U.S. President George W. Bush delivers his final address to the United Nations on Tuesday facing a starkly different world from the one that heard his first — prolonged wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a financial crisis sweeping the globe.
Bush probably had hoped to focus in his speech to the annual General Assembly gathering of world leaders on joint efforts to convince Iran and North Korea to give up their nuclear programs as well as to promote his free trade agenda.
Instead he likely will be confronted by concerns about a $700 billion rescue for Wall Street. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is worried that this and other bailouts will reduce the ability of rich countries to aid the developing world.
"We are so intertwined with other economies around the world in our increasingly global economy that of course the United States economy is going to be a topic," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.
As Bush tries to pivot to international issues, his advisers in Washington are locked in negotiations with Congress over the administration's plan to buy hundreds of billions of dollars in illiquid assets from financial lenders' books.
But still high on Bush's agenda will be the Iraq and Afghan wars and efforts to learn more about Iran's nuclear program, which Washington and its allies are concerned is aimed at developing weapons. Iran says it only wants nuclear energy.
MORE SANCTIONS
Bush's senior aides will be working during the General Assembly for further sanctions against Iran, citing its refusal to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is probing allegations about Tehran's nuclear program.
Already three rounds of sanctions and a package of economic incentives have failed to convince Iran to halt its nuclear enrichment activities.
Whatever Bush says is almost certain to be contradicted by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who addresses the assembly in the afternoon.
Additionally, Bush is expected to address the situation in Georgia, renewing his backing for the former Soviet republic that Russia invaded after Georgia tried to retake control of the pro-Moscow breakaway region of South Ossetia.
Bush will also thank countries that took part in the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, most of which will leave by year's end.
Before Bush addresses the United Nations, he was to meet new Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, just days after a truck bombing of an American hotel in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad killed at least 53 people and wounded scores more.
That meeting also comes as the United States has ramped up efforts to strike al Qaeda and Taliban militants in the remote region along the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Reports of U.S. strikes inside Pakistan have angered many Pakistanis.
"Innocent people here in America, in the West, and in Pakistan itself are at risk because of these terrorists, and they know that they need to do more and do a better job, and that we're going to be there to support them," Perino said. "But we also recognize their sovereignty."
