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WASHINGTON: US President George W. Bush called for
concerted action to end North Korea’s nuclear weapons drive, the
Taliban offensive in Afghanistan and help restore democracy in
Myanmar in his annual State of the Union address.
He called for a coordinated
response to the threat of international terrorism, citing Southeast
Asia’s success in breaking up a terrorist cell grooming operatives
for attacks inside the United States.
In a speech that focused largely
on Iraq, energy and domestic health issues, the US leader also
sought a “serious, civil and conclusive debate” to draw up
comprehensive US legislation to regulate immigration.
Some one million Asians are
considered illegal immigrants in the US and a proposed crackdown
against them had led to massive protests last year.
Beleaguered by the unending war
in Iraq and politically handicapped by a Democratic-controlled
Congress, Bush still found time to address some of Washington’s
key concerns in Asia.
He lumped military-ruled Myanmar
together with Cuba and Belarus saying, “We will continue to speak
out for the cause of freedom.”
China and Russia recently vetoed
a US draft resolution at the UN Security Council urging Myanmar’s
rulers to free all political detainees and end military sexual
violence.
On North Korea’s nuclear
weapons drive, Bush said the US was pinning its hopes on six-party
talks to end the crisis.
America and the four countries
are negotiating with Pyongyang to disband its nuclear arms network
in return for security and diplomatic guarantees and energy and
other aid.
In Afghanistan, Bush noted the
landmark efforts by NATO forces to drive out Taliban militants and
al-Qaeda fighters trying to regain power.
He said additional US forces were
being sent to Iraq “with orders to find the terrorists and clear
them out.
“We did not drive al-Qaeda out
of their safe haven in Afghanistan only to let them set up a new
safe haven in a free Iraq,” he said.
--AFP
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