UNITED NATIONS In annual speech, Bush defends Iraq invasion

The president argues that the world is a better place because of his policies.
NEW YORK (AP) -- President Bush defended his decision to invade Iraq in a speech today to the United Nations, urging the world community to turn its attention to fighting the war on terrorism and humanitarian concerns.
He told a subdued U.N. General Assembly session that the U.S.-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein delivered the Iraqi people from "an outlawed dictator."
Two years after he told the world body that Iraq was a "grave and gathering danger" and challenged delegates to live up to their responsibility, Bush did not dwell on his decision to invade without the consent of the U.N. Security Council.
Instead, he urged the world community to "fight radicalism and terror with justice and dignity."
Bush said that terrorists believe that "suicide and murder are justified. ... And they act on their beliefs." And he cited recent terror acts, including the death of children in their Russian school house.
"This month in Beslan, we saw once again how the terrorists measure their success in the deaths of the innocent and in the pain of grieving families," the president said. "The Russian children did nothing to deserve such awful suffering."
Exactly six weeks before Election Day, Bush is equally concerned about his audience at home. In his speech today before the world body, Bush made a firm defense of his decision to invade Iraq, although violence is surging and U.S. casualties mounting 17 months after the president declared major combat operations over.
But unlike his speech to the United Nations last year, Bush did not devote the majority of his 35-minute address to Iraq and terrorism. His aim was to convince U.S. voters and a skeptical global audience that there is more to his foreign policy than grim warnings about terror and aggressive use of U.S. military force.
His message was that the world is a better place thanks to his policies, and will get better still if nations band together to cooperate with his initiatives.
He has his work here cut out for him: Last week, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that from his point of view, the U.S.-led Iraq invasion was illegal.
Annan said that if there is one theme to the two-week ministerial meeting here, it's "the rule of law."
In something of a pre-emptive strike, Bush's Democratic rival, John Kerry, appeared at New York University on Monday to deliver a stinging attack on Bush's Iraq policy.
Kerry, contending the chaos in Iraq has made the United States less secure, urged the president to do a better job rallying allies, training Iraqi security forces, hastening reconstruction plans and ensuring Iraqi elections are conducted on time.