Bush faces bashing at UNGA session

Bush makes his annual trek to New York to speak to the UN General Assembly today. His remarks are likely to be seen in an election-year context, at a time of rising casualties in Iraq, fears of civil war and questions about whether national elections can be held in January as scheduled.

Before getting to New York, Bush will attend a campaign rally on Monday in Derry, New Hampshire, where Bush campaign officials said he will step up attacks on Democratic challenger John Kerry's Iraq policy, taking advantage of what the campaign calls Kerry's shifting positions.

Campaign officials said Bush would react to comments made last week by a Kerry military adviser, retired Adm. William Crowe, in which Crowe reportedly blasted Bush over Iraq and said the United States must reconsider its military efforts there.

Bush will attack Kerry for a policy of "defeat and retreat," campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel said. He will also launch a new advertisement on cable television promoting the president's proposals to create a national terrorism center and transform the US military to fight terrorism.

Bush's UN speech will be a mixture of talking up his hopes for success in Iraq and Afghanistan -- where a struggle is taking place to hold elections on Oct. 9 -- and emphasizing US efforts to assist the global fight against AIDS, hunger, illiteracy and poverty.

"All the world can be certain: America and our allies will keep our commitments to the Afghan and Iraqi people. Our long-term security -- the safety of our children and grandchildren -- will be served when the broader Middle East is home to stable, democratic governments that fight terror," Bush said in his weekly radio address on Saturday.

Many world leaders who opposed Bush on Iraq will be listening carefully to what he says about the situation there. He will be able to point to Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi as an example of a new generation of Iraqi leadership. He will meet Allawi at the White House on Thursday.

"He's a tough guy," Bush said at a campaign event on Friday. "He believes that Iraq should be free and he cares about the hopes and aspirations of the Iraqi people."

But there are likely to be some skeptics in the UN audience. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said last week he believes the US-led invasion of Iraq was a violation of international law.