Wednesday, Sep 24, 2003
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By Sridhar Krishnaswami
In his address to the 58th United Nations General Assembly session, Mr. Bush made little attempt to go back on his policies even as he gave the slightest indication that the U.S. was going to agree to a faster time-frame on the issue of handing back sovereignty to Iraq. "The primary goal of our coalition in Iraq is self-government for the Iraq people, reached by orderly and democratic means. The process must unfold according to the needs of the Iraqis — neither hurried nor delayed by the voices of other parties," Mr. Bush told world leaders, many of whom are downright sceptical and concerned about the directions in the American foreign policy in Iraq and elsewhere. Mr. Bush's remarks seemed to be a dig at countries such as France who are pushing for an immediate end to occupation and a real government in place in Baghdad by next spring. The President also persisted with his theme of the kind of role the United Nations should play — involved in the writing of the constitution, training civil servants and overseeing the electoral process. "So let us move forward," he said acknowledging that there were several nations in the General Assembly who had disagreed with the U. S. actions in Iraq. Mr. Bush made no references to the post-war situation in Iraq — other than pinning the blame on terrorists — which is forcing Washington to come back to the Security Council for a new resolution. Neither did Mr. Bush dwell on Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, the chief rationale for going to war this March. The President said that the Iraq war has exposed some of the brutalities of the Saddam Hussein era— the killing fields and mass graves, the links to terror and the building of weapons of mass destruction. "We are now interviewing Iraqi citizens and analysing records of the old regime to reveal the full extent of its weapons programmes and the long campaign of deception," he said. Mr. Bush also referred to the West Asia peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians — urging the Jewish state to create conditions that would allow for a peaceful Palestinian State to emerge; and at the same time reminding the Palestinians that their cause is being "betrayed by leaders who cling to power but are feeding old hatreds," an indirect reference to Yasser Arafat. The U.S.leader called on the international community for decisive steps in the fight against the dreaded HIV/AIDS disease.. Reuters reports from Baghdad:
Plan to ban TV channels
Iraq's Governing Council said today it planned to temporarily close the Iraqi operations of two Arab satellite channels it accused of promoting violence. Entifadh Qanbar, spokesman for the Council chairman, Ahmed Chalabi, said broadcasts by the Qatar-based Al Jazeera and the Dubai-based Al Arabiya encouraged resistance to the U.S.-led occupation. ``Yesterday the Council issued a resolution... to close Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya satellite stations for violations of rules.
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