Bush presses U.N. to back steady democratic process
The president of France wants immediate sovereignty for Iraq.
NEW YORK (AP) -- President Bush, again facing skeptical world leaders, is challenging and cajoling the United Nations to support his plan for steady transition to democratic rule in Iraq.
Only in that way, Bush says, will Iraq get a chance to leapfrog from deposed President Saddam Hussein's despotic government to self-rule unprecedented in the Middle East.
The president, mindful of impatience with the U.S. occupation, may disclose he is asking Ahmed Chalabi, this month's president of the Iraqi Governing Council, to prepare a timetable for transition to democracy, diplomatic sources said in advance of Bush's speech today at the opening of the 58th U.N. General Assembly session.
This was unlikely to cause France to reverse its opposition to Bush's methodical approach to nation building, said the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity.
French demands
In fact, Bush intends in his speech to resist demands by French President Jacques Chirac that sovereignty be transferred immediately to the Iraqi people, followed by the gradual ceding of power to Iraqis over a period of six months to nine months.
Chalabi said that the Governing Council should be given at least partial control of the finance and security ministries. Asked in an interview with The New York Times when the changes should take place, Chalabi replied, "Right away."
Bush, in his U.N. speech, also was to urge the nations of the world to step up efforts to stop the spread of dangerous weapons and the technology that produces them. White House officials said he also would appeal to end slavery and boost human rights.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in remarks prepared for delivery to the assembly, urged all nations to put aside their views on events surrounding the Iraq war and unite to ensure that the result is a stable and democratic nation "at peace with itself and with its neighbors."
Annan called on world nations to take "the extra time and patience" to reach a coherent and workable consensus on Iraq.
"Let me reaffirm the great importance I attach to a successful outcome in Iraq," Annan said. "Subject to security considerations, the United Nations system is prepared to play its full part in working for a satisfactory outcome in Iraq, and to do so as part of an effort by the whole international community."
Reassures about war
Slipping in opinion polls and with U.S. peacekeepers under deadly assault in Iraq, Bush is insisting the war he led was right. "I think you will find agreement the world is better off without Saddam Hussein," his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, said Monday at the White House.
She also held firm to the U.S. assertion that Saddam had hidden weapons of mass destruction, an argument Bush used to press for war, and that they would be found, but not right away.
Bush's unyielding stance on Iraqi reconstruction, already at odds with the views of France and Germany, came up against Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said 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.
Although Chirac has said France would not veto a resolution in the Security Council and might even offer to train Iraqi police and soldiers, he has ruled out contributing French troops and said: "There will be no concrete solution unless sovereignty is transferred to Iraq as soon as possible."
Rice, foreshadowing Bush's speech, said the French ideas "are not going to work." She said the United States wants Iraq to be guided to democracy and independence through a seven-stage transition that would include writing a constitution and holding free elections.
Larger U.N. role
Bush is willing to give the United Nations a larger role in shaping Iraq's political and economic recovery, while having the Security Council sanction the use of peacekeeping troops under U.S. command.
He said Sunday on the Fox broadcast network that the United Nations might be helpful in preparing a constitution. "They're good at that," Bush said. "Or perhaps, when an election starts, they'll oversee the election. That would be deemed a larger role."
Secretary of State Colin Powell, accompanying Bush to the United Nations, was asked Monday if he thought the United States should turn over power in Iraq as France suggested. "No," he said.
Bush met Monday in the Oval Office with two officials from Iraq chosen by the Governing Council, Public Works Minister Nesreen Berwari and Electricity Minister Ayham Sameraei. Both agreed with the administration's contention that more time was needed before Iraqis receive full self-government.