Obama to urge U.N. to address crisis in Muslim world
President Barack Obama arrives at John F. Kennedy International Airport September 24, 2012 in New York, where he will speak to the United Nations General Assembly. / BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images
(CBS/AP) NEW YORK - In his last international address before Election Day, President Barack Obama on Tuesday will speak to the United Nations General Assembly and challenge the world to confront the root causes of rage that have exploded across the Muslim world, calling it a defining choice "between the forces that would drive us apart and the hopes we hold in common."
Mr. Obama will tell world leaders that the United States will not shrink from its role in troubled, transitioning nations despite the killing of four Americans in Libya, including U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens.
More than 50 people have died in violence in North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia linked, at least in part, to recent protests against an anti-Muslim video posted on YouTube that mocks the Prophet Mohammad.
In excerpts of his General Assembly speech released in advance by the White House, Mr. Obama will say, "There are no words that excuse the killing of innocents. There is no video that justifies an attack on an Embassy. There is no slander that provides an excuse for people to burn a restaurant in Lebanon, or destroy a school in Tunis, or cause death and destruction in Pakistan.
"The attacks of the last two weeks are not simply an assault on America. They are also an assault on the very ideals upon which the United Nations was founded.
"If we are serious about those ideals, we must speak honestly about the deeper causes of this crisis. Because we face a choice between the forces that would drive us apart, and the hopes we hold in common.
"Today, we must affirm that our future will be determined by people like Chris Stevens, and not by his killers. Today, we must declare that this violence and intolerance has no place among our United Nations."
Mr. Obama will declare that the United States of America will stand up for the aspirations of people everywhere who "long for the freedom to determine their destiny; the dignity that comes with work; the comfort that comes from faith; and the justice that exists when governments serve their people - and not the other way around."
Much of the recent violent protests have been directed at the United States because the anti-Islam film was produced in this country; there have been public calls for the filmmaker's arrest, extradition nor murder.
The White House has now deemed the attack on its consulate in Libya a "terrorist attack" but they have stopped short of calling it premeditated.
In the first days following the attack the Obama administration had characterized the assault as a spontaneous demonstration by protesters inflamed by the video.
There have also been questions about whether there was adequate security at the Benghazi compound, most recently underscored by a testy exchange between a State department spokesman and a BuzzFeed journalist regarding CNN's decision to report on Stevens' personal journal, which was found by a reporter in the largely unguarded facility after the attack.
Gibbs: White House did not "intentionally" mislead on consulate attack
President Obama will also to seek to show U.S. resolve in preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. It is an issue that has undermined the White House's relations with Israel's leadership, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has grown more outspoken about the U.S. election and meeting the military threat from Tehran, going so far as to compare Iran to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
In an interview with CBS News' Charlie Rose and Norah O'Donnell, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad questioned whether the U.S. was doing the bidding of Israel.
"Who is subservient to whom? The Zionists to the United States government, or the United States government to the Zionists? Which one is which?" Ahmadinejad said.
To watch the interview with President Ahmadinejad click on the video player below.
In his remarks President Obama will call for resolving the impasse through diplomacy, "and we believe that there is still time and space to do so. But that time is not unlimited. We respect the right of nations to access peaceful nuclear power, but one of the purposes of the United Nations is to see that we harness that power for peace.
"Make no mistake: a nuclear-armed Iran is not a challenge that can be contained. It would threaten the elimination of Israel, the security of Gulf nations, and the stability of the global economy. It risks triggering a nuclear-arms race in the region, and the unraveling of the non-proliferation treaty. That is why a coalition of countries is holding the Iranian government accountable. And that is why the United States will do what we must to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."
Just beyond his remarks on unity and U.S. determination will lap the forces of election year politics, as critics snipe that Mr. Obama is skipping any formal talks with world leaders during the U.N. meetings - as he made time to tape an appearance with first lady Michelle Obama for ABC's "The View," airing Tuesday.
Senior White House correspondent Bill Plante told "CBS This Morning" that "Simply put, this is about politics in an election year. He did have last year, for example, 13 meetings with other world leaders while he was here - and this year, none."
