US President George Bush came under fire over the Iraq war on Tuesday as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan blasted US policy in front of nearly 200 world leaders at the United Nations.
Just before Bush took the podium, Annan drew applause from the General Assembly as he said that the Bush doctrine of ‘pre-emptive’ war — like that waged on Iraq — was a threat to global peace and security.
”This logic represents a fundamental challenge to the principles on which, however imperfectly, world peace and stability have rested for the last 58 years,” since the UN’s creation, he said in opening the UN’s annual debate.
”The last 12 months have been painful for those of us who believe in collective answers to our common problems and challenges,” Annan said.
Bush was to plead his case for troops and money to rebuild Iraq as he returned to the United Nations a year after he said the world body risked being irrelevant if it declined to support the US war to oust Saddam Hussein.
Bush and Annan met before the opening session of the two-week debate and in a brief appearance before reporters, the two men tried to play down their differences.
”We look forward to working with the UN,” the US president said after shaking hands with Annan for the cameras. He called the UN secretary general ”a leader and a friend”.
Bush was set to take another pasting from French President Jacques Chirac, who according to advanced extracts of his speech, would also take aim at Washington’s policy.
Chirac, who spearheaded opposition to the war, was to make the case for collective action by the international community rather than superpower individualism.
”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,” Chirac was to say.
The French leader will also repeat demands for an expanded UN role in post-war Iraq and a faster handover of power to Iraqis — something Washington has said was ”unrealistic”.
The UN General Assembly’s annual session comes amid serious doubts about the fate of the United Nations. On Monday, the second suicide attack on the UN’s Baghdad headquarters in as many months added to the uncertainty.
Before the war, Annan was explicit about his opposition to US military action and has lately repeated his concerns that the UN Security Council, in particular, had lost much of its international authority.
Acknowledging US concerns about terrorism and the UN’s ”relevance,” which Bush used to justify the war, Annan said that the United Nations has failed to find a collective voice on urgent international crises.
”It is not enough to denounce unilateralism unless we also face up squarely to the concerns that make some states feel uniquely vulnerable and thus drive them to take unilateral action,” he said.
The standoff over Iraq will be just one of many pressing topics covered at the session, which will close on October 3 with an address by Iraq’s delegation, led by members of the US-anointed Governing Council.
Annan is also urging world leaders to find solutions to the HIV/Aids pandemic, poverty, terrorism, the Middle East crisis and other sweeping themes which have become fixtures on the UN’s agenda.
The collapse of trade talks this month, amid recriminations between rich and poor nations, bloodshed in the Middle East and Africa, and the uncertain future of Iraq have left the United Nations facing a clutch of serious challenges.
Annan said on Monday that a review of the UN’s Iraq operation was under way after the latest bombing, which killed an Iraqi policeman. A similar attack in August killed 22 people, including the UN’s top envoy.
On the sidelines of the two-week session, leaders will also hold hundreds of informal bilateral talks. Bush will meet privately with Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.
He is also due to meet with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. – AFP
