UNITED NATIONS, Sept 23: US President George Bush came under fire on Tuesday for bypassing the United Nations to invade Iraq as he tried to convince the world to share the burden of occupation and reconstruction.
Mr Bush faced stiff criticism from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and French President Jacques Chirac in the 191-member General Assembly over his doctrine of pre-emptive strike _ a year after telling the world body it risked becoming irrelevant if it did not enforce its resolutions on Iraq.
But the president, whose approval ratings have slumped partly due to the soaring costs of the Iraqi occupation, offered no apology for the chaotic security situation or the failure to find weapons of mass destruction, given as the main reason for the invasion.
Instead, he urged countries to put differences behind them and offer support, while resisting calls for an early transfer of sovereignty to an Iraqi authority.
“Now the nation of Iraq needs and deserves our aid — and all nations of goodwill should step forward and provide that support,” Mr Bush declared.
Iraqi self-government should be “reached by orderly and democratic means”, he said. “This process must unfold according to the needs of Iraqis — neither hurried nor delayed by the wishes of other parties.”
The US president won a polite ovation, but Mr Chirac, who spoke after Mr Bush, as well as Mr Annan and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who spoke before him, drew a more sustained applause.
ANNAN, CHIRAC SLAM US: Opening the annual session, Mr Annan took an unusually blunt swipe at the world’s only superpower, saying unilateral, pre-emptive military action without UN authority risked returning the world to the law of the jungle.
“My concern is that, if it were to be adopted, it could set precedents that resulted in a proliferation of the unilateral and lawless use of force, with or without credible justification,” Mr Annan warned.
Mr Chirac, who led a diplomatic campaign to deny UN blessing for the invasion of Iraq, echoed his theme. “The war launched without Security Council authorization shook the multilateral system ... No one can act alone in the name of all, and no one can accept the anarchy of a society without rules,” he said.
Mr Annan said sidestepping the United Nations in waging war called into question the entire structure of collective action forged when the United Nations was created on the ashes of World War Two.
“We have come to a fork in the road. This may be a moment no less decisive than 1945 itself, when the United Nations was founded,” Mr Annan said.
But he cautioned against denouncing unilateralism without trying to understand what motivates countries to feel “uniquely vulnerable”. And he announced plans for a high-level panel to rethink UN security structures.
Brazilian President Lula da Silva said only UN leadership could overcome the prevailing climate of insecurity and tension in Iraq, stating: “A war can perhaps be won singlehandedly. But peace — lasting peace — cannot be secured without the support of all.”
GLOBAL CHALLENGES: Mr Bush also called on the United Nations to act on such global challenges as the spread of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, rebuilding Afghanistan, the AIDS crisis, hunger and slavery.
The United States is working on a new UN resolution aimed at enlisting wider support for Iraq’s reconstruction and easing the strain on US-led occupation forces under daily attack.
But critics are pressing for concessions and the question was whether a resolution would attract troops or money if the United States retains tight control over the civilian as well as the military structures.
President Chirac said transferring sovereignty to Iraqis was “indispensable for stability and reconstruction”, and it was up to the United Nations to give that process legitimacy.
The current head of the interim Iraqi Governing Council, Ahmed Chalabi, echoed the French call for a quick handover, telling The New York Times he wants the UN General Assembly to give his US-appointed 25-member body sovereign status. —Reuters
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