Obama confronts Iran, Syria

Obama confronts Iran, Syria

Obama confronts Iran, Syria at United Nations

By David Ariosto, CNN

updated 3:49 PM EDT, Tue September 25, 2012

Obama warns Iran at UN

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: The French president says France will lead an effort to create African-based U.N. agency
• NEW: That agency should be dedicated to the environment, he says
• A "two-state solution is the only sustainable option," Ban said on the Israel-Palestinian issue
• Ban called the situation in Syria "a regional calamity with global ramifications"

United Nations (CNN) -- Embroiled in a tight campaign for re-election, President Barack Obama warned Iran and Syria that their leaders are on the losing end of a sweeping tide of democracy across the Middle East and North Africa.

"In Syria, the future must not belong to a dictator who massacres his people," Obama told the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.

The American president also blamed Iran for "propping up a dictatorship in Damascus," restricting freedoms at home and supporting terrorist groups abroad.

Throughout his speech, Obama emphasized that unrest in the region -- namely, the 18-month-old Syrian civil war and recent protests against an obscure anti-Islam film clip -- is taking place in the middle of an unfinished regional revolution that brought an end to oppressive regimes in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia.

"The turmoil of recent weeks reminds us that the path to democracy does not end with the casting of a ballot," he said.

Obama: We cannot ban blasphemy

Obama began his address with a remembrance of Chris Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya who was killed along with three other Americans when militants overran the U.S. consulate in eastern Libya earlier this month.

Obama: Every nation can tackle slavery

"The attacks on our civilians in Benghazi were attacks on America," he said. "We are grateful for the assistance we received from the Libyan government and from the Libyan people. There should be no doubt that we will be relentless in tracking down the killers and bringing them to justice."

Obama also addressed uproar over "The Innocence of Muslims," a privately-produced anti-Islam film that mocked the Prophet Mohammed and spawned anti-U.S. violence across the Muslim world. He then called on leaders, particularly those in fledgling democracies in the Muslim world, "to resist the temptation to crack down on dissidents."

"In hard economic times, countries may be tempted to rally the people around perceived enemies, at home and abroad, rather than focusing on the painstaking work of reform," Obama said.

Delivering remarks thought to be as much of a warning to Iran as an assurance to Israel, which has repeatedly threatened a pre-emptive strike, Obama said he remains committed to a diplomatic solution over Iran's nuclear program, though "time is not unlimited."

The United States "will do what we must to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon," he said, reminding other world leaders in attendance that a "nuclear-armed Iran is not a challenge that can be contained."

Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, though Western leaders believe Tehran is an aspiring armed nuclear power, while U.N. inspectors have also expressed doubts about the program's aims.

In an interview on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seemed to suggest that he would not be surprised over an Israeli strike.

President Obama's remarks at the General Assembly

"Of course, the Zionists are very much -- very adventuresome, very much seeking to fabricate things," Ahmadinejad said Monday, referring to Israel. "And I think they see themselves at the end of the line. And I do firmly believe that they seek to create the opportunities for themselves and their adventurous behaviors."

While Obama's speech was directed toward an international crowd, it is also thought to have a domestic audience in mind, which will decide in November whether the American president will stay in the White House for another term.

Later Tuesday, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai are scheduled to address delegates.

Here's a recap of other highlights at Tuesday's U.N. General Assembly:

Humanitarian issues

While violence in the Middle East and the civil war in Syria are expected to remain center stage, world leaders also took up a host of other pressing humanitarian issues, including poverty, global warming, women's empowerment and the prospect of renewed conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday cautioned against the spread of inequality, climate change, and emerging and ongoing conflicts in places like Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and South Sudan, Somalia and Libya.

"People want solutions and progress today," he said, calling for sustainable solutions to the variety of issues confronting developing nations, like access to clean water and the need for greater financial investment.

"Our duty is to respond to these frustrations," he said.

French President Francois Hollande took the lectern later Tuesday to address a worsening crisis in the Sahel, where a deadly mix of drought, famine and Islamic militancy have plagued the North Africa region.

