Hoping to find international backing for the U.S.-led reconstruction of Iraq, President George W. Bush told the United Nations on Tuesday that rogue states and weapons proliferation call for "moral clarity" and unified action by the nations of the world.
"These are the kinds of great tasks for which the United Nations was founded," he told delegates in New York. "...our good intentions will be credited only if we achieve good outcomes."
But his rhetoric failed to convince French President Jacques Chirac, who used his turn at the podium to criticize sharply the United States for provoking a "grave crisis" at the UN.Facing a skeptical audience that included German and French delegations eager for a quick resumption of Iraqi sovereignty, Mr. Bush spoke of the need to contain outlaw states and stem the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Specifically, he called for a new resolution aimed at stanching the flow of such weapons.
U.S. President George W. Bush addresses the 58th UN General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters on Tuesday. (Richard Drew/AP)
"These weapons could be used by terrorists to bring sudden disaster and suffering on a scale we can scarcely imagine," he said. "This resolution should call on all members of the UN to criminalize the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."
Mr. Bush came to the United Nation headquarters to push for international legitimacy for the U.S.-appointed government in Iraq. But he did not exactly go cap-in-hand to the body that refused to sanction his toppling of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein earlier this year.
"The regime of Saddam Hussein cultivated ties to terrorists while developing weapons of mass destruction," he said. "Our coalition has made sure that Iraq's former dictator will never again use weapons of mass destruction."
"Because a coalition of nations acted to defend the peace, and the credibility of the United Nations, Iraq is free," he added.
Mr. Bush also offered another the lukewarm gesture of conciliation, telling the General Assembly that the Security Council had been right to be concerned about Mr. Hussein. But he did not rehash the debates this spring that saw Washington and London insist on going to war without the new UN resolution that some Council members argued for.
Apparently unmollifed, Mr. Chirac used his address to the same assembly to criticize Washington again for going to war in Iraq without international authority.
"The war, launched without the authorization of the Security Council, shook the multilateral system," he said. "The United Nations has just been through one of the most grave crises in its history."
He agreed that the United Nations needs reform, but maintained that stability and security can be assured in the long term only through the UN.
"In an open world, no one can be isolated, no one can act alone in everyone's name, and no one can accept the anarchy of a lawless society. There is no alternative to the United Nations," the French leader said.
Opening the debate, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan also spoke of reforming the world body, saying that terrorist threats and U.S. unilateralism have brought the world body to a crucial turning point of history. He said that the crisis over Iraq demonstrated the need to take "a hard look" at fundamental policy issues.
"All states, if attacked, retain the inherent right of self-defence," he said. "But until now it has been understood that when states go beyond that and decide to use force to deal with broader threats to international peace and security, they need the unique legitimacy provide by the United Nations."
When nations operate without the imprimatur of the UN, he added, they risk setting precedents that "result in a proliferation of unilateral and lawless use of force."
Mr. Annan also offered a warning to critics of the United States, saying that all nations have to recognize the unique position the U.S. occupies, as both most powerful nation and the chief target for terrorists.
"It is not enough to denounce unilateralism unless we also face up squarely to the concerns that make some states feel uniquely vulnerable, since it is those concerns that drive them to take unilateral action," he said. "We must show that those concerns can and will be addressed effectively through collective action."
Mr. Bush, in a dig at repeated European calls for a swift resumption of self-rule in Iraq, he said that the process should be neither sped up nor delayed by outside players. But he did say that the world had a stake in helping Iraq prosper and made the transition to full sovereignty.
"The primary goal of our coalition in Iraq is self-government for the people of Iraq, reached by orderly and democratic process," he said. "This process must unfold according to the needs of Iraqis, neither hurried nor delayed by the wishes of other parties."
