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Bush Appeals to U.N. for Help on Iraq and Humanitarian Issues
By DAVID STOUT
Published: September 21, 2004
WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 ? President Bush defended his decision today to wage war against Iraq, telling the United Nations that the country will be a beacon of freedom in the Middle East and that liberty-loving nations should not falter in the face of terrorism.
"The advance of freedom always carries a cost," Mr. Bush told the United Nations General Assembly in New York City after acknowledging that more terrorist incidents are a virtual certainty in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
In a 25-minute address, the president did not allude to his own sometimes fractious relationship with the international organization, especially his decision to invade Iraq and topple the regime of Saddam Hussein without the backing of the United Nations Security Council.
But Mr. Bush said that the demise of the old Baghdad dictatorship had released the people of Iraq from years of cruelty and oppression, and that not just Iraqis but people throughout the Middle East would benefit.
The president, who earlier in his administration challenged the United Nations to be more muscular or resign itself to being little more than an international debating society, took a much different tone today.
"The American people respect the idealism that gave life to this organization," he said. "And we respect the men and women of the U.N., who stand for peace and human rights in every part of the world."
Declaring that "we all have a stake in the success of the world's newest democracies," Mr. Bush urged the United Nations to do more to help build an Iraq that is "secure, democratic, federal and free."
Mr. Bush, whose address was answered by respectful applause, broke no startling new ground. But his speech was widely viewed as important because of its timing. Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, will address the United States Congress on Wednesday, and some members have voiced grave doubts about the course and the cost of the peace-keeping campaign in his country.
And Mr. Bush spoke a day after his Democratic challenger for the presidency, Senator John Kerry, accused him of deception and incompetence in his approach to Iraq. The president's speech also followed by one day the latest atrocity in Iraq, the beheading of a kidnapped American hostage.
The Kerry campaign was ready for the president's speech. Even as Mr. Bush was speaking, the campaign's national security adviser, Rand Beers, issued a scathing denunciation. "Faced with the dire consequences of his wrong choices in Iraq, George W. Bush continues to mislead the American people and pose false choices rather than face the reality of his failed policies," Mr. Beers said.
The United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, criticized the United States in advance of Mr. Bush's address, both implicitly and explicitly.
"Those who seek to bestow legitimacy must themselves embody it, and those who invoke international law must themselves submit to it," Mr. Annan said, in what seemed to be an allusion to Mr. Bush's decision to invade Iraq without full United Nations backing.
There was no doubt about Mr. Annan's meaning when he said "we have seen Iraqi prisoners disgracefully abused." He was referring to instances of abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison.
Bush Appeals to U.N. for Help on Iraq and Humanitarian Issues
By DAVID STOUT
Published: September 21, 2004
WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 ? President Bush defended his decision today to wage war against Iraq, telling the United Nations that the country will be a beacon of freedom in the Middle East and that liberty-loving nations should not falter in the face of terrorism.
"The advance of freedom always carries a cost," Mr. Bush told the United Nations General Assembly in New York City after acknowledging that more terrorist incidents are a virtual certainty in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
In a 25-minute address, the president did not allude to his own sometimes fractious relationship with the international organization, especially his decision to invade Iraq and topple the regime of Saddam Hussein without the backing of the United Nations Security Council.
But Mr. Bush said that the demise of the old Baghdad dictatorship had released the people of Iraq from years of cruelty and oppression, and that not just Iraqis but people throughout the Middle East would benefit.
The president, who earlier in his administration challenged the United Nations to be more muscular or resign itself to being little more than an international debating society, took a much different tone today.
"The American people respect the idealism that gave life to this organization," he said. "And we respect the men and women of the U.N., who stand for peace and human rights in every part of the world."
Declaring that "we all have a stake in the success of the world's newest democracies," Mr. Bush urged the United Nations to do more to help build an Iraq that is "secure, democratic, federal and free."
Mr. Bush, whose address was answered by respectful applause, broke no startling new ground. But his speech was widely viewed as important because of its timing. Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, will address the United States Congress on Wednesday, and some members have voiced grave doubts about the course and the cost of the peace-keeping campaign in his country.
And Mr. Bush spoke a day after his Democratic challenger for the presidency, Senator John Kerry, accused him of deception and incompetence in his approach to Iraq. The president's speech also followed by one day the latest atrocity in Iraq, the beheading of a kidnapped American hostage.
The Kerry campaign was ready for the president's speech. Even as Mr. Bush was speaking, the campaign's national security adviser, Rand Beers, issued a scathing denunciation. "Faced with the dire consequences of his wrong choices in Iraq, George W. Bush continues to mislead the American people and pose false choices rather than face the reality of his failed policies," Mr. Beers said.
The United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, criticized the United States in advance of Mr. Bush's address, both implicitly and explicitly.
"Those who seek to bestow legitimacy must themselves embody it, and those who invoke international law must themselves submit to it," Mr. Annan said, in what seemed to be an allusion to Mr. Bush's decision to invade Iraq without full United Nations backing.
There was no doubt about Mr. Annan's meaning when he said "we have seen Iraqi prisoners disgracefully abused." He was referring to instances of abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison.