Bush warns Iranians of 'liberty' denied

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NEW YORK -- President Bush yesterday told Iranians they deserve a better government than they are getting, and he told Muslims worldwide to ignore radical "propaganda and conspiracy theories" that incite them to killing and terrorism.

But just hours later, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the U.N. General Assembly that the world's conflicts are the result of aggression by the U.S., Israel and other wealthy nations, and said the set-up of the United Nations is fundamentally unfair.

The biggest security crisis in the world took center stage as the two leaders spoke in the diplomatic version of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Mr. Ahmadinejad called out the U.S. and Britain by name, and taunted Mr. Bush, saying "the occupiers are incapable of establishing security in Iraq."

For his part Mr. Bush talked around the Iranian leader, using his 20-minute noontime address in the General Assembly's cavernous green chamber to "speak directly to the people across the broader Middle East."

"Extremists in your midst spread propaganda claiming that the West is engaged in a war against Islam," he said. "This propaganda is false, and its purpose is to confuse you and justify acts of terror."

The speech was the last of a series Mr. Bush has been delivering over the past three weeks on the war on terror. In the earlier speeches, he challenged Congress and U.S. voters to give him the tools he wants to fight Islamic terrorists, but in yesterday's speech he made clear he expects other countries to join the U.S. fight worldwide.

"Will we support the moderates and reformers who are working for change across the Middle East -- or will we yield the future to the terrorists and extremists? America has made its choice: We will stand with the moderates and reformers," he said.

He mentioned three U.N. resolutions -- on disarming Hezbollah in Lebanon, calling on Iran to end its nuclear-weapons program, and on expanding the peacekeeping force in the Darfur region of Sudan -- and said the world body must now meet its commitments.

Mr. Bush had specific words for the people of Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Darfur. He also warned Syrians their "rulers have allowed your country to become a crossroad for terrorism." But he saved his harshest words for Iran's leaders, telling Iranians that Americans respect them and their culture but "your rulers have chosen to deny you liberty and to use your nation's resources to fund terrorism, and fuel extremism, and pursue nuclear weapons."

He spoke to a full chamber, while the chamber was mostly empty for Mr. Ahmadinejad. The two leaders never crossed paths, as the Iranian missed yesterday's leaders' lunch, and Mr. Bush hosted a closed reception during the Iranian's speech.