The mounting cost of the US-led occupation of Iraq is increasing pressure on the administration of President George W. Bush. The US overseer in Iraq, Paul Bremer, estimated last week it was costing "several tens of billions of dollars."

But the bombing on August 19 of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad has taken the wind out of a donor conference on Iraq, due to take place in Madrid in October, and some UN officials are asking if it should be postponed until the world body can reinforce its team in Iraq, the officials said.

The United States is keen to press ahead with the Madrid conference, the daily said, because while foreign governments hesitate, the burden of rebuilding Iraq will continue to fall on the US taxpayer.

France is most outspoken against the US-led occupation and efforts to underwrite its expenses but many other countries are also balking at footing the bill, the daily said.

"(They are showing) a reluctance that is not just unfortunate, its disgraceful," an unidentified foreign diplomat in New York told the daily.

He said many governments were in "wait-and-see mode."

Meanwhile, senior representatives from governments and global financial institutions will meet in Brussels this week to prepare for a donors' conference on Iraq due to take place in Madrid next month, a spokesman for the European Commission said on Tuesday.

Officials from the United States, the European Union, Japan and the United Arab Emirates will join the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the meeting on Wednesday, the spokesman for the EU's executive arm said.

"It will be a technical meeting, not ministerial. No announcements or decisions are expected," he said, although he said the Commission planned to release a statement after the talks.