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Works and plays well with others Bush, AbashedBy Rick Horowitz
UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 23 -- A dangerous time requires more cooperation and less contentiousness, President Bush told world leaders here today, pledging increased American efforts to involve the international community in rebuilding Iraq. "Just because we're the most powerful nation on the face of the earth," the president declared in an address to the General Assembly, "that doesn't mean we always have the right answers. Sometimes we'd do better to listen to the wisdom of others." Mr. Bush's comments came as the world body opened a discussion of Iraq and other international trouble spots, and as the situation in Iraq remained unsettled nearly five months after the president declared an end to "major combat operations" there. His remarks seemed designed to defuse growing criticism of the United States, both in foreign capitals and among the people those governments represent, as a "go-it-alone" superpower acting without considering other nations' needs and interests. While not saying so explicitly, the president appeared to acknowledge the validity of those concerns. "Can a nation get too big for its britches?" Mr. Bush asked rhetorically, and then replied, "Of course it can -- but it shouldn't. The last thing you need is someone standing up here saying, 'We were right to go to war, and we're proud of what we accomplished.' Especially when we still haven't found Saddam Hussein, not to mention all those weapons of mass destruction we kept talking about." Instead, the president suggested, nations should exercise their military and economic power with restraint, and as part of a broad international design. "Not because they want to be nice guys," the president explained, "but because we can all be more effective that way." Mr. Bush delivered his speech little more than a year after he attempted, in another General Assembly address, to rally the world community against the Iraqi government. Faced with months of strong opposition in the Security Council, the United States ultimately put together its own "coalition of the willing" and overthrew the Iraqi regime. But restoring peace, let alone water and electricity, to much of Iraq has proven to be far more difficult than anticipated. And using, as many in the Bush administration had urged, a success in Iraq as the first step in reshaping all of the Middle East now seems a distant hope, rather than an immediate strategy. "Guys like Wolfowitz," the president said, referring to Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defense known to favor a more muscular American foreign policy, "they think they snap their fingers and the rest of the world jumps. They got me into this mess -- I don't blame you a bit for not wanting to bail me out." Still, the president urged his audience to let bygones be bygones, and he promised them a more significant role in all aspects of Iraq's reconstruction. "Of course we'd like to have your money and your soldiers," the president declared. "We're stretched way too thin, and my latest poll numbers are giving Karl Rove conniption fits. But we'd also like to have your advice and your influence and your full participation, even when it comes to contracts. And if that means taking a couple billion dollars away from Halliburton -- hey, they're still making out like bandits." Mr. Bush's more conciliatory tone was well received by representatives of other nations, including some who have clashed with the United States over its policy toward Iraq. A senior French diplomat, for example, praised the president, while accepting his own nation's portion of the blame for the deteriorating relations between the two countries. "At certain moments, we let our envy feelings get in the way," said the diplomat, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "We, too, would like to lead the world, as America does. But we now realize this is impossible, and we await your instructions." The president was preceded on the podium by Secretary General Kofi Annan and a delegation of flying pigs. Posted 9/24/03. In
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Rick Horowitz
