The Hindu : Bush to defend Iraq policy at U.N.

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 23, 2003

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International

Bush to defend Iraq policy at U.N.

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

United Nations sept. 22. The U.S. President, George Bush, will be defending his policy of going to war against Iraq at the U.N. on Tuesday even as he is about to talk of a new focus on nuclear non-proliferation, media reports have said. Later, he will meet the leaders of Germany, France, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan spread over two days.

According to one version in The New York Times, Mr. Bush will own up no mistake for post-war planning on security and reconstruction but will call on nations, including those who flatly opposed the Iraq war, to contribute in a number of ways. "We'll stay on the same schedule," an official has been quoted in the paper as saying on the drafting of the constitution and the elections in Iraq.

Mr. Bush is not expected to talk of a timetable on the political front, but his aides have said that the idea of France to turn over authority by next spring is "very ambitious".

In an interview to Fox News, Mr. Bush defined the U.N. role — in quite narrow terms — a theme that would most certainly put him at odds with Russia and several nations in Europe.

Asked whether he was willing to give the U.N. more authority so that a new resolution that Washington is seeking could materialise, Mr. Bush remarked, "I'm not so sure we have to, for starters".

In the view of Mr. Bush, the U.N. could help in the writing of an Iraqi constitution and could oversee the elections process. "That would be deemed a larger role". But he is adamant that he will not allow any resolution that would "get in the way of an orderly transfer of sovereignty based on a logical series of steps".

In an interview to The New York Times, the President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, has said the idea of Pakistan sending troops to Iraq is unpopular in the country. "You need to change the domestic view point," Gen. Musharraf has said. This could come about only when "the United Nations, Muslim countries, Arab countries and Iraqis themselves are asking for Muslim troops."

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