President Barack Obama's penchant for last-minute demands, and a rebellion by liberal allies over his efforts to block the release of detainee abuse photos, have combined to sidetrack his bill to pay for an expanded war in Afghanistan as well as continuing military operations in Iraq.

The $100 billion measure is awaiting a House-Senate conference committee after winning easy approval last month in both chambers, but an emerging compromise on the bill has become caught in the crosscurrents coming from both Obama's left and right on Capitol Hill.

The firestorm over detainee photos comes as Obama needs liberals more than ever, since House Republican support has evaporated over the White House's desire to include a new $108 billion U.S. line of credit to help poor countries deal with their own collapsing economies as a result of the world recession.

About 50 House liberals opposed to the war voted against the bill last month when the measure passed on a 368-60 tally. But even though liberals such as Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., can stomach reversing course and vote for the war money, they're drawing the line at Obama's bid to exempt detainee abuse photos from the Freedom of Information Act.

The upshot is that the administration faces a choice: Drop the line of credit to the International Monetary Fund and win back Republicans, or give in to the liberal revolt and quit using all means to block the release and publication of photos detailing harsh treatment of terrorism detainees.

"It's a bill-killer, especially if the administration wants IMF (funding)," Frank said of the FOIA exemptions the White Houses wants for the detainee photos. "I've conveyed that."

The imbroglio pits liberals like Frank against the Senate, led by Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., who added a provision to block release of additional photos of detainee abuse to the war funding measure.

Obama originally supported releasing the photos but has reversed course _ citing the need to protect U.S. service members _ and is fighting an American Civil Liberties Union effort to win release of further detainee abuse photos in court. The White House is fighting hard behind the scenes to keep the Graham-Lieberman measure in the bill.

A tentative House-Senate agreement to back up Obama and keep the photos from the public has whipped up such opposition that House leaders are making soundings about walking away from the deal _ to the consternation of Graham, Lieberman and other powerful senators.

"We have enough pictures," said Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii. "I've seen some of the pictures that they want to publish. They don't add anything to the debate. The worst ones have been seen already."

Given sweeping tallies for the war measure in the House and Senate last month, producing a compromise should have been easy. But the White House's late request for the IMF money _ which came too late for inclusion in the original House bill but was added to the Senate version _ has enormously complicated conference talks. It's a top White House priority and would fulfill a promise Obama made at the G-20 summit in April.

The actual risk to taxpayers is estimated at $5 billion, though the government would have to borrow the full $108 billion. House Republicans have lobbed partisan salvo after salvo against the idea ever since the Senate put it in its version.

"Borrowing money from China for a global bailout of the IMF makes no sense," said House GOP Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia.

Obama also hasn't given up on wanting the war funding bill to give him flexibility to transfer terrorism suspects from the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the U.S.

That issue was seemingly settled after both the House and Senate replied with a firm no to his request for $80 million for the Pentagon and Justice Department to work toward closing the Guantanamo prison by a Jan. 22 deadline set by Obama.

The Senate is battling hard against House language that would allow the Pentagon to transfer detainees to the U.S. using other money after Obama certifies that they would not represent a security threat. A sales job last week by White House officials to Obama's Senate Democratic allies made few converts.

Some House Democrats are opposed to the IMF funding as well. There's also grumbling in the House over about $500 million obtained by the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, to restore barrier islands destroyed by Hurricane Katrina along his state's coastline.

The war funding deadlock also threatens to become a distraction to Obama's efforts to pass a giant expansion of government-subsidized health care and an expensive program to combat global warming.