The world, he said, was "engaged in an ideological struggle between extremists who use terror as a weapon to create fear and moderate people who work for peace."

A more hopeful world was within reach "if we seek it and we work together."

"The United Nations was created to make that journey possible," Bush said. "Together, we must support the dreams of good and decent people who are working to transform a troubled region. And by doing so, we will advance the high ideals on which this institution was founded."

Bush's remarks were the familiar drum roll on the necessity to spread democracy, a theme repeatedly sounded since at least his second Inaugural Address in defending and promoting U.S. military action in Iraq and an aggressive war against terrorism. The beat has increased in recent weeks as the president delivered a series of speeches to pump up American resolve amid continued anxiety over the Iraq conflict and its possible impact on the looming midterm elections.

The backdrop to exhortation Tuesday was more than simply the annual gathering of the international community. Rather, it was the crisis of will between the U.N. Security Council, the European Union and the United States on one hand, and Iran on the other over Tehran's refusal to halt nuclear fuel enrichment.

Continued tensions over Israel's invasion of Lebanon, Syria and Iran's financial support of Hezbollah, and the deepening economic and political crisis in the Palestinian territories completed the mosaic.

On Tuesday Bush, as he did in an address to the nation on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States, reeled off a checklist of successes for moderates in the Middle East -- the ousting of the Taliban and establishment of a democratic government in Afghanistan; the election of a democratic government in Iraq; election reform in the United Arab Emirates; women voting in Kuwait; elections in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere; and the withdrawal of Syrian occupation forces from Lebanon.

His voice was moderate, his message welcoming and inclusive. At times remarks were specifically directed at peoples rather than their governments. Yet they were unlikely to stir an organization in which U.S. motives are more often than not held suspect, and whose members more often than not shy away from aggressive action.

The trip to New York, however, did give the president the opportunity for sideline bilateral talks with allies and a chance to continue efforts to shore up support for confrontation with Iran over its nuclear programs, which the United States and others suspect are a cover for efforts to obtain nuclear weapons. The U.N. Security Council gave Tehran until Aug. 31 to halt its nuclear enrichment or face international action -- possibly including sanctions -- but Iran's leaders ignored it. Now the United States is pushing for a stiff economic rap on the knuckles.

China and Russia, with strong economic links to Iran, are against strong sanctions. Since they have U.N. veto power, the administration hopes to cobble together like-minded states for economic encouragement to Tehran to negotiate a resolution to the issue.

Among sideline talks Tuesday was a meeting with French President Jacques Chirac, who appeared this week to undermine U.S. policy by suggesting negotiations with Tehran could resume despite its enrichment defiance.

If nothing else, however, Bush's speech again kept the broader war on terror on the American mind. Latest polling shows he still retains the confidence of the majority of Americans on the issue, which is front and center in the midterms.

An ABC News poll of 1,003 adults nationwide on Sept. 5-7 showed 53 percent of respondents approved his handling of the overall war on terror, as opposed to 45 percent who disapproved. But the same poll showed a 56 percent negative response when asked if the war in Iraq specifically was worth fighting.

The Iraq War was initially touted as necessary because of the threat of weapons of mass destruction it was believed Saddam Hussein possessed and because of Saddam's support of terror. When those weapons failed to turn up Bush twined the war on terror -- and Iraq as part of that war -- with the greater Wilsonian view of making the world safe for democracy.

Bush's speech Tuesday is unlikely to garner garlands of praise. Yet it was again a clear statement of the administration's view that no nation is an island unto itself, and that moderation in the Middle East is necessary if instability and extremism in the region are to be overcome.

"Some have argued that the democratic changes we're seeing in the Middle East are destabilizing the region," Bush said. "This argument rests on a false assumption: that the Middle East was stable to begin with.

"The reality is that the stability we though we saw in the Middle East was a mirage ... millions of men and women in the region had been trapped in oppression and hopelessness. And these conditions left a generation of disillusioned and made this region a breeding ground for extremism.

"Every civilized nation, including those in the Muslim world, must support those in the region who are offering a more hopeful alternative," Bush said.

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