Bush Set To Address U.N.

President Bush, trying to soften his image overseas as a heavy-handed unilateralist, is using his annual address to the United Nations to offer up a brighter vision of a planet with less hunger, disease and oppression.

The president will use his speech to staunchly defend U.S. actions in Iraq, but he'll also take a less confrontational approach, reports CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller. Mr. Bush will offer a number of new initiatives to expand prosperity, and, in his words, accelerate the march of freedom in the world.

Mr. Bush believes that never in the history of the U.N. have there been so many opportunities to create safer world by building a better world. He will challenge the U.N. to rise to what he views as an historic moment.

Exactly six weeks before Election Day, Mr. Bush is equally concerned about his audience at home. Many nations at the U.N. still view the U.S. with bitterness if not hostility for its invasion of Iraq and the ongoing bloodshed there.

"The president is expected to be viewed with some skepticism because the president and the United States walked away from the United Nations during the Iraq debate and the invasion of Iraq," says CBS News Foreign Affairs Analyst Pamela Falk.

But Mr. Bush will make no apologies, reports Knoller, and will renew his determination to stay the course in Iraq so that democracy is established there.

But unlike his speech to the United Nations last year, the president was not devoting the majority of his 35-minute address to Iraq and terrorism. His aim is to persuade U.S. voters and a skeptical global audience that there is more to his foreign policy than grim warnings about terror and aggressive use of U.S military force.

His message is that the world is a better place thanks to his policies, and will get better still if nations band together to cooperate with his initiatives: expanding healthcare, fighting the global HIV/AIDS crisis, hunger, and illiteracy and expanding economic opportunities for poor nations, reports CBS News White House Correspondent Bill Plante.

He has his work here cut out for him: Last week, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that from his point of view, the U.S.-led Iraq invasion was "illegal."

"I have stated clearly that it was not in conformity with the security council, with the U.N. charter," he said.

Annan says that if there is one theme to the two-week ministerial meeting here, it's "the rule of law."

In something of a pre-emptive strike, Democratic rival John Kerry appeared at New York University on Monday to deliver a stinging attack on President Bush's Iraq policy.

Mr. Bush's U.N. speech is sandwiched between meetings with world leaders and a sit-down with Annan. It is an unusual burst of diplomacy for the president, who has been keeping a punishing travel schedule to swing states as he seeks re-election.

Also Tuesday, he meets with the leaders of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Japan and Iraq. Last year, Mr. Bush met with the heads of France and Germany — two of his harshest critics on Iraq. But there are no Europeans on this year's list, and aside from his host, Annan, no sharp critics of the Iraq war.

Finally, he sees Mother Teresa's successor, Sister Nirmala.

That final meeting could help Mr. Bush with American Roman Catholics, a powerful voting bloc. It is also intended to send a signal about the president's compassion for the poor.

"I will talk about the great possibilities of our time to improve health, expand prosperity and extend freedom in our world," Mr. Bush said last week in his weekly radio address.

For President Bush, meeting interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, who was attending the U.N. gathering, will mark a milestone of sorts.

As the head of the fledgling government in Iraq, Allawi can help Mr. Bush put a human face on the reasons for the U.S. sacrifices thousands of miles away.

"He is a strong and determined leader," Mr. Bush said Monday in Derry, New Hampshire. "He understands the stakes in this battle. I hope the American people will listen carefully to his assessment of the situation in his country."

The president will host Allawi at the White House on Thursday, and the Iraqi leader will address Congress.

Allawi speaks at the United Nations on Friday.