Bush to UN: An agenda for freedom

But will other world leaders be receptive to his message? A survey released by the German Marshall Fund earlier this month showed US esteem falling. It asked Europeans if the US should exert strong leadership in the world. Five years ago, 64 percent of those surveyed said, 'Yes." Today, that figure is 37 percent. At the same time, Bush will stride into the UN General Assembly hall a weakened and challenged president at home.

The current controversy in the US over the conduct of the war on terror, and treatment of detainees accused of terrorism, is a case in point. Bush wants to convince the world of the need to combat terrorism, but a growing list of prominent personalities in and out of government say his credibility on these issues is undermined if America is seen to be violating its own principles and riding roughshod on the world for its own security. And that could mean long-lasting consequences, they add, such as key countries' flagging willingness to cooperate with the US.

Bush's former secretary of state, Colin Powell, encapsulated that concern in a letter addressed to Sen. John McCain (R) of Arizona, in which he says the US could pay a high cost if an administration proposal to redefine the application of certain principles of the Geneva Conventions is adopted.

In the letter, which was the talk of Washington over the weekend, Mr. Powell says, "The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism," adding that it would also endanger US troops captured by our enemies. Aides say Mr. McCain says the proposal violates "our [American] values."

That controversy erupted amid other signs that the US position in the world is politically weakened – in particular by the war in Iraq. "Iraq has become the shorthand summary of American foreign policy, and until that changes, it will be hard for the president or anyone to resonate much with the world," says James McCormick, a professor of US foreign policy at Ohio State University in Ames.

At a press conference here last week, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the leaders he visited during a recent tour of the Middle East were torn over whether the US should stay in Iraq or plan to leave. But as for the consequences of the US invasion, Mr. Annan said he encountered no similar ambivalence in the region. "Most of the leaders felt that the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath have been a real disaster for them," Annan said. "They believe it has destabilized the region."

Ohio's Mr. McCormick says that "a broader agenda," clearly parting ways with the administration's trademark unilateralist approach to foreign policy, could begin to open international ports to US initiatives – and Bush's vision.

And administration officials say that is just what will happen. During Bush's visit to the UN, he will spotlight certain countries – Malaysia, for example, as a successful melding of Islam and democracy, and El Salvador, as once torn by death squads and an insurgency but now a functioning democracy that's contributing to global peacekeeping efforts.

Bush will also host a meeting of leaders from democratic states and civil society organizations involved in building institutions in weak democracies.

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