Sharp words at UN assembly

NEW YORK - President Bush yesterday called on the United Nations to join a "mission of liberation," using its power to free the world's people of tyranny and poverty. Bush was seizing on massive prodemocracy demonstrations in Burma to illustrate his global vision of freedom.

"Americans are outraged by the situation in Burma," Bush said at the UN General Assembly. "The ruling junta remains unyielding, yet the people's desire for freedom is unmistakable."

Hours later, however, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran boldly challenged Bush's portrayal of the United States as a defender of freedom. In his address to the assembly, Ahmadinejad blasted Bush for leading "an onslaught" of aggression against weaker nations around the world.

Without mentioning the United States by name, Ahmadinejad left little doubt of the target of his remarks, calling on "a bullying power" to "have the courage to declare their defeat and exit Iraq."

"Some big powers still behave like the victors of the world war and humiliate other nations," said Ahmadinejad,

who was loudly applauded by repre- sentatives of developing countries. "These powers . . . have lost the competence to lead the world."

Such aggressive nations "use various pretexts to occupy sovereign states," Ahmadinejad said.

He lashed out at Bush for operating "secret prisons" in other countries and detaining suspects around the world indefinitely, "without any regard to due process."

Sharpening the focus of an already tense, highly-charged visit to the United States, he declared that the UN inquiry into whether Iran is developing nuclear weapons was "closed," suggesting that he does not fear additional UN Security Council sanctions that US officials promised.

Ahmadinejad's remarks appeared to raise the dispute over Iran's nuclear program, which Iran insists is solely for peaceful purposes. In addition to suspecting Iran of taking up nuclear arms, Bush also believes Ahmadinejad's regime is supplying anti-American insurgents in Iraq with weapons in a "proxy war" with the United States.

Though Ahmadinejad's high-profile visit has made national headlines, Bush avoided the opportunity to confront him in his speech before the General Assembly yesterday. President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, however, declared that Iran's potential acquisition of a nuclear weapon presents an "unacceptable risk" to world stability.

Rather than using the occasion to highlight the global war on terror, Bush focused on Burma, also known as Myanmar, where the largest street protests in 20 years pit nonviolent, prodemocracy activists against a brutal military regime.

The president announced the United States will further tighten economic sanctions against Burma's military rulers and financial backers, and expand a ban on visas to anyone found to have violated human rights.

Analysts said the protests gave Bush a chance to highlight a moral issue that few world leaders can dispute. The Burmese demonstrations, which began in August, pit a nonviolent movement of monks and a female activist who received a Nobel prize for her work against a brutal military dictatorship.

"Who can quibble with him on this one?" said Derek Mitchell, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank. "Iraq, and Iran, and all those other issues are much more complex in how you handle them. This is an easy call, when there are not many easy calls around the world."

The US national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said Bush took the chance to put "some additional issues on the table that he feels strongly about." Laura Bush has also become active on the issue.

The president made only a passing reference to Iraq, a topic which had dominated many of his earlier UN addresses. His 2002 speech, for example, outlined what he called the growing threat of Saddam Hussein's regime, and his 2004 speech declared that Iraq was on the "path of democracy and freedom."

Yesterday, Bush made few grand pronouncements about the war-torn country that will form his most important legacy. He said that "brave citizens in Lebanon and Afghanistan and Iraq have made the choice for democracy," and that "every civilized nation has a responsibility to stand with them."

Bush also called on the UN to help bring political change in Cuba, where he said "the long rule of a cruel dictator is nearing its end" - a reference to Cuban leader Fidel Castro's fading health. Bush also denounced the regimes in Zimbabwe and Sudan, making a forceful speech later in the afternoon at a Security Council meeting calling on the swift deployment of UN peacekeeping force to Darfur.

As the UN assembly adjourned yesterday, Bush hosted a dinner for world leaders while Ahmadinejad addressed a packed press conference at UN headquarters. In his interaction with reporters, Ahmadinejad was asked about a range of issues, including his view of homosexuals, Israel, and the treatment he received during his lecture Monday at Columbia University.

Though he had been invited to speak at a campus forum, the university president said Ahmadinejad behaved like "a petty and brutal dictator." And after his speech, Ahmadinejad engaged in a combative, question-and-answer session with the audience of Columbia students and faculty who pressed him on issues including human rights and the existence of Israel.

Ahmadinejad said he bore no grudge about the treatment. "In my opinion, it wasn't hard," he said, adding that the "meeting was widely welcomed by the students."

"Columbia University, its authorities, and officials need to practice a little more listening to other points of view and things they do not like to hear," he said.

When asked to elaborate on his Monday remarks asserting that there are no homosexuals in Iran, Ahmadinejad said, "I don't know any . . . give me an address so we can be aware."

When a reporter from Fox news asked him to clarify his position on Israel, Ahmadinejad asked, "Where are you from?"

After the reporter answered "I'm an American citizen," Ahmadinejad laughed and turned his eyes heavenward before repeating his stated belief that Israel is an illegal occupying power of Palestinian land.

Ahmadinejad first declined to answer an Israeli journalist's question about whether he feared an Israeli strike on his nation's nuclear facilities. However, he later said, "They really want to hurt us, but with the support of God, they won't be able to."