But France, Russia and Germany, which oppose the military option, circulated an alternative plan to pursue a peaceful disarmament of Iraq through strengthened inspections over at least the next five months. They won immediate backing from China, despite Secretary of State Colin Powell's lobbying efforts with top officials in Beijing on Monday.

The rival positions set the stage for a heated battle over whether the council would back the US and British demand for war now or the French, Russian, and German call for war to be "a last resort."

Getting approval for the US-backed resolution will be a daunting task. To pass, the resolution must have nine "yes" votes and avoid a veto by France, Russia or China. Only Bulgaria is considered a strong bet to support the US-British-Spanish plan.

Eleven of the 15 council members have endorsed the idea of continuing weapons inspections, but the United States has dispatched some of its top negotiators to Security Council capitals in recent days to push for the resolution.

For some of the countries, such as Angola, Guinea and Cameroon -- poor African nations whose concerns drew little attention before they landed seats on the council -- there is the possibility that supporting the resolution may reap financial benefits from the United States. But members of the council who support continued inspections are also lobbying hard.

Washington has reserved the right to wage war with a coalition of willing nations, but UN backing would provide legitimacy and financial support for military action and its aftermath. On Monday, Turkey's Cabinet agreed to host tens of thousands of US combat troops, a key step toward allowing Washington to forge ahead with plans for a northern front against Iraq.

The draft resolution does not set any deadlines. But US and British officials made clear they want the Security Council to vote by mid-March.

In a bid to win council support, the one-page draft resolution never mentions the words "war" or "military action." It doesn't declare Iraq in further "material breach" of its UN obligations, or call for "all necessary means" to be used against Iraq, as the Bush administration initially wanted.

Instead, the resolution makes just one demand for action by the Security Council -- asking it to decide "that Iraq has failed to take the final opportunity afforded to it in Resolution 1441," which was adopted unanimously on Nov. 8.

Setting the stage for that demand, the new resolution recalls the tough language in Resolution 1441 that warned Iraq of "serious consequences" if it failed to cooperate fully with UN inspectors and provide them with evidence of its nuclear, chemical, biological and long-range missile programs.

It also recalls that "Iraq has been and remains in material breach of its obligations" under UN resolutions and notes that Iraq's 12,000-page declaration to UN weapons inspectors contained "false statements and omissions."

The resolution acts under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, making it militarily enforceable.

Instead, its only enforcement paragraph would have the Security Council decide "that Iraq has failed to take the final opportunity afforded to it in Resolution 1441."

French diplomats said the French-German-Russian plan, which includes strengthened UN weapons inspections, can be implemented under existing UN resolutions and would be submitted as a memorandum.

"The aim is to establish a timetable for Iraq's disarmament, program by program, relating to weapons of mass destruction," French President Jacques Chirac told reporters in Berlin before talks with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

"The Security Council must step up its efforts to give a real chance to the peaceful settlement of this crisis," the French, Russian and German paper said.

Despite the stiff resistance in the council, British Ambassador Jeremy Greenstock, who walked into the chamber together with the ambassadors of the United States and Spain, formally submitted the resolution on behalf of the three countries at a closed meeting Monday.

Greenstock accused Iraq of remaining in defiance of the United Nations, doing "everything possible to prevent unrestricted interviews" with scientists, turning inspections into a "media circus," and providing no cooperation on substantive issues.

US Ambassador John Negroponte called on the council to support the "prompt adoption of this very straightforward resolution. Iraq itself must bear the consequences of its continued disregard for the council's decisions," he said.

Both statements to the closed session were distributed by diplomats.

President Bush told US governors earlier Monday that the resolution "spells out what the world has witnessed the last months. The Iraq regime has not disarmed. The Iraqi regime is not disarming as required by last fall's unanimous vote of the Security Council."

He pressed the council to adopt the resolution.

"It's a moment for this body ... to determine whether or not it's going to be relevant as the world confronts threats in the 21st century. Is it going to be a body that means what it says? We certainly hope so," Bush said.

The president said the administration will work with the Security Council "in the days ahead" on the resolution. He did not set a timetable, though his spokesman said Britain's calls for a mid-March vote were fine with the president.

Nonetheless, the next six days are critical for Saddam.

Top UN inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei say Iraq still isn't fully cooperating or providing evidence to answer outstanding questions about its nuclear, chemical, biological and long-range missile programs.

To demonstrate that Iraq is cooperating, Saddam must not only show that Iraq is doing more to answer those questions. He must also comply with Blix's order to begin destroying all of Iraq's Al Samoud 2 missiles and the engines and components for them by Saturday.

Iraq has withheld a decision on destroying the missile program.

But in an interview Monday with CBS anchor Dan Rather, Saddam indicated he did not intend to destroy his Al-Samoud 2 missiles, CBS said on its Web site.

Saddam also challenged Bush to an internationally televised debate, CBS said.

Rather was to report on the comments on the Monday evening newscast, and CBS planned to broadcast the interview in its entirety on Wednesday.

(China Daily February 25, 2003)