Bush lays out Mideast peace plan at U.N.
President says Iran should return to nuclear talks
or face consequences
This article linked from: antiwar.com
(as are many posts seen in this NG)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14888490/
MSNBC News Services Sept 19, 2006
UNITED NATIONS - President Bush tried to quell
anti-Americanism in the Middle East on Tuesday by
assuring Muslims he is not waging war against Islam,
regardless of what "propaganda and conspiracy theories"
they hear.
He also pressed Iran to return at once to international
talks on its nuclear program and threatened consequences
if the Iranians do not.
But his speech to the United Nations General Assembly
was less confrontational than his remarks on the
sidelines regarding Iran. He aimed instead at building
bridges with people in the Middle East who are angry
with the United States.
"My country desires peace," Bush told world leaders in
the U.N.'s cavernous main hall. "Extremists in your
midst spread propaganda claiming that the West is
engaged in a war against Islam. This propaganda is false
and its purpose is to confuse you and justify acts of
terror. We respect Islam."
Bush's speech was the last in a series on the war on
terrorism, timed to surround last week's fifth
anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and to set the tone
for the final weeks of the U.S. midterm election
campaign.
Meets with Talabani
His challenge is to build support among skeptical
foreign leaders to confront multiple problems in the
region: the Iranian nuclear issue, a stalled
Israeli-Palestinian peace process, armed Hezbollah
militants in Lebanon and unabated violence in Iraq.
Bush met later with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to
discuss strategies for supporting the Iraqi government
and reducing violence. "I'm optimistic this government
will succeed," Bush said.
Talabani addressed Bush as "the hero of the liberation
of Iraq" and told him he could count on Iraqis to fight
the terrorists.
Addressing Iraqis specifically, Bush said, "We will not
abandon you in your struggle to build a free nation."
No reaction from Iran yet
Bush said Iran "must abandon its nuclear weapons
ambitions." Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was
scheduled to speak to the body later Tuesday, but he was
not at the country's table in the hall when Bush spoke.
Speaking to Iranians, Bush said their country's future
has been clouded because "your rulers have chosen to
deny you liberty and to use your nation's resources to
fund terrorism and fuel extremism and pursue nuclear
weapons."
On the crisis in Sudan's violence-wracked region of
Darfur, Bush delivered strong warnings to both the
United Nations and the Sudanese government, saying that
both must act now to avert further humanitarian crisis.
Bush said that if the Sudanese government does not
withdraw its rejection of a U.N. peacekeeping force for
Darfur, the world body should act over the government's
objections.
The U.N. Security Council last month passed a resolution
that would give the U.N. control over the peacekeeping
mission in Darfur, now run mostly ineffectively by the
African Union. But Sudan has refused to give its consent.
"The regime in Khartoum is stopping the deployment of
this force," Bush said. "If the Sudanese government
does not approve this peacekeeping force quickly, the
United Nations must act."
With more than 200,000 people already killed in three
years of fighting in Darfur and the violence threatening
to increase again, Bush said the "credibility of the
United Nations is at stake."
Iran's defiant pursuit of a nuclear program was at the
top of the agenda when Bush met earlier with French
President Jacques Chirac at the Waldorf Astoria hotel
where the U.S. delegation was staying. The French leader
is balking at the U.S. drive to sanction Iran for
defying Security Council demands that it freeze uranium
enrichment.
"Should they continue to stall," Bush said of Iranian
leaders, "we will then discuss the consequences of their
stalling." The president, speaking after his meeting
with Chirac, said those consequences would include the
possibility of sanctions.
Compromise proposed
Chirac proposed on Monday that the international
community compromise by suspending the threat of
sanctions if Tehran agrees to halt its uranium
enrichment program and return to negotiations. The U.S.
and other countries fear Iran is trying to build nuclear
weapons, while Tehran insists its uranium enrichment
program is to make fuel for nuclear power plants.
Bush said that Iran must first suspend uranium
enrichment "in which case the U.S. will come to the
table."
But he also stressed that he and Chirac "share the same
objective and we're going to continue to strategize
together."
"Time is of the essence," the president said. "Now is
the time for the Iranians to come to the table."
Both Bush and Chirac stressed they are working together,
and the French president said twice that they see "eye
to eye."
Chirac also said the European Union would not negotiate
with Iran until it suspends uranium enrichment. "We
cannot have negotiations if we do not have on one hand
prior suspension," Chirac said.
Bush's challenge is to build international support to
confront multiple problems in the region: the Iran
issue, a stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process,
armed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and unabated
violence in Iraq.
Part of Sept. 11 anniversary series
Bush's speech was the last in a series on the war on
terrorism, timed to surround last week's fifth
anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks and to set the tone
for the final weeks of the U.S. midterm elections.
Bush was speaking in the same room where four years and
one week ago he made another plea for action in the
Middle East. On that day, Bush said Saddam Hussein had
stockpiles of deadly chemical and biological agents that
the United Nations must confront.
He was wrong, but still forged ahead with war against
Iraq without the support of many other nations. And he
is still trying to rebuild credibility with the body,
experts say.
"The sense outside of the U.S. is that the United States
is responsible for many of the failures in Iraq, first
by going in mostly alone and then by incompetent
administration," said Jon Alterman, a Mideast expert at
the Center for Strategic and International Studies in
Washington.
"The problem with the way he's talked about democracy
in the Middle East is not that people see it as
undesirable," Alterman said, "it's that people see it
as naive. He needs to persuade cynical people that not
only is he sincere, but it's achievable, and here's what
they need to do to make it so."
This article linked from: antiwar.com
(as are many posts seen in this NG)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14888490/
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