President Bush Calls on Nations to Fight Terrorism

Mr. Bush told the delegates, ”Every nation has a stake in this cause. As we meet, the terrorists are planning more murder, perhaps in my country or perhaps in yours.”

“History will record our response and judge or justify every nation in this hall. The civilized world is now responding. We act to defend ourselves and deliver our children from a future of fear.”

President Bush is among more than 40 world leaders set to address the General Assembly’s annual general debate. The session, originally set for Sept. 24, was delayed for the first time in the organization’s 56-year history because of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The president said that those like the Taliban who give safe harbor to Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaida terrorist network, suspected in the attacks, “will find their welcomed guests are parasites that will weaken them, and eventually consume them.

“The allies of terror are equally guilty of murder and equally accountable to justice,” the president said. “The Taliban are now learning this lesson.”

In recent weeks, the U.S. has added groups like Hamas and the Hezbollah to the growing list of groups whose assets must be seized and movements limited. Some nations, such as Lebanon, have said they would not crack down on some groups saying they have fought for independence and freedom.

President Bush told the UN that nations cannot select which organizations are terrorists and which are freedom fighters.

“In this world, there are good causes and bad causes, and we may disagree on where that line is drawn. Yet, there is no such thing as a good terrorist,” the U.S. president said. “No national aspiration, no remembered wrong can ever justify the deliberate murder of the innocent. Any government that rejects this principle, trying to pick and choose its terrorist friends, will know the consequences.”

The president told the UN that the United States is emerging from its initial grief from the Sept. 11 attacks and now expects more than sympathy from countries that have rallied to the U.S.-led anti-terror cause.

“The time for sympathy has now passed. The time for action has now arrived,” he added. 

President Bush, reiterating his speech in his weekly radio address, said nations should resist spreading terrorist propaganda, avoid using the anti-terror effort as a reason to persecute their minorities, and bolster efforts to expand trade and wipe out infectious diseases.

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, also speaking to the General Assembly, reiterated that counter-terrorism efforts could not justify violence. He also said a definition of terrorism should include Israeli practices against Palestinians, such as occupying Arab territory, expelling people from their homes and killing civilians.