Criticism of US heard at UN session on terrorism 

December 10, 2008
International Herald Tribune
Original Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/12/10/news/UN-UN-Counterterrorism.php

UNITED NATIONS: Croatia's president took a swipe at the Bush administration Tuesday, telling the U.N. Security Council that the global fight against terrorism has been compromised by Washington's pre-emptive approach.
Stipe Mesic, a staunch opponent of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, said solidarity with the U.S. diminished after it adopted a kind of exclusive competence of one country, or of a group of countries which it led.
The fight against terrorism as a global project was also compromised by the way in which it was waged, he said.
Stipe oversaw a 9-hour Security Council session he convened to renew the world's commitment to fighting terrorism. His Balkan country holds the 15-nation council's rotating presidency this month.
Bush defended his pre-emptive Bush Doctrine in a speech that coincided with the council session Tuesday. He told cadets at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., that a strong offense was needed to prevent Americans from being attacked again.
We resolved that we would not wait to be attacked again, and so we went on the offense against the terrorists overseas so we never had to face them here at home, he said.
The council session ended Tuesday night with Mesic reading an unanimous statement condemning terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and asserting that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivations.
Before exiting the world stage, Bush has been trying to paint his administration as more of a team player. The American-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, without the blessing of the United Nations, earned him the unilateralist label.
We recognized that we needed strong partners at our side, so we helped strengthen the counterterrorism capabilities of our allies, Bush said Tuesday.
President-elect Barack Obama has resurrected other nations' hopes for closer cooperation between the U.S. and U.N. on international problems.
Mesic said Bush's decision to topple former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's regime undermined the trust the U.S. initially enjoyed after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and weakened the global coalition for fighting international terrorism.
Such a coalition can only function on the basis of relations on an equal footing among its members but also on the basis of mutual trust. The initially sincere worldwide solidarity abated - not to say disappeared - because of the lack of trust, he said.
Mesic emphasized that only nonmilitary efforts could stop the growing threat of suicide bombers and other terror-spreading gunmen such as those who struck in Mumbai last month.
The use of force, however indispensable ... will not resolve anything in the long run, said Mesic. Neither will pre-emptive action outside the United Nations.
U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who is to be replaced by Obama's pick of Susan Rice in January, said the U.S. supports the U.N.'s central role in globally combatting terrorism, with all member nations closely cooperating to create a less permissive operating environment for terrorists.