Washington ? The Pentagon will bar companies from France, Germany, Russia and other countries that opposed the war in Iraq from bidding on $18.6 billion in prime contracts for reconstruction of the country, according to a memo released Tuesday.

The memo, signed by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, says that “for the protection of the essential security interests of the United States,” only companies from the United States, Iraq and 61 countries that joined the coalition against Saddam Hussein will be allowed to bid on the 26 contracts to be announced soon.

The order did not come as a great surprise to the war’s opponents, diplomats in Washington said, because Bush administration officials had long said that coalition members would receive special preference in rebuilding efforts.

Nevertheless, the move is the most serious retaliation yet against the dissenters, and it comes at a time when the Bush administration has been trying to restore relations with allies.

Sen. Joseph Biden Jr. of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement late Tuesday that the action was a “totally gratuitous slap that does nothing to protect our security interests and everything to alienate countries we need with us in Iraq.”

He said that even as the Bush administration was asking for support from NATO members for peacekeeping efforts in Iraq, “we stick a finger in the eye of those whose help we have been seeking.”

Canada, another traditional U.S. ally that opposed this war, was among the 100-plus countries forbidden to bid.

All countries, however, will be eligible to bid for subcontracts, defense officials noted.

Wolfowitz’s three-page memo said that limiting competition for the lucrative prime contracts “will encourage the expansion of international cooperation in Iraq, and in future efforts.” It also will “encourage the continued cooperation of coalition members,” it said.