Iraq War Foes Focus on Alternative Agenda to Bush

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040921/wl_nm/iraq_un_dc&cid=574&ncid=1480

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - On the eve of President Bush (news - web sites)'s address to the United Nations (news - web sites), domestic and foreign critics of his Iraq (news - web sites) war policy focused on a radically different international agenda on Monday.


Dozens of leaders from countries that mostly opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, including President Jacques Chirac of France, attended a conference at U.N. headquarters on how to combat the dark side of globalization by fighting poverty.


Rebuilding Iraq, fighting terrorism and halting the spread of weapons of mass destruction -- Bush's agenda for the international community -- barely rated a mention at that conference, whose theme was combating global injustice.


"How many more times will it be necessary to repeat that the most destructive weapon of mass destruction in the world today is poverty?" Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva asked the assembled leaders.


The leaders of France, Brazil, Chile and Spain clashed with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman over proposals to tax arms sales or international financial transactions to raise new resources to fund development.

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