Can PHP call CGI?

arse. Well nothing here seemed to work (haven't tried the frames option yet, not 100% keen on it). I know the counter code works, in fact I put it in it's own shtml page and if I type that url into IE it works. It just doens't work when called from the PHP file or when used as an image source as per octothorpe or Indiepath's methods. Also I tried

"<?php include('counter.shtml'); ?>

and this didn't work either. Is that syntax correct? I guess that this fails as include simply includes that text and the server doesn't see or treat it like an shtml file with an exec cgi call in it.

Help!