HIGHLIGHTS New Draft Retains Language Which Could Be Construed as Giving Washington Authority to Attack Iraq||Council Meets again Friday But Vote May Take a Few More Days||Seven Council Members "categorically" against the Draft which Needs 9 out of 15 Votes to Be Adopted||Council Expects to Hear again from Chief UN Inspector, Hans Blix, Expected back in New York Monday|| STORY: The 15 members of the UN Security Council held three hours of preliminary talks on a draft resolution offering Iraq "a last chance" to avoid disaster, and agreed to meet again on Friday.

"The substance is very clearly, and intended very clearly to be, a last chance offer to Iraq," Britain's ambassador to the United Nations and co-sponsor of the draft, Jeremy Greenstock, told reporters.

He said the offer was genuine: "Take the weapons inspection process seriously; it is going to be a tough one, but it's going to be a fair one, under UN rules, and if you get it wrong that's a disaster for you."

Before the consultations began, US diplomats gave reporters a revised version of a text they and the British had been discussing with the three other permanent council members since Monday.

The new draft contained minor changes, apparently made in a concession to Russia, France and China, any of which, as permanent council members with the US and Britain, can veto a resolution.

But it retained language which diplomats said could be construed as giving the United States the authority to launch a military attack on Iraq if it refused to cooperate with the arms inspectors.

It said Iraq is still "in material breach of its obligations" under the ceasefire which ended the Gulf War in 1991.

And it recalled that "the council has repeatedly warned Iraq that it will face serious consequences as a result of its continued violations."

The US ambassador, John Negroponte, said the draft provided "a very solid basis indeed" for negotiation, but Greenstock said "it's going to take a few more days" before a vote is taken.

Before the consultations, the Russian ambassador, Sergei Lavrov, said the draft failed to address two basic concerns which his government had made clear to a US envoy in Moscow late last month.

"We cannot agree to any automacity in the use of force, and we cannot agree to unimplementable, unrealistic demands" imposed on Iraq against the wish of the arms inspectors, he said.

Greenstock said the council wanted to hear again from the chief UN arms inspector, Hans Blix, who was in Moscow and not expected to return to New York until Monday.

But before then, the council will hold a second round of discussions on Friday morning "and continue all day if necessary," Negroponte said.

Wednesday's consultations provided the 10 elected council members with their first opportunity to consider the draft, and one Western diplomat acknowledged that "there is certainly some frustration among them."

A resolution needs nine positive votes to be adopted, and one council diplomat said after the consultations that at least seven members were at present "categorically" against the draft.

In an attempt to counter the views of many countries, forcefully made during a public council debate last week, a senior US official said: "This resolution is not an attempt by the US to look for an excuse to go to war."

But Lavrov said "unfortunately, we haven't seen any changes in the text" to meet Russia's basic worries.

The new text nevertheless contained some changes.

It would still enable inspectors "to freeze" a site by declaring no-fly/no-drive zones around it, but dropped an earlier demand that these could be enforced by member states.

Other changes would shorten the timeline for starting inspections and give the inspectors additional reasons to report Iraqi violations.

Iraq would still be given 30 days in which to make "a full and complete declaration" of its weapons of mass destruction.

But while the previous draft said the inspections would start "no later than 45 days following receipt of an currently accurate declaration," the new draft says they will begin 45 days after the resolution is adopted.

The earlier text directed Blix and the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammed El-Baradei, to "report immediately to the council any failure by Iraq to comply with its disarmament obligations, including its obligations regarding inspections."

The revised version would also require them to report "any interference by Iraq with inspection activities."

PHOTO CAPTION

A White House official said on October 23, 2002 that a U.N. Security Council debate over a new resolution against Iraq was coming to an end and that there is a possibility of a failure to reach agreement. President Bush has made clear that if the United Nations does not act to deal with what he considers the imminent threat posed by Iraq, that the United States and its allies will act on their own. (Reuters Graphic)