The US Senate voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to increase the strength of the Army by 20,000 soldiers in defiance of opposition from the Bush administration.

The Senate voted by 93-4 to include the measure in the 2005 defense authorization bill. Members of both parties said the troops were essential in light of international tensions and the policy of keeping military personnel in Iraq and elsewhere beyond their scheduled tours.

"Frankly, they need more help," said Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island. "This operational tempo is putting greatstress and duress on soldiers."

Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona said the Pentagon andthe civilian leadership should recognize that "there are not enough men and women in the military today." The military was stretched too thin and badly overworked, he said.

The House of Representatives voted last month to expand the Army by 30,000 and the Marines by 9,000 over three years.

Meanwhile, the Senate defeated a Democrat effort to halt deployment of a new ground-based missile defense network until it was fully tested.

The Bush administration plans to deploy a preliminary missile defense system of six rocket interceptors in Alaska and four in California by the end of September, saying the United States needssuch a system to guard against long-range missile attacks by so-called rogue states.

But critics said the timetable is devised to field a missile defense system less than two months before the election so Bush can point to it as a fulfilled campaign pledge. They said a rush to deployment could lead to unforeseen cost increases and technical failures.

The Senate also turned aside a Democrat proposal to require an independent test of the system, adopting a Republican alternative that calls for testing but allows the secretary of defense to determine how it is done.

Republican senators said the country would be better off using defenses that are still being developed than none at all. "We understand we need to start with something that will be rudimentary," said Republican Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona.

Source: Xinhua