Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Bush speech meant as weapons caution

|
|
 
  
Published: Jan. 21, 2004 at 8:48 AM

WASHINGTON, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- A main point in U.S. President George Bush's state of the union speech was a call to countries to follow Libya's voluntary disarmament.

Jim Wilkinson, deputy national security adviser for communications, told reporters the speech was crafted to convey the nations of the world have the option of trying to develop weapons of mass destruction or voluntarily disarming, Voice of America reported.

"What his policy says is that regimes have a choice," Wilkinson said. "They can choose to pursue weapons of mass destruction at great peril, at great expense."

Wilkinson, a deputy assistant to President Bush, also highlighted the call in the speech to double the budget of the National Endowment for Democracy.

Wilkinson said the new money, about $40 million, will promote human rights, religious tolerance, free elections and freedom of the press in the Middle East.

Topics: Jim Wilkinson
© 2004 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Notable deaths of 2012 Scripps National Spelling Bee AmfAR Cinema Against AIDS gala
Indianapolis 500 Presidential Medal of Freedom Memorial Day around the nation
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 21
Singer Janelle Monae arrives at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards in Universal City, California
View Caption
Singer Janelle Monae arrives for the MTV Movie Awards at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California. UPI/Jim Ruymen
fark
Amsterdam drops ban on drinking beer standing up. Drinking beer upside down still punishable offense...
Photoshop Theme: Mashup products from different centuries. Link goes to real product example
Okay, you've got to admit wildfires are pretty cool when you're looking at them from space
Barnes and Noble tell a 73-year-old patron that men can't be by themselves in the children's area,...
While the Chinese are fiddling with an outdated Russian aircraft carrier, the U.S. has something...
Trololo no mo