Obama pushes for global cooperation
President urges for end to "reflexive anti-Americanism" in first address to United Nations
Warren P. Strobel - McClatchy Newspapers
Issue date: 9/24/09 Section: World News
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Making his inaugural address to the United Nations General Assembly, Obama ticked off a list of his predecessor's policies that he's overturned: banning extreme interrogation techniques that many consider torture; pledging to close the Guantanamo Bay prison; withdrawing from Iraq; and seeking deeper cuts in nuclear weapons.
"Make no mistake: Those who used to chastise America for acting alone in the world cannot now stand by and wait for America to solve the world's problems alone," Obama said.
He said Iran and North Korea "must be held accountable" if they continued nuclear programs outside international inspection. Israel, the Palestinians and Arab nations "must decide whether we are serious about peace or whether we will only lend it lip service." Both developed and developing nations must bear responsibility for combating climate change, he said.
Sitting in the audience as Obama spoke were Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who made his first appearance at U.N. headquarters since he took power in a coup 40 years ago.
Dressed in a brown embroidered shirt and a brown toga-like robe, and sporting a pin in the shape of Africa, Gadhafi later hailed Obama as a "son of Africa" and suggested that the 44th president be the ruler-for-life of the United States.
Gadhafi, dismissing diplomatic convention, then launched into a long speech in which he read from a copy of the U.N. charter. Complaining about the lopsided structure of the United Nations, in which most real power is vested in the Security Council, he then dropped the small, pale blue-covered copy of the charter to the floor of the rostrum.
"You are like Hyde Park ... You just make a speech, and then disappear," Gadhafi told the assembled delegates, referring to the London park that's famous for its soapbox speechifying.
Obama was greeted warmly in the General Assembly hall, but received his loudest applause when he criticized Israel's settlements in the West Bank. While the United States stands by Israel, the president said that "America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements."
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