Course Correction
By Richard Wolffe and Holly Bailey
MSNBC News
Wednesday 14 September 2005
Faced with rebuilding both America's Gulf Coast and Iraq, President Bush finds the United Nations to be more relevant than ever.
It's a venue, and an audience, that President George W. Bush loathes. The United Nations's General Assembly Hall, complete with its grand marble podium, has giant ambitions and tiny means. It's a place of lofty words and lowly politicking. In fact Bush dislikes the place so much he often tells reporters how he'd love to reach into the normally silent rows of world leaders and shake them up with his bare hands.
That was especially true three years ago, when Bush marked the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by challenging the world body to back him and confront Saddam Hussein. At the time, Bush declared he had been "more than patient" with the Iraqi leader and warned that "the first time we may be completely certain he has nuclear weapons is when, God forbids, he uses one." He ended his plea with a simple challenge: "Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?"
Of course the U.N. didn't accept Bush's case for war. But the president's speech to the same group this week suggests that the U.N., now celebrating its 60th anniversary, is anything but irrelevant to the Bush administration. In fact, Bush's speech represented no less than three course corrections for the White House and three statements of solidarity with the international community. >>>continued
Link Here
MSNBC News
Wednesday 14 September 2005
Faced with rebuilding both America's Gulf Coast and Iraq, President Bush finds the United Nations to be more relevant than ever.
It's a venue, and an audience, that President George W. Bush loathes. The United Nations's General Assembly Hall, complete with its grand marble podium, has giant ambitions and tiny means. It's a place of lofty words and lowly politicking. In fact Bush dislikes the place so much he often tells reporters how he'd love to reach into the normally silent rows of world leaders and shake them up with his bare hands.
That was especially true three years ago, when Bush marked the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by challenging the world body to back him and confront Saddam Hussein. At the time, Bush declared he had been "more than patient" with the Iraqi leader and warned that "the first time we may be completely certain he has nuclear weapons is when, God forbids, he uses one." He ended his plea with a simple challenge: "Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?"
Of course the U.N. didn't accept Bush's case for war. But the president's speech to the same group this week suggests that the U.N., now celebrating its 60th anniversary, is anything but irrelevant to the Bush administration. In fact, Bush's speech represented no less than three course corrections for the White House and three statements of solidarity with the international community. >>>continued
Link Here
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 7:30 PM
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