US President George W. Bush asked a skeptical UN General Assembly yesterday for help in Iraqi reconstruction and said it was time to set aside past differences over the US-led invasion.
"Now the nation of Iraq needs and deserves our aid -- and all nations of good will should step forward and provide that support," Bush said, six months after the US and Britain went to war without UN backing.
In a speech defending his effort in Iraq, holding out the possibility that weapons of mass destruction may yet be accounted for, Bush also resisted a speedy transfer of Iraqi sovereignty as urged by some key allies, saying he wanted an orderly process that should not be hurried.
"The primary goal of our coalition in Iraq is self government for the people of Iraq, reached by orderly and democratic means. This process must unfold according to the needs of Iraqis -- neither hurried nor delayed by the wishes of other parties," Bush said.
On the eve of debate, Bush, whose job approval ratings at home have been knocked in part by mounting US casualties in Iraq, rejected a suggestion things were not going well.
"I don't think they're going badly. I mean, obviously I think they're going badly for the soldiers who lost their lives, and I weep for that person and their family. But no, I think we're making good progress," he told Fox news.
Washington is working on a new UN resolution aimed at attracting wider support for postwar reconstruction and easing the strain on US troops. But critics of the Iraq invasion, notably France and Germany, are pressing for more concessions.
Bush said he hoped to use a meeting on the sidelines of the assembly with French President Jacques Chirac, who spearheaded opposition to the war on Iraq, to try to convince him "that America is a good nation, genuinely good."
US forces, which have suffered dozens of casualties since Bush declared major combat over on May 1, killed three people yesterday after clashes with guerrillas near the flashpoint town of Falluja, west of Baghdad, locals and hospital officials said.
A US military spokeswoman confirmed American troops killed at least one person in the early-morning incident just north of Falluja, adding that "unknown forces" had attacked them near the town, a focus of support for ousted leader Saddam Hussein.
Chirac has criticized a draft of the US resolution, circulated to the 15-member Security Council, for not turning over at least symbolic sovereignty to an Iraqi governing council, then transfer power gradually over six to nine months.
National security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, rejected Chirac's idea.
"The French plan which would somehow try to transfer sovereignty to unelected people just isn't workable," she told reporters on Monday.
Despite their criticisms, both France, and yesterday Germany, have said they are unlikely to veto a resolution in the Security Council.
The main problem, however, is whether a resolution would attract any troops or money if the US retains firm control over the civilian as well as the military structures.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, to whom Washington is looking for a major contribution of peacekeepers, told The New York Times widespread domestic opposition would only change if "the United Nations, Muslim countries, Arab countries and Iraqis themselves are asking for Muslim troops."
RSS