By comparison, in 2004 as President George W. Bush came to New York City to speak to the U.N. he also met with Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh - as well as attend a campaign rally at the Sheraton Hotel.
In 1996 President Bill Clinton declined attending lunch with world leaders and then-Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
For Obama, diplomacy gets back seat to campaign
A campaign spokesman for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said Mr. Obama's foreign policy was in "disarray."
"As president, Mitt Romney will repair our relationships abroad and create a safer, more secure nation," spokesman Ryan Williams said.
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Is our Mittens learning? Sheesh, Obama is no apologist, just ask Osama. Mitt and the GOP seem to be willing to say anything anywhere, and at any time, regardless of its veracity and its impact on the United States.
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/13034180-osama-bin-laden-reaches-to-libya-and-pakistan-from-from-his-watery-grave
Progress for Romney already coming from his new double down on "aggressiveness"; he has moved from flip flop to flop for consistency, and he is now increasing momentum by doubling down. Unfortunately the momentum is also down....
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/13017922-its-the-dishonesty-stupid
Mitt is less than competent as a politician; can't juggle more than one ball at a time. And his wife is already complaining and the "hardest" part is yet to come..... It seems they thought they just had to show up and everyone would be relieved to relieve the Obama's at the helm of this Nation...
I want to see a new Congress in Obama's hands. Let's give him a clear mandate and the tools to execute a recovery. A strong one. America has been loitering with the GOP for too long.
Mitt has written off half of all Americans.
I guess he sees them as irresponsible and an expense to America; not his America. I suppose he sees not a "self made" man or woman among them. They didn't build this country? Romney owes them an apology, yet; he wouldn't know an apology if it punched him in the nose.
Mitt sees the Presidency as not to help the needy; but rather, to help those who don't need it. These people are the old and less fortunate, maybe even some thrown in the street after the pillaging of American companies. Mitt and Bain cheated the American Treasury and buried their treasure in the Caribbean. What does Mitt really believe?
What is more shocking is that it is possible to write off half the country and still get elected in America! Because of the political duopoly and the blind faith of GOP followers. Plus the GOP's efforts to disenfranchise many Americans; a fraudulent attempt to prevent "fraud".
America needs Obama. It is actually Obama's footprints that remain at the RNC; and it is Obama who will move America Forward and rebuild the nation.
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/12989871-from-breaking-to-building-a-nation-the-change-is-you
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/12889195-footprints-at-the-republican-national-convention-in-tampa-florida
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/12903382-michele-obama-and-bill-clinton-lay-out-at-the-rnc-just-how-much-obama-believes-in-america-does-mitt-romney-believe-in-america-or-something-else?clear_cache=true
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/13017922-its-the-dishonesty-stupid
Mr. Obama will declare that the United States of America will stand up for the aspirations of people everywhere who "long for the freedom to determine their destiny; the dignity that comes with work; the comfort that comes from faith; and the justice that exists when governments serve their people - and not the other way around."
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Obama is a Leader! THIS is what a Leader looks like! I have a hard time picking out my favorite part of his speech - because its filled with the common sense things that Need to be said! If every country had a leader like this, this world we live in would be a lot more peaceful!
Your comment alone, proves you'd never be happy, if he were in the "chair in the Oval Office" you'd be saying he should have been at the U.N. If he were at the U.N. - you'd be saying he should have been in the Oval Office. If he stops to take a breath, you think he's not working! LOL! The man IS human! He will eat a snowcone now and then, and the world won't fall apart because of it!
At this point, the U.S. can get credit for standing up to Chinese expansion in the South China Sea, and in helping to overthrow Bashar Assad. On other natters, the U.S. is considered as the wrongdoer on the Palestinian issue, Afghanistan, Iran, Africa and Latin America. I expect Obama's U.N. speech to be tailored more toward domestic consumption campaign fare - rather as an global policy speech. After all, as far as global policy is concerned, the U.S. has reached it limits, and is global influence is now on a downward spiral in all continents. Nikos Retsos, retired professor
This is the important message. People in the middle east will have to work out their prophet protest problems, but the nuclear threat is THE big issue.
Sounds like a lame duck to me. 43 days and counting.