Bush Says U.N. Must Help In Iraq

"Members of the United Nations now have an opportunity, and the responsibility, to assume a broader role in assuring that Iraq becomes a free and democratic nation," Bush said in a rare prime-time speech late Sunday, September 7.

"I recognize that not all our friends agreed with our decision to enforce the Security Council resolutions and remove Saddam Hussein from power, yet we cannot let past differences interfere with present duties," he said in a primetime speech given from the White House’s Cabinet Room.

The move represents a turnaround in policy compared to the months leading up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, which Washington launched without a U.N. mandate and amid staunch opposition from the international community, including U.N. Security Council members, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Bush somberly warned the U.S. public that rebuilding Iraq "will take time, and require sacrifice".

He added that he would ask Congress for 87 billion dollars for policing and rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan over the next year.

The U.S. leader said 66 billion dollar of his new funding request would go towards military and intelligence operations in Iraq and Afghanistan over the next year. The rest would go towards reconstruction.

The administration gave no details on how it would finance the new expenditures, which could push the record U.S. budget deficit well beyond 500 billion dollars.

Washington, battered by a rising price tag and a post-war death toll that has surpassed that of the original invasion, now seeks a new U.N. resolution creating a multinational force for Iraq.