armed forces an even bigger grip on the civilian power structure, The National Assembly also filled the government's No. 2 position -- first vice president of the ruling Council of State -- with 77-year-old José Ramón Machado Ventura, a very hard-line communist.

This is a gerontocracy, Castro's inner circle is dominated by people into their 70s. Only 56-year-old Carlos Lage represents a younger generation in the upper echelon of power.

The new names indicate Castro was not likely to embark on the kind of profound political changes sought by the United States and other nations.

The National Assembly on Sunday elected Castro as president of its Council of State, the government's top body. It also elected the council's first vice president, five second-line vice presidents and one secretary, as well as 22 rank-and-file members.

Machado Ventura's recent duties have included making sure that communist ideology is integrated into education programs. Fidel Castro put him in charge of Cuba's education programs -- at home and abroad -- when he took sick in July 2006. Also advancing were key members of the armed forces and top subordinates of Raúl Castro, one of the world's longest-serving defense ministers.

Gen. Julio Casas Regueiro, 72, was promoted from rank-and-file member to one of the council's five vice presidencies, replacing Machado Ventura. Casas is vice minister of the armed forces and chairman of GAESA, the big military conglomerate that controls 60 percent of the economy, from hotels to domestic airlines.

And Gen. Leopoldo Cintra Frías, 66, a longtime Castro ally who has commanded the Western army -- one of three main military regions -- since 1990, was elected as a new rank-and-file member of the council.