Bush Will Lay Out Vision for Post-War Iraq Before General Assembly
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn now to the U.N., where President Bush will go before the General Assembly this morning. He's going to lay out his vision for a post-war Iraq, calling on the international community to support the U.S.-led rebuilding effort. Richard Roth is live for us at the United Nations with more on the challenges facing the president this morning. And I think it's fair to say -- Richard -- there are many. Good morning.</s>RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there are many. But challenge number one has entered the United Nations headquarters for this 58th General Assembly session, French President Jacques Chirac just arriving. These are live pictures as the president prepares to meet shortly with Secretary General Annan. I believe he will meet with President Bush, the first significant meeting since -- the first meeting since the U.S.-led war, a war that France opposed, as did many on the Security Council. The U.S. unable to achieve a second resolution, which it wanted, but felt it didn't need. It felt it already had the required authorization. Earlier this morning, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder met with Secretary General Kofi Annan. Schroeder effusively praising Secretary General Annan for his efforts. Annan opposed the war. The two men huddled in a session. There they are. The secretary general has a lot of support among many European powers on the Security Council, but he hasn't been able to convince President Bush to dialogue more and to give the U.N. more of a vital role. President Bush, in an interview earlier this week, saying the U.N. is good at writing a constitution and overseeing elections, but President Bush gave no indication that the U.N. is ready to take over things there in a bigger way. Secretary General Annan had some sharp words, also, for many members of the General Assembly, especially the United States. We can -- he will say my concern is if some sort of preemptive strategy was adopted, it could set precedents that result in a proliferation of unilateral and lawless use of force, with or without credible justification. President Bush, we believe, arriving right now at the United Nations. Secretary General Annan's words there dealt with nations going and interpreting outside of the U.N. charter the right to attack another country, even if there is no threat that was immediately posed because of the new situation regarding weapons of mass destruction. For President Bush, it's his first time here since September 12 last year, Soledad. And the president is supposed to speak for about 20 minutes. He believes the U.N. has a place in Iraq, but last year he said the U.N. has a risk of becoming irrelevant. Now he wants more of the world to share the burden, the financial support for billions of dollars that will be needed to reconstruct Iraq, plus to also help militarily. But countries such as India, Pakistan and European countries are very hesitant to contribute troops. Let's listen as people may yell a question out to the president. Well, the president -- people sort of know that especially before the speech, he's not going to come over and make an impromptu comment or two. Additional security, of course, put on here at the United Nations in the wake of two bombings at U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, one just over a month ago killing the U.N. special representative there and 22 other people, a devastating blow for the U.N. Secretary General Annan has told President Bush and the others, you can agree on a resolution, but give us a clear mandate. He doesn't want to put his forces, his staffers, not his military forces -- he doesn't have any -- his staffers in harm's way. The president will go up the escalator there, even though it looks like he's taking the steps. I don't know if that's for security reasons. But the president is now moving onto the second floor and he's going to have a private meeting with Secretary General Annan before the session gets under way inside the big General Assembly Hall. One hundred ninety-one countries now part of this U.N. organization. Secretary General Annan is going to tell everyone we've come to a fork in the road. This may be a moment, Annan will tell everyone, including President Bush, no less decisive than 1945 itself, when the United Nations was founded. Annan knows there are big differences among the powers here and he has said that there may be a need for radical reforms of the organization because people are deadlocked on so many key issues, whether it's Iraq or how many members should sit on that U.N. Security Council. And President Bush's speech will be more than an hour away. You're seeing U.N. photographs, U.N. staff members. The two are said to have a good relationship, the secretary general and President Bush, despite their differences in their last one-on-one meeting at the White House. Aides said they got along fine despite any differences. Secretary General Annan wants the big powers to come together. Only with a united Security Council can progress be made, according to aides. But it's going to be hard to get that resolution passed unless the U.S. and France make some changes. The U.S. wants a slower handover of power to Iraqi people. The U.S. thinks there should be more of a slower timetable.</s>O'BRIEN: Richard, as we watch the president, and obviously Colin Powell, as well, leading him in -- we saw the first lady. We will continue to watch this. But I want to ask you a question. Many people have said, in the little bit of previews that we've heard about the president's speech that will follow this morning, not so conciliatory and maybe it needs to be. What are the analysts telling you at this point, before the speech?</s>ROTH: Well, many analysts say the U.S. will have to give a little. You may not hear that in the speech by President Bush, who aides have said will not apologize, will defend the move on Iraq and will also, in effect, indicate there may be no need to get additional U.N. action. The U.S. is prepared to, again, go it alone, though casualties are still present every day there and the U.N. building has been targeted. So far, France has not threatened any veto, unless, according to an interview with President Chirac, the resolution turns provocative. But a lot of people want to move past Iraq. There are a lot of other issues, including terrorism, and they feel that only if the countries are working together, which is the goal of the U.N., can additional progress be made and it may be in everyone's best interests to get along here. This is definitely going to play out over the next few weeks. The resolution will not be approved today. Presidents Bush and Chirac will meet across the street. President Chirac, in a few hours, will have a news conference here. But he's still sticking to his guns -- more control for the Iraqi people, more control for the United Nations, a sped up timetable. The U.S. says Iraq is just not ready for it. You're seeing President Bush now there. That, I believe, is the president of the General Assembly, who is the foreign minister of St. Lucia. His term just started and it's off to a bang. He's got a big year ahead. President Bush also has a breakfast, I believe, with Caribbean leaders tomorrow morning -- Soledad.</s>O'BRIEN: All right, Richard Roth, thanks for that update. Assembly>