At U.N., Bush Reassures Leaders on Economy
UNITED NATIONS — Addressing his eighth and final United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, President Bush assured world leaders that his administration had taken “bold steps” to promote stability in the markets. He expressed confidence that Congress would agree on a financial bailout plan “in the urgent time-frame required.”
“I can assure you that my administration and our Congress are working together to quickly pass legislation approving this strategy,” he said. “I am confident we will act in the urgent time-frame required.”
In his speech, he also gave a long defense of his administration’s record on international relations and the war on terror over the past eight years, saying the world still needed to take an “unequivocal moral stand against terrorism.”
But at a gathering of world leaders grappling with a global economy threatened by the meltdown of American financial institutions, Mr. Bush was forced to defend his administration’s handling of the crisis.
Earlier, in brief remarks on the financial crisis with the president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, he left open the possibility of accepting amendments to the bailout plan now being proposed by Democrats.
"Now there’s a natural give and take when it comes to the legislative process," he said. He said that world leaders had questioned him about the turmoil and the administration’s response, "wondering whether or not the United States has the right plan to deal with this economic crisis."
But he said that the plan laid out by Treasury Secretary Henry J. Paulson was a “robust plan to deal with a serious problem."
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, in his remarks at the General Assembly, called for an enlargement of the Security Council and the Group of Eight industrialized nations and for the s major economic powers to “rebuild capitalism in which credit agencies are controlled and punished when necessary.”
President Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, whose administration has been far more market-friendly than his labor background had foretold, was sharp in his comments. “An oft-foretold economic and financial crisis is now today’s harsh reality,” he said, in comments that took about a third of his address to the assembly. “The euphoria of speculators has spawned the anguish of entire peoples, in the wake of successive financial disasters that threaten the world’s economy.”
He seemed to criticize the American bailout proposal, saying: “The great Brazilian economist Celso Furtado said we must no allow speculators’ profits always to be privatized, while their losses are invariably socialized. We must not allow the burden of the boundless greed of a few to be shouldered by all. The economy is too serious an undertaking to be left in the hands of speculators. Ethics must also apply to the economy.”
While leaders including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran looked on, Mr. Bush also reprised familiar themes, issuing broad criticisms of countries such as Myanmar, Iran and North Korea. He said there was still a sharp difference between countries who supported freedom and those who repressed their citizens or sponsored terrorism, and he issued a sharp rebuff of Russia for its military invasion of Georgia last month, saying it had violated the United Nations charter.
Praising the “brave young democracies” of countries like Georgia and Ukraine, he said: “We must stand united in support of the people of Georgia.” His statement represented a sharp rebuff for Russia, a fellow member of the Security Council.
“The United Nations’ charter sets forth the equal rights of nations large and small,” he said. “Russia’s invasion of Georgia was a violation of those words.”
Over the past eight years, the United Nations was a forum for bitter disagreement between the United States and other countries over issues like the American-led invasion of Iraq and how to handle nuclear proliferation.
In his speech, Mr. Bush urged other countries to accept that “life has improved dramatically over the past 20 months” in Iraq.
“The United Nations has provided the mandate for multinational forces in Iraq through this December, and the United Nations is carrying out an ambitious strategy to strengthen Iraq’s democracy, including helping Iraqis prepare for their next round of free elections,” he said.
“Whatever disagreements our nations have had on Iraq, we should all welcome this progress towards stability and peace, and we should stand united in helping Iraq’s democracy succeed.”
As Mr. Bush spoke, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, was scheduled to hold a series of meetings in New York on foreign policy issues.
Ms. Palin was due to meet President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia, and former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger.
On terrorism, Mr. Bush said that it would be comforting to say that the terrorism threat had decreased. But he said that the “threat has not receded,” and that “the world must continue to confront terrorism.”
He defended the United States’ actions in the war on terrorism and said that attacking terrorists abroad was the best way of combating terrorism.
“Bringing the terrorists to justice does not create terrorism,” he said. “It is the best way to protect” against terrorism.
Mr. Bush, long a critic of the United Nations, also dwelt on its future role and said it could be “a powerful force for good in the world” but said it still needed to be streamlined and corruption weeded out, and he called on other countries to live up to their commitments to make the organization work properly.
“In the 21st century the world needs a confident and effective United Nations,” he said, adding that it was an organization “of extreme potential.” He said that multinational organizations were now "needed more urgently than ever" to combat terrorists and extremists.
In particular, he said countries had to review the work of the Human Rights Council, which he said had “routinely protected violators of human rights.”