The officials said US diplomats are lobbying for language in a report from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to be toned down in a bid to prevent a new firestorm of controversy over the mistreatment of Iraqi detainees by US troops at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad.

The final version of the report is to be released Friday at UN human rights headquarters in Geneva and Washington fears that, without changes, its publication could complicate efforts to secure passage of a new UN Security Council resolution on Iraq, the officials told AFP on condition of anonymity.

That resolution is critical to securing support for the interim Iraqi government taking power June 30 and for further detailing the mandate of the US-led multinational force to remain in the country after that date.

"What we're looking at in the draft is strong anti-US and inflammatory language that was written before we even got a chance to submit our own information," one official said. "What we're looking for is a more balanced approach."

A UN spokesman announced Tuesday that the release of the report, originally due Monday, had been delayed until Friday because the Pentagon and the US-occupation administration, the Coalition Provisional Authority, had asked for more time to contribute their sides of the story.

The CPA had submitted its information Saturday to the UN rights agency on and the Pentagon had delivered its report Tuesday, according to the US officials.

In announcing the delay in the release of the report, the UN spokesman denied its content had been altered at the demand of the United States but allowed that the new information would be incorporated into the final version.

However, it was not immediately clear if mere inclusion of the information would satisfy the US objections.

"We're hoping that the draft will be revised to reflect what we had to say," a second US official said, taking specific issue issue with several portions of the draft that Washington deems offensive.