Bush isolated as speech to UN falls flat: "George Bush was increasingly isolated on the global stage yesterday as he defied intense criticism from a litany of world leaders at the United Nations over the war on Iraq... the French president, Jacques Chirac, who spoke after Mr Bush, blamed the US-led war for sparking one of the most severe crises in the history of the UN and argued that Mr Bush's unilateral actions could lead to anarchy.

'No one can act alone in the name of all and no one can accept the anarchy of a society without rules,' he said. 'The war, launched without the authorisation of the security council, shook the multilateral system. The UN has just been through one of the most grave crises in its history.'

"Earlier the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, condemned the doctrine of preemptive military intervention, arguing that it could lead to the unjustified 'lawless use of force' and posed a 'fundamental challenge' to world peace and stability. 'My concern is that, if it were to be adopted, it could set precedents that resulted in a proliferation of the unilateral and lawless use of force, with or without credible justification,' said Mr Annan. 'This logic represents a fundamental challenge to the principles on which, however imperfectly, world peace and stability have rested for the last 58 years.'"

Bush isolated as speech to UN falls flat: "George Bush was increasingly isolated on the global stage yesterday as he defied intense criticism from a litany of world leaders at the United Nations over the war on Iraq... the French president, Jacques Chirac, who spoke after Mr Bush, blamed the US-led war for sparking one of the most severe crises in the history of the UN and argued that Mr Bush's unilateral actions could lead to anarchy.

'No one can act alone in the name of all and no one can accept the anarchy of a society without rules,' he said. 'The war, launched without the authorisation of the security council, shook the multilateral system. The UN has just been through one of the most grave crises in its history.'

"Earlier the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, condemned the doctrine of preemptive military intervention, arguing that it could lead to the unjustified 'lawless use of force' and posed a 'fundamental challenge' to world peace and stability. 'My concern is that, if it were to be adopted, it could set precedents that resulted in a proliferation of the unilateral and lawless use of force, with or without credible justification,' said Mr Annan. 'This logic represents a fundamental challenge to the principles on which, however imperfectly, world peace and stability have rested for the last 58 years.'"