U.N. Meets to Discuss Iraq
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: The situation in Iraq is the focus of a high level meeting under way at this hour in Geneva. Secretary of State Colin Powell is there and the White House is sure to be keeping close tabs on its progress. CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash joins us now live with more -- Dana.</s>DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Stephen. Well, the president is keeping tabs, no doubt. He is doing so from Camp David this weekend. But he used an appearance with the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia yesterday to suggest that it is the responsibility of free nations to aid the U.S. in securing Iraq, and that's the message he said he sent with Colin Powell to Geneva.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Officials of the United Nations, he'll carry a message, no free nation can be neutral in the fight between civilization and chaos. Terrorists in Iraq have attacked representatives of the civilized world and opposing them and defeating them must be the cause of the civilized world.</s>BASH: Secretary Powell is in Geneva at this hour, meeting with counterparts from the other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and the secretary general, Kofi Annan, to look for a compromise on a new resolution the U.S. hopes will bring more international troops and financial assistance to a mission much more tolling than Bush officials had anticipated leading up to the war. Now, most of the countries Powell is trying to convince opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq. And earlier this week, the president urged that all parties not get caught up in what he called "past bickering," to look forward and not backwards. But what the secretary of state is trying to do is convince his counterparts, France in particular, to allow the U.S. to remain in control of the political transition as Iraqis write their constitution and prepare for elections. France and even Russia want a quicker timetable for turning over control to the Iraqi people, perhaps as short as a month, and greater U.N. involvement, and Secretary Powell says that particular timetable is simply unrealistic. But what Bush officials are saying is that unlike before the war, this time they are determined to find compromise and that is exactly what we are seeing beginning to unfold in Geneva today -- Stephen.</s>FRAZIER: So much to watch from the White House and from Camp David, too. Dana Bash, thanks for bringing us up to date.</s>BASH: Thank you.</s>FRAZIER: United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, in fact, is expected to hold a news conference in about two hours and CNN will bring that to you live.