The struggle pits the often-bickering agencies against each other once again and recalls a similar tug-of-war over the delivery of emergency assistance to post-Taliban Afghanistan, they said.

However, there are signs that the rift may be deeper as reports in recent days have suggested that the differences have spread to how post-war Iraq should be administered.

The main focus of the fight appears to be over who will be in charge of Disaster Assistance Response Teams (DART) which are normally run by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) under the aegis of the State Department, they said. DART teams coordinate the efforts of private relief groups.

But the Pentagon, reluctant to cede any authority over "Operation Iraqi Freedom," has balked at maintaining the status quo and sought oversight responsibility over the teams, they said.

This has worried relief agencies and prompted Secretary of State Colin Powell to remind Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in a letter last week that the DART teams answer to him through USAID, they said.

Powell "explained how the DART teams work, what their responsibilities are and who they take orders from," said one State Department official.

The official denied there was anything unusual about Powell's letter to Rumsfeld but acknowledged there were fears among some about the Pentagon taking control.

Leading the charge against Pentagon control of the aid has been InterAction, an umbrella group of more than 160 US-based relief agencies, including CARE, Save the Children and Refugees International.

"The relief professionals at the US Agency for International Development and at the Department of State, not members of the military establishment at the Pentagon, know best how to conduct emergency assistance operations," InterAction president Mary McClymont said.

"Having been deeply involved for decades with nongovernmental organizations that provide humanitarian assistance around the world, USAID and State are familiar with the principles of independence and impartiality under which we must operate," she said in a statement.

"The Department of Defense's efforts to marginalize the State Department and force non-governmental organizations to operate under DoD jurisdiction complicates our ability to help the Iraqi people and multiplies the dangers faced by relief workers in the field," McClymont said.

InterAction had similar complaints about proposals by the Pentagon for humanitarian relief following the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Separately, the Washington Post reported this week that Pentagon and State Department officials were clashing over the personnel who will run Iraq once the war is over before the job of governing is turned over to Iraqis.

The Post said Rumsfeld had rejected the candidacies of eight current and former State Department officials, including several ambassadors to Arab states, to play key roles in the interim administration under retired general Jay Garner, who will head the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for Iraq.

The paper quoted on unidentified source as saying that Rumsfeld had labeled the group of officials "too low-profile and bureaucratic" for the work in Iraq.

The State Department official said some of the candidates had been told to "stand down" from their on-call status to go to Iraq, but maintained that this was because of the uncertainty of when they would be needed.

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