Bush Urges Leaders to Unite for Iraq’s Sake

President Bush urged world leaders gathered at the United Nations on Tuesday to set aside differences over the war in Iraq and join in rebuilding the country. But he didn’t budge on the central issue blocking greater participation: how quickly to return sovereignty to the Iraqis.

In a coolly received speech at the opening of the General Assembly that rounded out a year of confrontation and acrimony between the United States and the United Nations, Bush acknowledged that some of the 191 nations represented in the grand domed chamber “disagreed with our actions” in invading Iraq. But he did not apologize for the U.S. course, as some had hoped, nor say that the U.S. could not bear the burden of the Iraqi occupation alone.

Instead, he called on them to “move forward” -- not because the U.S. needs their help, but because Iraq does. “The nation of Iraq needs and deserves our aid, and all nations of goodwill should step forward and provide that support,” he said.

For the most part, heads of state and diplomats responded with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. Their reaction suggested that U.N. members who felt misled about the justification for invading Iraq now feel misused by the U.S. request for help.

“No matter how invaluable its humanitarian work, the U.N. was conceived to do more than clear the rubble of conflicts it could not prevent,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said.

Some warned that the United States’ decision to go to war without U.N. authorization has heightened dangers by destabilizing the world order. French President Jacques Chirac said the war had “shaken the multilateral system.”

In an unusually direct rebuke, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the unilateralism adopted by the United States has brought the world body to a fork in the road that could threaten its existence.

Countries that “reserve the right to act unilaterally or in ad hoc coalitions” represent a “fundamental challenge to the principles on which, however imperfectly, world peace and stability have rested for the last 58 years,” Annan said.

Chirac echoed the theme. “In an open world, no one can live in isolation. No one can act in the name of everyone. No one can accept the anarchy of a society without rules,” he said.

Bush’s speech was aimed at inspiring U.N. members to take on many of the financial costs of the occupation and reconstruction.

But on that score, the president appeared to make little headway. The French and other critics have said they would do so only if the United Nations is given the central role in the rebuilding, and if the timetable for restoring sovereignty is accelerated.

Bush suggested that the United Nations could contribute greatly to the rebuilding by helping Iraqis write a constitution, training civil servants and conducting elections. But he indicated that the United States intended to retain overall control of military and political operations, including the decision of when to return sovereignty to Iraqi institutions.

“This process must unfold according to the need of Iraqis -- neither hurried nor delayed by the wishes of other parties,” Bush said.

A British diplomat said the United States was expected to introduce a U.N. resolution early next week seeking international involvement in postwar Iraq.

In a private meeting after their speeches, Bush and Chirac papered over their differences, and Chirac appeared to ease his demands that the transfer of sovereignty occur within a month. The shift of responsibilities could occur gradually over “three, six, nine months, no one can say,” Chirac said at a news conference. “Obviously, the transfer cannot be abrupt. Today, the Iraqi administration is not in a position to shoulder the entire burden of its responsibilities.”

After the meeting, a senior Bush administration official said “the premature transfer of sovereignty, which has been the French proposal, is just not in the cards.” A major reason, the official said, is that the Iraqi Governing Council is only an interim body appointed by the U.S.-led coalition and that sovereignty must be transferred to an elected government.

“I can guarantee you that the American people, the president of the United States, most of the allies who are on the ground with us are not prepared to transfer sovereignty to 25 unelected people. It’s just not going to happen,” the official said.

U.S. officials also said that in their tete-a-tete Chirac suggested that France might be willing to help train some Iraqi security forces, as Germany has offered, but the two sides did not discuss details.

Bush also met with the heads of state of Indonesia, Morocco, Spain and Afghanistan -- all countries that have suffered from terrorism or taken part in U.S. efforts to defeat Al Qaeda.

Bush’s speech served as a bookend to his confrontational address to the General Assembly last September. In that speech, Bush boldly challenged the world body to confront the danger posed by Iraq and its alleged efforts to stockpile weapons of mass destruction. If it did not act, Bush said, the United Nations risked becoming irrelevant.

In the months that followed, the Bush administration sought authorization to use force against Iraq, but began the war in March without it.

In this year’s speech, in an apparent effort to broaden the debate on terrorism beyond Iraq, Bush urged the assembly to focus anew on the underlying threat posed by the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

“The deadly combination of outlaw regimes, terror networks and weapons of mass murder is a peril that cannot be ignored or wished away,” Bush said. “If such a danger is allowed to fully materialize, all words, all protests will come too late. Nations of the world must have the wisdom and the will to stop grave threats before they arrive.”

Although Annan was strongly critical of the United States in his opening remarks to the assembly, he upheld Bush’s position on this point, acknowledging that countries that have experienced terrorism are right to ask whether preemptive action is sometimes warranted to prevent new attacks.

Annan suggested that the Security Council needs new measures to address threats, such as terrorist groups armed with illicit weapons, earlier and with force if necessary.

Chirac also backed the plan and went a step further, specifically citing the threat posed by North Korea and Iran.

“We must demand that North Korea dismantle its military program completely, verifiably and irreversibly,” Chirac said.

“We must demand that Iran sign and implement unconditionally and without delay a strengthened nuclear safeguards agreement with the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency],” he said.

Bush also used his 26-minute address to bring an old issue to new attention before the world body: sex trafficking, which he called a humanitarian crisis that is “hidden from view.”

“Nearly two centuries after the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, and more than a century after slavery was officially ended in its last strongholds, the trade in human beings for any purpose must not be allowed to thrive in our time,” Bush said.

Some observers saw the sex trade proposal as an attempt by the president to find new, less controversial issues to highlight after a year of dissension.

“It’s an important issue, but a little bit out of the blue. It sounded like they were grasping for an issue everyone could agree on,” a Security Council diplomat said.

Bush’s speech comes as the president’s approval ratings are hitting the lowest point of his presidency. In a poll released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 51% of Americans said the United States should give up some military control of the Iraqi occupation in return for greater involvement by other countries.

The poll also suggested that Americans are increasingly worried about the costs of the occupation, with 59% saying they oppose Bush’s request for $87 billion to underwrite military and reconstruction costs in the new fiscal year.

Democrats said the president’s words would do little to convince Americans or their allies that the administration was sincere in seeking foreign support.

“The fact is, the president’s eleventh-hour, halfhearted appeal to the United Nations, and his continuing I-told-you-so tone, have made it more difficult to secure international assistance in building a safe, stable and self-governing Iraq,” said Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), a presidential candidate.

But Republicans praised Bush for his leadership and urged the United Nations to rally to his call.

“As the principal target of terrorists worldwide, the United States does not have the luxury of sitting on the sidelines and waiting for others to carry out their responsibilities, as much of the world community regrettably has chosen to do,” said Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.), chairman of the House International Affairs Committee. “We must act decisively to address threats before they arise, with friends and allies if possible, but alone if necessary.”

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Times staff writer Janet Hook in Washington contributed to this report.