HIGHLIGHTS: Inspectors Ready to Kick off at Earliest Opportunity||Washington & London Indicate Readiness to Accept the 2 UN Security Council Resolution Scenario Proposed by France||France Strongly Opposes Proposed Anglo-American Draft Resolution Which Would Allow Washington to Decide on its Own Whether Iraq Was in Breach of UN Directives||Five Civilians Killed, 11 Wounded in Latest Anglo-American Air Raids Against Iraq||U.S. Planes Drop Leaflets Warning Iraqi Gunners not To Shoot at Anglo-American Planes||Iraqi Vice President, Ramadan Suggests U.S.-Iraqi Duel|| STORY: U.N. arms inspectors signaled on Thursday they would delay inspections in Iraq until the U.N. Security Council completed work on a new resolution the United States and Britain have drafted.

The inspectors had wanted to send advance teams to Baghdad on Oct. 19. But after briefing the 15-nation Security Council they made clear they would hold off if the council did not adopt a resolution before then as Washington and London want.

Hans Blix, the chief U.N. inspector in charge of accounting for Iraq's chemical, biological and ballistic weapons, stressed that legally the resolutions on the books allowed his teams to begin work. But he said, "It would be awkward if we were doing inspections and a new mandate with new changes in directives would arrive."

"We hope it wouldn't be a long delay and we are ready to go at the earliest practical opportunity," he told reporters.

With Blix in the council chambers was Mohamed El-Baradei, the director general of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, responsible for nuclear weapons.

Council members came to no formal conclusion at Thursday's meeting with Blix and El-Baradei but diplomats said it was clear to them the two inspectors would wait for a new resolution.

Washington and London are insisting on a tough new U.N. resolution setting out wide powers for the inspectors. It would allow U.N. members, such as the United States, to decide when to carry out any military action should Baghdad not comply.
Russia, China and France oppose this.

The five permanent members of Security Council --- the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China -- met again on Thursday on a new resolution and said they would continue meeting before a measure would be formally circulated and introduced.

France favors a two-stage approach, the first offering Iraq a chance to cooperate but saying the council would consider "any measure" if Baghdad failed to comply with its obligations. The second resolution would threaten force, if necessary.

Despite U.S. insistence on one resolution, there are growing signs that Washington as well as London are seriously considering two resolutions.

BLIX AND EL-BARADEI TO WASHINGTON FRIDAY

Blix and El-Baradei reached agreement on many arrangements for the return of the U.N. inspectors in talks with Iraqi arms experts in Vienna this week. The inspectors have been out of Iraq nearly four years.

The two U.N. officials are going to Washington on Friday for talks with Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Blix said one "loose end" in the Vienna talks was Iraq's not being able to guarantee the safety of inspectors working in "no-fly" zones in the north and south of the country, which are patrolled by U.S. and British planes that have bombed Iraq military targets in response to attacks.

He said that issue would be raised in Washington.

"We hope to hear something about what their planning is and we will tell them about our planning," Blix quipped.

The draft resolution drawn up by the United States and Britain has been criticized by France and Russia, among others, for allowing any U.N. member, such as Washington, to attack when it determines Iraq has violated the new measure.

France has threatened to push its own resolution if the United States introduces the draft without any changes, key council diplomats reported.

Under the U.S. draft, Iraq has 30 days "prior to the beginning of inspections" to provide "an acceptable and currently accurate" declaration of all aspects of its programs to develop weapons of mass destruction.

Any "false statements or omissions" in Iraq's declaration would constitute a further "material breach" of its obligations and allow a U.N. member to use "all necessary means" against Baghdad -- a diplomatic euphemism for military action.

The draft says the inspectors can interview anyone they wish and evacuate them and their families out of the country, if necessary. They can inspect all places, including President Saddam Hussein's palace compounds without advance notice.

It allows any of the five permanent council members to join an inspection team and recommend sites to be inspected. The teams can be guarded at their bases by U.N. security forces or other unnamed troops and inspectors would have the right to declare no-fly and no-drive-by exclusion zones.

FIVE IRAQI CIVILIANS KILLED, 11 WOUNDED IN US-BRITISH RAIDS

Five Iraqi civilians were killed and 11 others wounded when US and British warplanes bombed southern Iraq, an Iraqi military spokesman said, quoted by the official INA news agency.

"Enemy warplanes bombed civilian installations in the town of Nassiriyah, 375 kilometers (235 miles) south of Baghdad, killing five Iraqi civilians and wounding 11 others," the spokesman said.

He added that the US and British aircraft had conducted 55 raids over 18 areas in the south of the country during the day.

The US military said earlier that US and British warplanes struck in southern Iraq Thursday after an aircraft came under fire as it dropped leaflets on Iraqi air defense positions warning gunners not to fire on coalition aircraft or "You could be next."
The leaflets contained a cartoon showing a fighter aircraft firing missiles into a ground radar and a surface-to-air missile launcher.

It was the first known direct warning from the Pentagon to Iraq's military rank and file since the Bush administration launched its campaign to topple Saddam. Defense officials said on condition of anonymity that it is not directly related to another leaflet campaign in which the Pentagon plans to warn Iraqi officers against firing chemical or biological weapons in the event of U.S. military action to remove Saddam

IRAQI VICE PRESIDENT SUGGESTS A U.S.-IRAQI DUEL

An Iraqi vice president offered an unusual suggestion Thursday for solving the U.S.-Iraq standoff: Saddam Hussein and George W. Bush should fight a duel to settle their differences and spare their people the ravages of war.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan would be the referee for the duel, which should be held on neutral territory, Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan told Associated Press Television Network in an interview.

PHOTO CAPTION

UN chief arms inspector Hans Blix speaks with the media after a Security Council meeting at UN headquarters in New York October 3, 2002. Blix said his inspectors are prepared to delay their return to Iraq until the Security Council finishes deliberations on a new resolution supported by the US and Britain. (Chip East/Reuter