Bush to focus on elections in U.N. talk

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine – President Bush, in his annual address Tuesday to the United Nations General Assembly, will reiterate America’s commitment to see free elections held in Afghanistan and Iraq, despite the ongoing violence in those countries.

Bush also plans to challenge the global community to do more to combat terrorism by fighting poverty, disease and illiteracy. Administration officials late last week previewed Bush’s broad aims for his appearance before the United Nations, many of whose members remain at odds with the United States on the Iraq war.

Bush’s U.N. appearance comes at a time of rising violence in Iraq and as his handling of the war there is coming under strong attack from Sen. John F. Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate. More than 200 Iraqis have died in recent days, raising doubts about whether the country will be stable enough to hold national elections in January.

Uncertainty also clouds the prospects of the Oct. 9 presidential election in Afghanistan, where President Hamid Karzai narrowly escaped another assassination attempt Thursday.

In his weekly radio address Saturday, Bush said he would make proposals at the United Nations “to expand prosperity and accelerate the march of freedom in our world.”

He said the United States had taken steps in that direction, referring to U.S. initiatives to battle AIDS and other diseases overseas and to teach new farming techniques in Africa in an attempt to alleviate hunger.

While at the United Nations, Bush plans to meet with an array of leaders, including the leaders of India, Japan and Pakistan. He also is slated to meet with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who last week added new fuel to the dispute over Iraq when he referred to the war there as illegal.

Bush also is to meet with Karzai, the Afghan president, and with interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, who will visit Washington, D.C., this week and address both houses of Congress.