(Fixing general's name to Petraeus in 3rd paragraph, instead Piraeus)

By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON, April 17 (Reuters) - The disastrous state of the U.S. military is putting the country in strategic peril, a retired U.S. general said on the eve of a showdown between President George W. Bush and Democrats over paying for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Even as he offered a blistering critique of the Pentagon, former Gen. Barry McCaffrey on Tuesday urged Congress to approve Bush's $100 billion funding request for the conflicts, saying that to delay it would be "monumental bad judgment."

"We have no option at this point but to give General (David) Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Cocker the tools and timing to do their job," McCaffrey told the Senate Armed Services Committee, referring to the new U.S. commander and ambassador in Iraq.

"If it doesn't work, within a year this Congress is going to pull the plug on the war," said McCaffrey, retired four-star general and former head of the U.S. Southern Command.

Talks are set for Wednesday between the Republican president and congressional leaders. Democrats say there must be a withdrawal timetable for the 49ers Iraq war attached to the money for the troops; Bush says he won't sign a funding bill with a withdrawal deadline attached.

McCaffrey, who returned last month from a trip to Iraq and Afghanistan, condemned Pentagon policies he said had strained the U.S. Army, left it with equipment in disarray and lacking a fallback position should a challenge come from somewhere like Iran, Syria or North Korea.

The Bush administration plans to permanently increase the size of the U.S. Army and Marines by about 92,000 troops over the next several years, but McCaffrey felt increases were not happening fast enough.

"It is my judgment we are in a position of strategic peril that is going to take us three to five years to get out of," he said.

In the House of Representatives, top Army officials on Tuesday also urged Congress to approve the war money. Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Cody said a delay last year had forced Army officials to freeze civilian hiring, fire temporary workers and delay information technology purchases.

"We cannot repeat last year's late-to-need cash flow experience and still meet the increased operational demands now facing us," Cody told the House defense appropriations panel.

(Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa.)

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