A senior U.S. commander said the military intended to take back Falluja and other rebel areas by the end of the year. He did not set a date for an offensive but said that much would depend on the availability of Iraqi military and police units, which would be sent to the areas once they were retaken.

The U.S. commander suggested that operations in Falluja could begin as early as November or December, the deadline the Americans had given themselves for restoring Iraqi government control across the country.

"We need to make a decision on when the cancer of Falluja is going to be cut out," the U.S. commander said. "We would like to end December at local control across the country.

"Falluja will be tough," he added.

At a minimum, the U.S. commander said, local conditions would have to be secure for voting to take place in the country's 18 provincial capitals for the election to be considered legitimate. U.S. forces have lost control over at least one provincial capital, Ramadi, in Al Anbar Province, and have only a tenuous grip over a second, Baquba, the capital of Diyala Province, northeast of Baghdad. Other large cities in the region, like Samarra, are largely in the hands of insurgents.

Senior officials at the United Nations are concerned that legitimate elections might not be possible unless the security conditions change. Violence against U.S. forces surged last month to its highest level since the war began last year, with an average of 87 attacks per day. A string of deadly attacks in the past month continued on Saturday, with a car bombing that killed at least 19 people in the northern city of Kirkuk.

At the same time, the Americans and the Iraqi interim government appear to be giving negotiations to disarm the rebels a final chance. Members of the Mujahedeen Shura, the eight-member council in control of Falluja, said they were planning to come to Baghdad to meet with Iraqi officials to talk about disarming the rebels and opening the city to Iraqi government control.

"Although the Americans have lied many times, we are ready to start negotiations with the Iraqi government," said Qasim Muhammad Abdul Sattar, a member of the shura.

Ahmed Hardan, a doctor in Falluja who was to take part in the negotiations starting Sunday, said that at least some members on the council might be willing to strike a deal with the Americans.

Under the proposal to be discussed, Hardan said, the guerrillas would turn over their heavy weapons and allow a military force gathered from around Al Anbar Province to enter the city. That unit would replace the Falluja Brigade, the local militia composed almost entirely of insurgents and former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, which was formed in an effort to bring an end to the insurgency after an assault by U.S. Marines was halted in April. The Falluja Brigade was routed by the insurgents, and the Iraqi government disbanded it this month.

The Iraqi government will also demand that the insurgents turn over their heavy weapons and that foreign fighters leave the city.

Similar negotiations, also at the threat of force, appear to have borne some fruit in the city of Samarra. American military forces entered Samarra last week for the first time in months and are hoping they can restore Iraqi government control there before the elections.

The driving force behind the coming military operations is concern that under the current security conditions, voting will not be possible in much of the Sunni Triangle, the area generally north and west of Baghdad that has generated most of the violence against the U.S. enterprise in Iraq.

"Bad elections will open wounds rather than heal them," said Ghassan al-Atiyyah, the director of the Iraqi Foundation for Development and Democracy, an independent governance group here. "If the Sunnis do not vote, then you could end up with a polarized parliament that could lead to civil war."

Still, Iraqi and UN officials say they have begun preparations to hold the elections across the country despite the chaotic security environment.

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