WASHINGTON – The Pentagon alerted more than 35,000 soldiers Tuesday to be ready to go to Iraq this fall, but insisted it doesn’t mean the high-stakes troop surge has been extended.

The Pentagon admitted that the decision to ready 10 combat brigades for fall deployment would provide “capability” to continue the Iraq buildup through the end of the year.

“We want to make some decisions to add some predictability, to add some preparation for deployment. So we’re identifying what the next 10 units will be and currently these are slated for deployment between August and December,” said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

Whether they deploy depends on the recommendations of Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq who has promised Washington a thorough analysis of the troop surge this fall. Republicans are now publicly saying that President Bush has until autumn to prove the war is winnable.

“The (Defense) Department has made very clear that decisions on the surge will depend entirely upon conditions on the ground,” Whitman emphasized.

House Democrats, meanwhile, now say they want to monitor progress over the summer and plan to put forward a new bill tomorrow that would only fund troops through July.

It would require another vote to release additional funds at that time.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said the bill gives Democrats “the opportunity to revisit in the short term progress that is being made in Iraq.”

But despite the American public’s rising opposition to the war, Republicans on Capitol Hill and the White House said the new bill is as dead on arrival as the one Bush vetoed last week. House GOP leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, accused Democrats of using the bill to “treat our men and women in uniform like they are children who are getting a monthly allowance.”

White House spokesman Tony Snow added, “We think it’s bad management” to do short-term funding bills.