NEW YORK, August 14 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The U.N. Security Council Thursday, August 14, adopted a resolution that "welcomed" the establishment of the U.S.-handpicked Iraqi Governing Council, but stopped short of formally "endorsing" the body due to a "semantic battle" between the council's five permanent member states.

The Iraqi council meanwhile snubbed Arab League individual invitations to for talks with Secretary General of the pan-Arab organization Amr Moussa.

The resolution, which was adopted by 14 votes in favor, with Syria abstaining, also decided to establish - for an initial period of 12 months - a U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq, as proposed by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Resolution 1500 states that the Security Council "welcomes" the establishment of the "broadly representative" Governing Council of Iraq - set up by the United States and Britain last month - as an important first step towards the formation of a legitimate independent government in the country.

The U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq will have more than 300 staff to coordinate humanitarian assistance and give political advice.

Quoting U.S. administration officials, The New York Times said Thursday that the U.S. has abandoned the idea of giving the world body more of a role in reconstructing Iraq as sought by France, India and other countries as a condition for their participation in peacekeeping there.

The wording of the motion was, in effect, changed from an original U.S. draft put to the other four permanent members of the council for consultation, which had proposed that U.N. members "endorse" the council.

Other Security Council members had argued that the U.S. draft lent too much legitimacy to the interim administration in Baghdad, which is still under the final authority of the occupying powers in Iraq.

Addressing the Security Council after the vote, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said adoption of the resolution "hastens the day when the people of Iraq are in full command of their own affairs, a condition they have not known for some three decades."

Negroponte said it also sent a "clear signal to those who oppose the political transformation underway in Iraq that they are out of step with world opinion."

Meanwhile, the 25-member Iraqi council turned down Thursday individual invitations to members for talks with Arab League chief Amr Moussa in Cairo, a council member said.

"The league has addressed invitations to each of us to meet Secretary General Amr Mussa, but we will not go except as an official delegation of the transitional Governing Council representing Iraq," Mowaffak al-Rubaiei told AFP.

Rubaiei told AFP the council was a "fait acccompli which Arab states must accept."

He said council delegations would "visit neighboring states that have shown readiness to recognize the council."

An Emirati foreign ministry official said on Wednesday a council delegation would visit the United Arab Emirates within days. According to Rubaiei, council teams will also go to Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.

"Moreover, we want to have an active participation in the next Arab League ministerial meeting set for September (in Cairo), by which time we would hope to have named a foreign minister or Iraq's representative to the league," he said.