President Bush addressed the U.N. General Assembly today, unapologetic for his administration’s historic break with the U.N. over Iraq. He defended US action in Iraq. He appealed to the international community for help with the reconstruction effort there. And he asserted that the U.S. and the U.N. still share common principles.

Bush’s remarks came shortly after U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, in his own speech, said, in effect, that U.S. policy now represents a challenge to the fundamental principles of the U.N. The world is at a fork in the road, he said. The U.N. needs reform. And Washington and Iraq need help — badly.

Click the “Listen” link to hear about the future role of the U.N. and America’s role in global policy-making and diplomacy.

Guests:

Richard Wolfe, diplomatic correspondent, Newsweek

Anne-Marie Slaughter, dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University;
Karl Inderfurth, professor at the Elliot School of International Affairs, George Washington University, former deputy US representative on the UN Security Council and assistant secretary of state for South Asian Affairs in the Clinton administration