"The situation created by the occupation of territory in the northern of Mali by terrorist groups is intolerable," he said.

The five big issues at the U.N. General Assembly

Hollande met with Ban at the U.N. earlier, where the two men exchanged views on ways to better forge a response to the African crisis, as well as other issues such as Iran's nuclear program, support to Afghanistan following the 2014 NATO withdrawal date and the humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

But the U.N. chief said during his opening remarks Tuesday that "the crisis in the Sahel is not getting sufficient attention and support."

He said he sought to "sound the alarm" regarding a variety of intractable global issues, including the conflict in Syria.

During a separate U.N. meeting on Haiti, which included actor-activist Sean Penn, Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe on Monday called on aid groups to do more to assist the earthquake-ravaged Caribbean nation.

"Haiti has no social protection system," the prime minister said, noting that part of the problem stemmed from a lack of government services outside the capital of Port-au-Prince.

More than two years after the 2010 quake forced an estimated 1.5 million residents into makeshift housing, Lamothe said about 400,000 of them are still waiting to be relocated.

Climate Change

Harkening back to a June conference in Brazil on U.N. development initiatives, the French president called the meeting "disappointing for some and encouraging for others." But Hollande sought to further that discussion Tuesday by declaring France ready to host a U.N. summit on climate change.

"If we want to make our world safer, it is up to us," he told the delegates.

Hollande also said France will spearhead an effort to develop an African-based U.N. agency dedicated to the environment, calling for additional resources and financing for HIV/AIDS programs and initiatives meant to combat malaria.

He said world leaders should look for innovative solutions to generate revenue for development initiatives like taxes on financial transactions, something that has traditionally bristled U.S. leaders.

Palestinian statehood

The U.N. chief touched on the issue of Palestinian statehood Tuesday, saying that the Palestinian territories must be able to realize "their right to a viable state of their own."

A "two-state solution is the only sustainable option," Ban said.

Obama also reaffirmed his support for that solution, calling on world leaders to "leave behind those who thrive on conflict, and those who reject the right of Israel to exist."

"The road is hard but the destination is clear -- a secure, Jewish state of Israel; and an independent, prosperous Palestine," Obama said.

Syria

Just as world leaders debated the 18-month civil war, a pair of attacks rattled an intelligence security compound in Damascus, as government and opposition forces continue to engage across the country.

Tuesday's violence coincided with Obama's call for transition, and came one a day after Qatar's prime minister proposed a "Plan B" to the crisis, which would require a no-fly zone and greater humanitarian aid.

"Brutal human rights abuses continue" in Syria, and are perpetrated mainly by the government, the U.N chief said during opening remarks Tuesday, though he also acknowledged abuses by anti-regime forces.

Ban, who has been critical of Syria's al-Assad, on Tuesday called the situation there "a regional calamity with global ramifications."

Earlier, international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi described the conflict as "a stalemate," saying that "there is no prospect for today or tomorrow to move forward."

Brahimi added that he has plans to meet with Russian and Chinese leaders in an effort to forge a lasting solution, and that there were indications that the country's anti-government resistance is becoming more unified.

The French president, a U.N. security council member, also described the situation in Syria as urgent, and said France would recognize a new government in Syria as soon as it was formally formed.

end quote from:
Obama confronts Iran, Syria

I really appreciate what President Obama said and the way he said it in regard to both Iran and the "Offensive film made about Mohammed" that was put on the internet. I think when he said that he "defends the right of those to say bad things about him in the United States" maybe people around the world will get how different a place the U.S. really is and maybe begin to understand that our freedoms and laws are based upon justice for all and not just justice for some which is different than most places on earth. When you create Justice for all many uncomfortable things happen when you do that. Many things happen that most people don't like. But it is the only way to have, "Justice for all" in theory or in reality that they human race has come up with yet that actually works real time in the real world and not just in some fantasyland that isn't real and cannot ever be.

Also, the word button above that says after end quote from: "Obama confronts Iran, Syria" if you click that word button will take you too CNN.com where you can then watch short clips of Obama's united Nations speech if you wish.