Monday, September 18, 2006
U.N. General Assembly session starts today
Politics, U.N.
The U.N.'s General Assembly 61st session begins Monday in New York and will be attended by 192 nations and addressed by 26 national leaders. Issues on the agenda include attempts to move democracy forward in the Middle East and to help strengthen democracies in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority, as well as Iran's nuclear ambitions after Tehran ignored an August 31 U.N. deadline for suspending its nuclear program.
An administration official said of Bush, "He'll have in each case -- Iraq, Lebanon, and the Palestinian Authority -- I think he will have very concrete suggestions about the path forward for realising his vision of freedom and the role that the international community can play in that." On Tuesday afternoon, Bush is scheduled to meet with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani to discuss Iraq's progress toward democracy amid continuing violence.
