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  The secretary-general also took aim at the United States in his General Assembly speech, warning world leaders that basic laws to protect civilians are being "shamelessly disregarded" around the world from Iraq and Sudan to Russia and Uganda.

In his list of violations of the rule of law, he cited "Iraqi prisoners flagrantly abused," clearly a criticism of the U.S. treatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. He also noted, without naming names, that at times "the necessary fight against terrorism is allowed to encroach unnecessarily on civil liberties."

Iraq has been a dominant theme for Bush at the United Nations since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. At the General Assembly ministerial meeting in 2002, he laid out the U.S. case against Saddam. The U.N. Security Council rejected it, refusing to authorize the U.S.-led war and creating one of the most serious divisions in the United Nations since its founding in 1945.

Bush warned that the United Nations risked becoming irrelevant. But at last fall's General Assembly, six months after the war, he appealed for international support to rebuild Iraq, and he repeated that appeal on Tuesday.

This year, with just six weeks before the U.S. presidential election, Bush softened his speech to discuss the "great issues of our time," such as fighting AIDS, human slavery, poverty, the violence in Sudan, corruption and human cloning. He also appealed for greater efforts to fight terrorism and "to promote hope and progress as the alternatives to hatred and violence."

"Our great purpose is to build a better world beyond the war on terror," Bush said.

He proposed establishing a Democracy Fund in the United Nations, pledging an initial unspecified contribution and urging other nations to donate to the fund, which would help countries lay the foundations of democracy by instituting the rule of law, independent courts, a free press, political parties and trade unions.

Despite the past differences with the United Nations, not just on Iraq but over the perception of U.S. unilateralism, the president paid tribute to the world body and its chief in a toast at a luncheon Tuesday hosted by Annan for world leaders.

Bush's 'Admiration' for Annan

"Mr. Secretary-General," Bush said, raising his glass, "with admiration for your leadership, and with confidence in this organization, I offer a toast to you and your service, and to the United Nations."

The tribute pleased several diplomats, who saw it as a recognition that the Bush administration has recognized that it needs the United Nations, and can't operate as a lone superpower.

"When all is said and done," said Swiss President Joseph Deiss, "the Iraq crisis has shown us that the international community remains attached to a multilateral system for maintaining international peace and security, but that the structures currently in place are no longer appropriate."

"There is now a clear need for reform and for strengthening the means of joint action," he said.

U.N. reform, which is expected to be tackled at next year's General Assembly session, was a topic in many speeches on Tuesday's opening of the two-week ministerial debate. So was the need to close the widening gap between rich and poor.

President Abel Pacheco de la Espriella of Costa Rica called for a fairer world economic system, noting that in 2003, the world reached a new record by devoting $956 billion to military expenditure. That is 17 times the amount of resources devoted to development assistance and more than the sum of the foreign debt of the 64 countries with the lowest GDP, he said.

"These numbers show that mankind has not understood yet that security does not result from a multiplication of the weapons but from a multiplication of the loaves of bread," Pacheco said.

Lula's Agenda

Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva appealed for economic and social justice in a world where the disparity in per-capita income between the richest and poorest nations is now 16 times greater than it was nearly two decades ago.

As one example of the human cost, he said, a lack of basic sanitation has killed more children in the past decade than all military conflicts since the end of World War II.

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