Bush Urges U.N. Members to Back War

A stern President Bush brought his counter-terrorism campaign to the United Nations on Saturday, urging all members to join the fight because “every other country is a potential target” of Osama bin Laden and his followers.

“Every nation has a stake in this cause. . . . This struggle is a defining moment for the United Nations itself,” Bush said as he alternately coaxed and lectured the gathering of world leaders and officials during a 22-minute address.

Bush said he recognized that the war he declared on terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States “will require great courage” from some nations.

“Yet the cost of inaction is far greater,” he said. “The only alternative to victory is a nightmare world where every city is a potential killing field.”

The president used his remarks to try to broaden the war on terrorism--and to stiffen the resolve of some members of the U.S.-led coalition that view the task with ambivalence because of domestic or geopolitical considerations.

In a clear bid to strengthen Arab support for the counter-terrorism drive, Bush not only reiterated Washington’s determination to bring the parties in the Middle East conflict back to the bargaining table but also mentioned a Palestinian state by name, saying: “We are working toward a day when two states, Israel and Palestine, live peacefully together within secure and recognized borders.”

Previous U.S. presidents, in appearances before the world body, have avoided a specific embrace of the two-state concept for the Middle East and use of the word Palestine. Much of the reticence among some Islamic leaders to embrace the anti-terrorist campaign stems from the perception that the U.S. remains too strongly tied to Israel in the Mideast conflict.

Bush’s phrasing was widely noticed at the General Assembly.

Javier Solana, chief diplomatic coordinator for the European Union, praised Bush’s endorsement of a two-state solution as a significant advance in U.S. diplomacy. “This was an important statement,” Solana said.

“It was quite striking,” said another European diplomat, who requested anonymity. “Delegates from the Middle East took notice immediately.”

Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, who attended the session, termed the speech “important, positive and constructive.”

Bush, in his latest call to arms, renewed his warning that Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network are searching for weapons of mass destruction so they could “turn their hatred into holocaust.”

“They can be expected to use chemical, biological and nuclear weapons the moment they are capable of doing so,” the U.S. president said.

Bin Laden Remarks Seen as Bolstering Coalition

He made no mention of a Pakistani news report that Bin Laden, in an interview Friday, claimed to already possess nuclear and chemical weapons.

Bush was asked about the claim later at a news conference with Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Bush responded that all he knew for sure about Bin Laden was that he is “evil” and “wants to hurt Americans.” He added: “Those kind of statements he utters reinforce the coalition’s efforts to bring him to justice.”

Bush had served ample notice in recent remarks that he would talk tough to the world community, and he did just that Saturday, declaring at one point: “The time for sympathy [for those killed Sept. 11] has now passed; the time for action has now arrived.”

Although Bush did not single out by name any country that he believes is lagging in its anti-terrorism efforts or has not enlisted at all, those at the top of such a list would likely include the nations on the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism: Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.

Bush’s audience included about 40 world leaders and 100 foreign ministers, meeting just a few miles away from the site of the World Trade Center. His listeners sat attentively throughout Bush’s speech; when he finished they responded with sustained but temperate applause, which is typical at such gatherings.

From the start, the U.S. president cast his remarks in a decidedly international context, reminding the world leaders that the victims of Sept. 11 included citizens from scores of nations, such as Gambia, Mexico and Pakistan.

That day’s suffering, he said, “was inflicted on people of many faiths and many nations. All of the victims, including Muslims, were killed with equal indifference and equal satisfaction by the terrorist leaders.”

The president also reminded listeners of Bin Laden’s recent denunciation of the world body and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan: “They called our secretary-general a criminal and condemned all Arab nations here as traitors to Islam.”

Providing Examples of Cooperation

In calling for greater cooperation from coalition partners, Bush offered examples of what he expects.

“If you know something, tell us. If we know something, we’ll tell you,” he said. “And when we find the terrorists, we must work together to bring them to justice. We have a responsibility to deny any sanctuary, safe haven or transit to terrorists. Every known terrorist camp must be shut down, its operators apprehended and evidence of their arrest presented to the United Nations. We have a responsibility to deny weapons to terrorists and to actively prevent private citizens from providing them.”

He made clear that these were more than suggestions. “These obligations are urgent, and they are binding on every nation with a place in this chamber,” he said.

Bush said the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan, where Bin Laden is believed to be hiding, is “making progress.”

And he said of the Afghan militia: “The Taliban’s days of harboring terrorists and dealing in heroin and brutalizing women are drawing to a close. And when that regime is gone, the people of Afghanistan will say with the rest of the world: ‘Good riddance!’ ”

Today, Bush is scheduled to meet with the presidents of South Africa, Colombia and Argentina. And before returning to Washington, Bush is to participate in an observance at the World Trade Center site commemorating the two-month anniversary of the attacks. A list of the 80 nations that lost citizens is to be read during the observance.

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Times staff writer William Orme contributed to this report.