Senate Republicans in the United States braced for a continued face-off with Democrats trying to use a multi-billion Pentagon funding bill to criticize US President George W. Bush's handling of Iraq and the war on terrorism.

　　Democrats have repeatedly criticized Bush for not aggressively seeking more international forces to police Iraq and help oversee its reconstruction as American soldiers continue to die in attacks from Iraqi resisters.

　　"Our men and women in uniform, doing courageous work, find themselves in a near shooting-gallery environment in Iraq, with very little contribution from allies and the world," Senator Tim Johnson, a South Dakota Democrat, said on Tuesday.

　　Democrats prepared to use the US.6 billion Pentagon bill to force debates over issues ranging from the cost of the Iraq war to the detention of enemy combatants in the war against terrorism.

　　The measure represents a Defense Department budget increase of a little over 1 percent for the fiscal year that starts on October 1, not counting a US.4 billion emergency spending bill passed earlier this year to help cover the cost of the war in Iraq.

　　Likewise, the 2004 bill does not include additional money to support the costs of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, which probably will be financed by another emergency spending bill.

　　The military campaign in Iraq has cost the Pentagon about US billion so far, a number expected to rise by US billion by the end of September, it was said on Tuesday.Dov Zakheim, the Defense Department's comptroller, said the estimated cost so far includes the combat phase, which started on March 20, postwar stabilization efforts and US billion in prewar expenses such as moving troops to the region. Although officials have receipts and actual costs only through April, they believe the cost of the military's part of the campaign beginning in January is averaging US.9 billion a month.

　　The cost peaked at over US billion during the heavy combat phase and has fallen back below US billion a month now that major combat is ended.