In his first major speech on Iraq since May, US President George W. Bush urged the UN to overcome "past differences" over the US-led invasion of Iraq, appealing even to opponents of the war for troops and money.
"Members of the United Nations now have an opportunity, and the responsibility, to assume a broader role in assuring that Iraq becomes a free and democratic nation," he said in a rare prime-time speech late Sunday.
Speaking from the White House's Cabinet Room, Bush somberly warned the US public that rebuilding Iraq "will take time and require sacrifice," and said he would ask Congress for US$87 billion for policing and rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan over the next year.
"Iraq is now the central front" of the global war on terrorism, said Bush, who launched that campaign after the Sept. 11 attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center two years ago.
"We will do what is necessary, we will spend what is necessary, to achieve this essential victory in the war on terror, to promote freedom, and to make our own nation more secure," he said in the 18-minute speech.
Washington, battered by a rising price tag and a post-war death toll that has surpassed that of the original invasion, now seeks a new UN resolution creating a multinational force for Iraq.
Bush cemented the policy about-face, appealing for help to UN Security Council members such as France, Russia and Germany, whose opposition deprived the March 19 attack of the council's explicit endorsement.
"I recognize that not all our friends agreed with our decision to enforce the Security Council resolutions and remove Saddam Hussein from power, yet we cannot let past differences interfere with present duties," he said.
"Terrorists in Iraq have attacked representatives of the civilized world and opposing them must be the cause of the civilized world," he said, an apparent reference to the devastating bombing of the UN's Baghdad headquarters.
Bush's portrayal of Iraq stood in stark contrast to the triumphal tone of his last speech to the nation, on May 1, when he declared the war "one victory" in the struggle against terrorism, beneath a banner that read "Mission Accomplished."
On Sunday, he seemed to dash hopes of a quick return of US troops and rebuff calls for sending more American soldiers to Iraq, saying that "the current number of American troops, nearly 130,000, is appropriate to their mission."
But he also said that commanders there sought a third multinational division, to join two others led by the British and the Poles.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Colin Powell told NBC television the new UN resolution might result in the deployment of just 10,000-15,000 more soldiers from US allies.
Powell will meet representatives of other nations this month to discuss contributions to the reconstruction effort in Afghanistan, followed by a similar conference on Iraq in October, Bush said.
The US leader said US$66 billion of his new funding request would go towards military and intelligence operations in Iraq and Afghanistan over the next year. The rest would go towards reconstruction.
In related news, the UK Ministry of Defense announced yesterday that it would send an extra 1,200 troops to Iraq and may send more reinforcements in the future to help rebuild the country's infrastructure and improve security.
RSS