NEWS RELEASE C Contact: Mark Schoeff Jr. 202-775-3242 ([email protected])

BUSH AND U.N. DIPLOMACY President's Speech Unlikely to Sway Arab Countries

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23, 2003— CSIS analysts made the following statements about President Bush's UN speech today and U.S. efforts to increase international support for rebuilding :

Jon Alterman, director, CSIS Program (202-775-3295; [email protected]): "President Bush's plans for Iraq continue to concern Middle Eastern governments and anger Middle Eastern publics. In a region in which governments crave stability, there are widespread fears that instability will spill over Iraq's borders and threaten its neighbors. Arab publics, who have long been skeptical of American intentions, see the broader U.S. plan as one to weaken Iraq rather than strengthen it. It's hard to imagine anything President Bush could say that would satisfy his numerous critics in the Arab world, especially since he's proven far more effective galvanizing support for his policies in the United States than abroad."

Anthony Cordesman, CSIS Burke Chair in Strategy (202-775-3270; [email protected]): "There is something deeply ironic about going to the to seek military help to deal with the aftermath of a war the UN asked be delayed, a war the United States fought to deal with a threat that so far does not seem to have existed, and a war in which the United States needs military assistance to deal with the aftermath of a major 'victory.' The fact is that President Bush is going to the UN because his administration was misguided in the course it set for post-war Iraq. Instead of neoconservatives, the president should listen to the internationalists who have provided solid U.S. foreign policy leadership since World War II."

[Many Cordesman reports on the war in Iraq and the post-conflict rebuilding can be accessed at the CSIS Iraq Briefing Book http://www.csis.org/features/iraq.cfm ]

Rick Barton, director, CSIS Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project (202-775-3174; [email protected]): "We are at a point in Iraq where a refreshed coalition will help, both with the jobs that need to be done on the ground and with the perception of global commitment. President Bush's speech at the UN should allow several new partners to join the reconstruction effort-from technical help on infrastructure issues to police training and monitoring."

[Barton was a member of the CSIS-led team that traveled to Iraq in July to assess reconstruction efforts. The team's report can be accessed at http://www.csis.org/isp/pcr/IraqTrip.pdf ]

Linda Jamison, CSIS fellow in multilateral studies (202-775-3170; [email protected]): "Today at the UN President Bush admitted to the international community, our allies, and the rest of the world that the United States cannot bear the weight of securing and rebuilding Iraq alone. He basically said that the world is safer from terrorism, the war in Iraq was justified, and that the world should share the burden, the cost and also the level of success in Iraq with the United States. This is clearly not the best kind of multilateral cooperation, but it is a step in the right direction."

These are the views of the individuals cited, not of CSIS, which does not take policy positions. CSIS is an independent, nonpartisan public policy organization.

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