President Bush, foreground center, addresses the 58th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters. Seated at background are U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, left, U.N. General Assembly President Julian Hunte, center, and Under Secretary General for General Assembly Affairs Chen Jian. ASSOCIATED PRESS

President challenges, cajoles United Nations to support plan for Iraq transition

UNITED NATIONS -- President Bush challenged the United Nations on Tuesday to support his plan for steady transition to democratic rule in Iraq but made clear the United States would follow a timetable "neither hurried nor delayed by the wishes of other parties."

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"This process must unfold according to the needs of Iraqis," Bush said in a jab at France, Germany and others demanding an immediate end to the U.S. occupation.

"So let us move forward," said Bush, who once again found himself facing skeptical world leaders. He acknowledged that differences over Iraq linger.

Bush spoke as negotiations continued behind the scenes on a new U.N. resolution setting terms for the handover of power.

In his speech Tuesday, he invited the United Nations to play an expanded role in Iraq's reconstruction. The world body should assist in preparing a constitution for Iraq, help train civil servants and conduct free and fair elections, Bush said.

"Every young democracy needs the help of friends," he declared.

The president's address was received politely by the General Assembly audience.

Bush also revived the issue of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction - once cited by the administration as a key reason for the war but given less emphasis lately since none has yet been found.

"The regime of Saddam Hussein cultivated ties to terror while it built weapons of mass destruction. It used those weapons in acts of mass murder, and refused to account for them when confronted by the world," he said.

Bush also appealed for a worldwide drive to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction, although he mentioned neither North Korea nor Iran by name -two nations that his administration has accused of trying to build nuclear weapons.

"The deadly combination of outlaw regimes, terror networks and weapons of mass murder is a peril that cannot be ignored or wished away," he said.

In the audience sat Ahmed Chalabi, this month's president of the Iraqi Governing Council, President Jacques Chirac of France and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

Schroeder, who opposed the war in the first place and will not contribute peacekeeping troops, told reporters he wanted to see power handed over to the Iraqi people in a "matter of months."

It was Schroeder's most specific comments yet on a timetable and echoed the French position for a swift transfer of power to the Iraqis. Previously, Schroeder had said Berlin would like to see it take place "as quickly as possible."

Bush told world leaders they must stand with the people of Iraq and Afghanistan as they build free and stable countries. "The terrorists and their allies fear and fight this process above all, because free people embrace hope over resentment," he said.

Bush spoke after U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan criticized the president's "pre-emptive" attack on Iraq but urged world leaders Tuesday to set aside their disputes over the war and join forces to build a peaceful democracy in the troubled nation.

The president was not only addressing an international audience, but some of his remarks appeared tailored for domestic consumption. Polls show increased concern on the part of Americans over continued casualties in Iraq and with respect to the mounting costs of reconstruction. These polls also have shown a decline in the president's overall approval ratings.

Bush said that democracy in Iraq could be an inspiration to other countries in the Middle East, just as it had great power to destabilize the region under the overthrown Saddam.

Calling on the Palestinians to follow the course now under way in Iraq, Bush said - in an apparent reference to Yasser Arafat - "the Palestinian cause is betrayed by leaders who cling to power but are feeding old hatreds and destroying the good will of others."

Bush also called on Israel to work to create conditions that will allow a peaceful Palestinian state to emerge.

On other subjects, Bush called for decisive action against HIV-AIDS and to stop the spread of trading in sex slaves. "Governments that tolerate this trade are tolerating a form of slavery," he said.

Bush's unyielding stance on Iraqi reconstruction, already at odds with the views of France and Germany, also came up against Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said ahead of Tuesday's session that he had concluded that U.S. failure to stabilize postwar Iraq proved the war was a bad idea.

Chirac posed the stiffest opposition to U.S. policy. Work on a U.S. resolution designed to induce contributions of peacekeeping troops and financial support for reconstruction has stopped, at least until Bush holds talks over two days in New York with the leaders of France, Germany, Pakistan, India, Spain and other countries.

--From the Wednesday, September 24, 2003 online edition of the Augusta Chronicle