The Bush administration was sending the message that not only has Iraq been liberated, it soon could be open for business. 

"Now that Iraq is liberated, the United Nations should lift economic sanctions on that country," Bush said Wednesday during a visit to a fighter jet factory in St. Louis. The removal of sanctions, particularly on oil sales, could help finance the reconstruction of Iraq. 

Bush could face a rough road in the United Nations on that issue, however. U.N. diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Security Council members want a much better idea of what the world body's future role in Iraq will be before agreeing to any suspension or lifting of sanctions. 

The sanctions imposed since Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait have throttled Iraq's economy. Oil sales were supposed to be overseen by a U.N. panel that disbursed money for food, medicine and other humanitarian goods. But smuggling flourished, helping provide the luxury that U.S. troops have found in Saddam's palace compounds they now control. 

The war's commander, Gen. Tommy Franks, briefed Bush from inside one of those palaces Wednesday as Franks visited U.S. troops in Baghdad. In visible disgust at the opulence, Franks said, "It's the oil for palace program" - a biting reference to the U.N. oil-for-food effort. 

At the Pentagon, Maj. Gen. Stanley McChrystal said Franks probably would move some sort of military headquarters operation into Iraq soon. 

"Whether it will be located in Baghdad proper, I can't say," McChrystal, vice director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters. "But at some point, I think as he transitions to the next phase, he would probably recommend and stand up that kind of headquarters and put it right within Iraq." 

The head of U.S. reconstruction efforts in Iraq, retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, also is expected to move his headquarters into Iraq from Kuwait soon. Garner held a meeting Tuesday in the ancient city of Ur to bring together about 80 representatives of various groups within Iraq to begin discussions about a post-Saddam government. 

As part of stepped-up security efforts in the Iraqi capital, Marines foiled a bank robbery on Tuesday, U.S. Central Command reported. But a confrontation under murky circumstances around a bank in the northern city of Mosul Wednesday left three Iraqis dead - some Iraqis charged they were innocent victims shot down when local police tried to drive away looters. U.S. military officials said they had no clear information about the incident. 

In Washington, the Pentagon's top budget officer said Wednesday the Iraq war has cost at least $20 billion and probably will consume that much or more in the remaining five months of the federal budget year that ends Sept. 30. 

An additional $5 billion to $7 billion will be needed to pay for getting U.S. troops from the Persian Gulf region to their home bases, officials said. That process is just now beginning. 

Those totals do not include the yet-to-be-calculated sums for postwar reconstruction of Iraq, the Defense Department's comptroller said at a news conference. The United States is counting on contributions from other countries to pay part of the rebuilding cost. 

Dov Zakheim said military operations in Iraq to date have cost about $10 billion to $12 billion. Personnel costs have been about $6 billion and the cost of munitions has been more than $3 billion. The figures include what it cost to move 250,000 troops to the Persian Gulf area. 

In human costs, the Pentagon said the war's official death rose to 125, including a Marine corporal killed in a March 23 firefight near Nasiriyah, Iraq. The Pentagon said it had identified the remains of Cpl. Kemaphoom A. Chanawongse, 22, of Waterford, Conn., who had been listed as missing in action. There are now three Americans listed as missing.