George Bush\'s Speech to UN

George Bush's Speech to UN Session

More than 80 Heads of States and governments attended 59th session of the United Nation's general Assembly held in New York City on September 21, 2004. The setting of General Assembly has always been there for some serious discussion. Different heads of states choose this occasion to show their point-of-view to the world. The General Assembly session is an annual ritual where general assembly members gather and discuss world issues. President Bush dressed up somberly and smartly in a crisp white shirt and a navy tie with a tailored suit also used this occasion to let his views known. President stood at the foreground podium with Kofi Annan sitting at the larger podium behind. A large screen projected Bush's live mage while he addressed the UN session. The total duration of the speech was 24 minutes.

President Bush immediately tried to build a rapport with the audience by welcoming them to his country and UN session. He started his speech by applauding people and UN who stand for liberty. His overall approach to starting a speech was effective and good. Right from the start he tried to build a theme of liberty, justice and freedom and later as he moved on, he addressed many issues with this theme in the background. Through out the speech he used gestures and eye contact to emphasize certain points. Everyone was interested in knowing Bush's stance on the violent situation in Iraq so he had a captive audience that measured and listened to each and every word he uttered.

Before President Bush made his speech, UN secretary General Kofi Annan opened the UN general assembly session by mentioning that the "rule of law" is at risk around the world. Anann's views on war in Iraq and its legitimacy also made headlines before when he considered it illegal and lacking Security Council Approval. Annan said, "no one is above law" and also discussed issues like brutal treatment meted out to Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Even different nations questioned the legitimacy of Iraq's invasion including people in the countries who supported this war. In this scenario Bush's situation was a little precarious and all eyes were fixed on him.

President did not use any aid or support in his speech as he spoke directly from the paper. In such a high profile setting of UN session the words make the difference rather than any aids. Its speech and points, people are interested in, so the best idea is to deliver the speech in a better way because use of aids could be distracting in this scenario.

The overall organization of the speech had a flow and was good. The theme Bush picked up in the beginning that is of freedom, liberty and justice, he built his speech through them. Using the same theme he moved from issue to issue. For example using the phrase "human dignity," he introduced the issue of Aids, human trafficking, human cloning, poverty, corruption, debt burden of the developing economies, ethnic and religious violence and democracy. This attachment of important values to various serious issues gave his speech a flow and a dramatic effect. Organization of his speech around these values helped him in putting forward complex issues. However, the world was waiting for his reaction to violence in Iraq and cases of abuses in Iraqi prisons. These issues were conspicuously absent and were not even a minor part of overall organization of the speech.

On a number of occasions President used language to draw the attention of audience to issues at hand. For instance, President asked international community and nations to help in rebuilding of Iraq. He substantiated his point of success in Iraq by naming Iraqi Prime Minister who was sitting in the general assembly. "The U.N. And its member nations must respond to Prime Minister Allawi's request and do more to help build an Iraq that is secure, democratic, federal and free," he said.

Bush referred to many events that took place in the past to support his speech such as crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan, torture of children in Beslan etc. By mentioning past events he tried to support his points related to fighting of terrorism and intolerance.

Not just past events but his points were also supported by some proposals such as "democracy fund" within the United Nations that would help with elections and other democratic processes.