Civilisation under threat: Bush

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

UNITED NATIONS, NOV. 10. The U.S. President, Mr. George Bush, told the General Assembly today that every nation was a potential target of terrorism and civilisation itself was under threat.

The U.S., he said, will never forget the terror attacks of September 11 and neither should the rest of the world. ``Every other country is a potential target. This threat cannot be ignored...Civilisation itself, the civilisation we share, is threatened. History will record our response and judge or justify every nation in this hall'', the President remarked.

The President made the case rather forcefully and bluntly that nations that give safe havens to terrorists and outfits of the likes of Osama bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda ``will find their welcomed guests are parasites that will weaken them and eventually consume them''.

Lashing out at the Taliban militia in Afghanistan Mr. Bush said that it was ``virtually indistinguishable'' from the Al-Qaeda and therefore ``equally guilty of murder and equally accountable to justice''.

The President said that in the post-Taliban phase, the U.S. will be working with the U.N. in every way for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Afghanistan.

Mr. Bush will be meeting with at least nine world leaders, including the President of Pakistan, Gen. Pervez Musharraf and rubbing shoulders with several more during the course of the day. But significantly the President will not be meeting the Palestinian leader, Mr. Yasser Arafat.

The National Security Adviser, Dr. Condoleeza Rice has made it known that Mr. Arafat had not done enough to lower the level of violence, to ``root out terrorists'' and to stabilise security in the Palestinian territories. ``You cannot help us with Al-Qaeda and hug Hizbollah - that's not acceptable - or Hamas'',Dr. Rice has said.

The U.N. Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan has warned that the campaign against terrorism must not become the only dominant agenda but that pressing issues such as human rights, poverty and conflict must still be addressed.

The need to promote peace,development and human rights has taken on a ``new urgency'', Mr. Annan argued, is because a world that respects diversity and universal values can only be achieved ``if we bring real hope to the billions now trapped in poverty, conflict and disease''.

He reminded world leaders that progress is still to be made on meeting some agreed targets, as for instance reducing by half the number of people living on less than one dollar a day, ensuring universal elementary education and reversing the AIDS epidemic, all by 2015.

The consensus by and large has been that the international community `has' to prevail in the campaign against terrorism but that the agenda does not stop here. Many countries and delegates are making the point that the root causes of terrorism would also have to be addressed in addition to other priorities of the U.N. such as developmental issues, the West Asia peace process and the crises in the African continent.

The delayed General Assembly debate originally scheduled for September 24 but put off in the wake of the terrorist attacks against the U.S. is taking place amidst one of the tightest security environments ever seen around the U.N. complex.

With as many as 40 world leaders and about 100 foreign ministers expected for the weeklong session, authorities are taking no chances especially in the context of Osama bin Laden openly condemning the world body and calling the Secretary General a `criminal'.

``The U.N. has become a part of the enemy as far as Osama bin Laden is concerned. We have to be very, very careful. These are people who plan things well, who plan things meticulously'', a top U.N. official has said.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Previous : Pak. denies allegations
Next     : New WTO round not needed: Maran