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Wednesday, September 24, 2003
Bush urges world support on Iraq amid new reports of bloodshed (10:04 am)
UNITED NATIONS -- US President Bush called Tuesday on the international community to help rebuild Iraq, brushing off criticism of the US-led ouster of Saddam Hussein, but failed to win over key war opponent France.
Bush's address to nearly 200 world leaders at the UN General Assembly was sandwiched between scathing attacks on the war from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and French President Jacques Chirac.
But Bush -- who used his appearance last year to warn the world body that it risked becoming irrelevant by not backing the war to oust Saddam -- said the war's aftermath had shown the United States was right to act.
"As we discover the killing fields and mass graves of Iraq, the true scale of Saddam's cruelty is being revealed," he said. "By helping the Iraqi people build a stable and peaceful country, we will make our own countries more secure."
And in a rebuke to opponents of the war, such as France, who are pushing for a fast handover of power to the Iraqis and a larger UN role in the nation's political future, Bush said the transition to democracy could not be rushed.
"This process must unfold according to the needs of Iraqis, neither hurried nor delayed by the wishes of other parties," he said.
But French President Jacques Chirac, who spearheaded opposition to the war and whose country has veto power in the UN Security Council, renewed demands for a faster handover of power and criticized Bush for going to war alone.
After a 45-minute meeting with Bush at the US mission to the United Nations Chirac said the two leaders had failed to bridge their differences.
"We believe -- and this is what I told President Bush -- that today, the situation in Iraq is such that it is very difficult for Iraqis in general to accept a situation that, one way or another, is an occupation," Chirac said.
"We have to change tack."
He urged a quicker handover of power to Iraqis. "It will take a month, six months, nine months. I can't tell you exactly how long, but we have to take a decision today."
Just before Bush took the podium, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan drew applause from the assembly as he said the Bush doctrine of preemptive 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.
In Iraq, meanwhile, three Iraqis were killed in US military operations, and the Governing Council temporarily barred two leading Arabic satellite channels from covering official activities to punish them for allegedly inciting anti-coalition violence.
Witnesses said that US tanks surrounded the village of Al-Sijr, north of Fallujah, and troops opened fire before helicopters launched missiles.
Hospital officials identified three Iraqis killed in the incident, but in a conflicting account, the US military said its troops had come under attack north of Fallujah and returned fire, killing one Iraqi.
Later, the interim Iraqi Governing Council took action against the Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya satellite television stations, accused of inciting opposition to the US-led occupation, and imposed new media rules.
"Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya will temporarily be excluded from any coverage of Governing Council activities or official press conferences, and correspondents of the two channels will not be allowed to enter ministries or government offices for two weeks," it said in a statement.
It issued a list of rules it claims were broken by the two networks and then served notice to all media that action without warning would be taken against any future infringements.
It said breaches of the rules posed a risk to democracy and the stability of Iraq, and declared bans on inciting violence, disorder, or any reporting that directly or indirectly represents the ousted Baath party.
The rules came into immediate effect.
In other developments, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) members disagreed over the postwar return of Iraq to the 11-nation oil cartel before the new interim Baghdad government has been recognized internationally.
Ministers from the Opec ended a late-night meeting apparently still unable to agree on how Iraq is to be represented at an Opec assembly here Wednesday, although Kuwait said Iraq would attend.
"There's no decision yet. We're looking for a consensus," said Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez, whose country objects to the Iraqis' participation.
But Kuwaiti Oil Minister Ahmad Fahad Al-Sabah said: "I think Iraq will attend because they are a full member" of Opec.
He said Iraq's membership of the cartel has continued despite the US-led war to topple Saddam Hussein and that now that "the government has been established they have the right to attend."
And a US military investigation has cleared US troops who mistakenly shot and killed a Reuters TV cameraman as he was videotaping near a US-run prison in Iraq last month, a US defense official said.
"Although this is a regrettable incident, the investigation concluded US forces personnel acted in accordance with the rules of engagement," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Reuters TV cameraman Mazen Dana was killed August 17 near the Abu Gharib prison by US troops who apparently mistook his camera for a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. AFP
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