Layering images in IE + sizing issues

Hi -
two ?'s:

1) How do I layer images in IE?

2) scaling-
I also want to size\scale images for use as backgrounds ...the style object's
background:url() works nice but it doesnt offer any options ( AFAIK)
for sizing the image like the IMG tag offers with width\height attributes.
To site an example- I have a nice 50X70 gradient img which I would like to
use a the body background image....what I DONT want is repeat-x,y!
I want the image scaled to fit- Must I use a larger image?

Thanks for feedback!

okay i think i understand what u are trying to get at when u say layer, just use divs, and give the divs a background, or use css positioning to get them to overlap (in an offset way), and you can't resize background images, its either all or none, or just use a larger image, what you could do which isn't too smart since the image will become distorted is put the image in a div, make it 100% width and 100% height, then use position:absolute for the content so it goes over the img