Bloomberg
09-19-06
Bush Says U.S. Will Keep Pressing Spread of Democracy (Update1)
By Brendan Murray and Roger Runningen
Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush told world leaders the U.S.
won't leave Iraq until the country's transformation to a peaceful democracy is
complete and pledged to give diplomacy a chance to resolve a dispute with Iran
over its nuclear development program.
In an address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York today, Bush
said the progress of democracy in the world, particularly the Middle East, is real
and sometimes dramatic, even if it is gradual.
``From Beirut to Baghdad, people are making the choice for freedom and the
nations here in this chamber must make a choice as well,'' Bush said. ``Will we
support the moderates and the reformers who are working for change across the
Middle East, or will be yield the future to the terrorists and the extremists?''
He pledged to assist the emerging democracies in Afghanistan and Lebanon as
well as Iraq. He addressed the people of Iran and Syria, telling them that their
governments were holding them back from prosperity and peace by using
resources ``to fund terrorism and fuel extremists.''
Bush's speech comes amid two days of talks with world leaders, as the fallout
from the war in Iraq limits U.S. diplomatic leverage to block the nuclear pursuits
of Iran and North Korea. The U.S. suspects Iran and North Korea, both part of
what Bush in 2002 called an ``axis of evil,'' are developing atomic weapons and
could supply them to terrorist groups.
Addressing Iran
``Iran must abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions,'' Bush said. Directing
remarks to the Iranian people, he said, ``Despite what the regime tells you, we
have no objection to Iran's pursuing of a truly peaceful nuclear power program.
We are working toward a diplomatic solution to this crisis.''
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is scheduled to speak to the UN
General Assembly later today, said yesterday at a news conference in Caracas
that his government ``is very adamant in defending our right'' to develop nuclear
power.
Upon arriving in New York, Ahmadinejad, pronounced ah-ma- deen-ah-ZHAD,
said his country's nuclear program is ``not an important subject'' for international
debate.
Turning to another trouble spot confronting the world body, Bush said he is
appointing Andrew Natsios, director of the U.S. Agency for International
Development during the president's first term, as a special envoy to deal with the
crisis in the Darfur area of Sudan.
Stability
Bush said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will lead a diplomatic effort to
work with moderate leaders in the Middle East to reestablish a path toward
peace.
``Some have argued that the democratic changes we are seeing in the Middle
East are destabilizing the region,'' Bush said. ``The reality is that the stability we
thought we saw in the Middle East was a mirage.''
Addressing the citizens of the region, Bush sought to dispel beliefs in the region
that the U.S. is at war with Islam. ``This propaganda is false and its purpose is to
confuse you and justify acts of terror,'' he said.
While Bush hasn't ruled out military action to block Iran and North Korea from
developing nuclear weapons, the U.S., with 147,000 troops dealing with
increasing unrest in Iraq, is constrained from a unilateral use of force. The
invasion of Iraq began in March 2003 without UN authorization and the U.S.
never unearthed the weapons of mass destruction that Bush said justified going
to war.
Reactions
``The Iraq war, both in its initiation and its aftermath, has obviously soured the
global response,'' said James M. McCormick, a professor of American
foreign policy at Iowa State University in Ames. Iraq ``has become the
shorthand summary of all American foreign policy,'' McCormick said.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in a speech yesterday, warned that Iraq is at
risk of sliding into civil war and the Iraqi government, and neighboring
governments, must do more to help ``defuse rising sectarian tensions.''
General John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander for the Middle East, said in
Washington today that the violence in Iraq means the U.S. is unlikely to cut the
number of troops there before the middle of next year.
The Security Council adopted four U.S.-backed resolutions during the past two
months, on Iran, North Korea, Lebanon and Sudan, and in each case the U.S.
and its allies were forced to drop or dilute references to the UN Charter provision
that authorizes military action.