BUSH USES RARE UNSC APPEARANCE TO WARN SYRIA AND IRAN

The president spoke to the UN Security Council today. Here's an excerpt:

We have a solemn obligation -- we have a solemn obligation to stop terrorism at its early stages. We have a solemn obligation to defend our citizens against terrorism, to attack terrorist networks and deprive them of any safe haven, to promote an ideology of freedom and tolerance that will refute the dark vision of the terrorists. We must do all we can to disrupt each stage of planning and support for terrorist acts. Each of us must act, consistent with past Security Council resolutions: to freeze terrorists' assets; to deny terrorists freedom of movement by using effective border controls and secure travel documents; to prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons, including weapons of mass destruction. Each of us must act to share information to prevent a terrorist attack before they happen. The United States will continue to work with and through the Security Council to help all nations meet these commitments.

This was CLEARLY a message to Syria and Iran (and the Palestinians and the Pakistanis to a lesser extent). They'd ALL better do the above OR ELSE!

And in the ENTIRE speech, Bush never mentioned any naton directly by name; there was no OVERT threat. But the IMPLICATION could not be clearer. That's called "diplomacy." And it ESPECIALLY means that Syria and Iran should be very worried (because their support for terror inside Iraq threatens our soldiers and the emerging democracy in Iraq - the centerpiece of Bush's aggressive pro-democracy efforts). Stay tuned...