But in a finely balanced argument, the Iraqi officials also said their country and its fledgling financial institutions were stable and secure enough to manage the influx of that much money.

In fact, those officials said, now is the time for local Iraqi governments to take the lead in setting priorities for rebuilding out of the hands of foreign nations, and for Iraqi contractors to carry out virtually all of the work with local labor.

Some of those pleas were answered when Japan reached what the Iraqi planning minister, Barham Salih, said were the outlines of an agreement to provide $3.5 billion in low-interest loans for water, sewage, road and other projects. The World Bank also announced that it had offered Iraq up to $500 million in similar loans over the next two years.

Salih, whose ministry functions as a kind of switchyard for rebuilding funds, made it clear that he was disappointed in major portions of the American rebuilding program, which he said had failed to produce quick results.

After formulaic declarations by officials at the United Nations and the World Bank that the first day of the conference had been a success, Salih gave a blunter assessment.

''I want to hold judgment and claim success once we see these pledges turned into realities on the ground,'' Salih said, adding that the rebuilding effort has roughly six months to show results before Iraqis begin giving up hope that it would ever improve their lives.

''This is the time to make the difference,'' he said. ''It is now or it will be too late. Iraq's people have grown numb to many statements of support.''

Staffan de Mistura, a U.N. representative at the gathering, held at a conference center next to the Dead Sea, agreed that ''we are facing six crucial months'' but argued that some programs had quietly been successful. For example, he said, water chlorination programs carried out by Iraqis have prevented major outbreaks of cholera.

''We cannot be, outside of this room, too loud about it, for reasons that you know,'' Mistura said, referring to the danger that any project faces in Iraq if it is understood to be directed or financed by foreigners.