UNITED NATIONS – Speaking to stone-faced world leaders, President Bush stressed democracy yesterday as the only source of international legitimacy and the only long-term answer to terrorism and violence.

“Oppressive governments support terror, while free governments fight the terrorists in their midst,” Mr. Bush said, addressing heads of states, including many from oppressive governments, and other top officials who made the trip to the Turtle Bay to attend the opening of the 59th annual session of the General Assembly.

Mr. Bush pointed in particular to two leaders, Prime Minister Allawi of Iraq and President Karzai of Afghanistan, as examples of how the cause of democracy has advanced under his administration. To further that advance, he proposed establishing a Democracy Fund within the United Nations, an idea that was the only new initiative in his 24-minute speech.

“The fund would help countries lay the foundations of democracy by instituting the rule of law, independent courts, a free press, political parties, and trade unions,” as well as the setting and monitoring of national elections, Mr. Bush said. America will make an initial contribution of a yet-undisclosed sum, he pledged, urging others to contribute to the fund as well.

The speech contained many passages that could easily turn into applause lines at campaign appearances. But in contrast to a speech by Secretary-General Annan, which was delivered minutes earlier and was interrupted several times by applause, Mr. Bush received only a tepid response from the leaders of 191 U.N. member countries, and only when the president concluded his remarks.

“He was totally devoid of the reality on the ground,” one French diplomat said afterward, asking that his name not be used. No doubt the cool reception had to do with the fact that many members of the audience represented governments that would be swept aside were the democratic forces Mr. Bush was encouraging to triumph in their capitals at home. The cool reception was illustrated as a U.N. camera caught a polite Nane Annan, the secretary-general’s wife, clapping delicately.

Mr. Bush, calling for a “new definition of security,” said it is “not merely found in spheres of influence, or some balance of power.” Rather, the president said, “The security of our world is found in the advancing rights of mankind.”

Thanks to his administration’s actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said, “These rights are advancing across the world. When it comes to the desire for liberty and justice, there is no clash of civilizations. People everywhere are capable of freedom, and worthy of freedom.”

Countering those who say stability brings security, Mr. Bush said, “For too long, many nations – including my own – tolerated, even excused, oppression in the Middle East in the name of stability.”

He said that for terrorists, “A free Iraq in the heart of the Middle East will be a decisive blow against their ambitions for that region.” Underlining what became known as the Bush Doctrine, he stressed that this would include all in the Middle East, including Palestinian Arabs.

“Peace will not be achieved by Palestinian rulers who intimidate opposition, tolerate corruption, and maintain ties to terrorist groups,” he said, in an implicit reference to Yasser Arafat, calling on world leaders to “withdraw all favor and support” from such leaders.

He also reiterated the principles of the “road map” for peace in that region, calling on Israel to “impose a settlement freeze, dismantle unauthorized outposts, end the daily humiliation of the Palestinian people, and avoid any actions that prejudice final negotiations.” For their part, he said Arab states “should end incitement in their own media, cut off public and private funding for terrorism, and establish normal relations with Israel.”

Mr. Bush did not directly address Mr. Annan’s assertion last week that the war in Iraq was illegal according to the U.N. charter. Neither did the American president explicitly mention weapons of mass destruction. But in thanking his coalition partners in Iraq, Mr. Bush said, “We are determined to prevent proliferation,” indicating that this was one of the reason for the allies’ sacrifices.

Countering opponents at home, who say the war on terror has reached a state of “quagmire,” Mr. Bush said the “Iraqi and Afghan people are on the path to democracy and freedom.”

“The governments that are rising will pose no threat to others,” he said. “Instead of harboring terrorists, they are fighting terrorist groups.” This progress, he told the assembly, “is good for the long-term security of us all.”

Earlier yesterday, top officials of the Bush administration defended American actions in Iraq.

Secretary of State Powell, speaking on the ABC program “Good Morning America,” said America “can’t just wilt” in the face of the actions of terrorists.

“It is a difficult struggle that we are in right now. There is no question about it. Insurgencies are tough,” Mr. Powell said. “But to say that we can’t deal with it, this sort of attitude that we are on the verge of defeat, is absolutely wrong.”

“This is the time to not take counsel of our fears and say everything is falling apart,” he said.

The national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, spoke about Iraq on NBC’s “Today” show.

“Kurds and Shia and Sunnis are working together to build a new Iraq,” she said.

“This insurgency has no political program,” Ms. Rice said. “This is an anarchist insurgency. They simply either want to take Iraq back to the old days of Saddam Hussein or to turn Iraq into the Taliban.”

In sharp contrast to Mr. Bush’s approach to world affairs, in which democracy is the path to end terrorism, the word “democracy” did not even appear in Mr. Annan’s earlier address to the General Assembly, and “terrorism” was mentioned twice, when Mr. Annan said it could be defeated only according to international law.

The Ghanaian began his discussion on the theme of the rule of international law with the Hammurabic code, which, he acknowledged, “now seems impossibly harsh.” He went on to draw a direct moral equivalence between terrorists in Iraq and Israel on the one hand, and the American Abu Ghraib prison scandal and Israel’s “excessive use of force” on the other.

That approach, much more familiar in the U.N. halls, was echoed in many later speeches yesterday. But some veteran U.N. watchers said they were impressed by Mr. Bush’s sober tone and principled approach to world affairs.

“I have seen American leaders address the United Nations since President Johnson, and this was a very good speech,” Samir Sanbar, a former assistant secretary general, told The New York Sun.

Mr. Bush, he said, could have used the U.N. troubles, as underlined by the oil-for-food scandal, to “throw barbs” at the institution to solidify his support in some parts of America. Instead, Mr. Bush sounded “more like his father,” Mr. Sanbar added. “Everybody expected him to be aggressive, as part of his political campaign, but the truth is Annan was electioneering more than Bush,” Mr. Sanbar said.

Inevitably, however, the speech was seen by many here as part of the presidential campaign. Mr. Bush’s Democratic opponent, Senator Kerry, stresses the U.N. in his speeches and is considered much more friendly to diplomats. His wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, was once an interpreter at the world body, and his sister, Peggy, a strong supporter of her brother’s candidacy, still works for the American mission to the United Nations.

Nevertheless, Mr. Bush’s speech stressed many multinational initiatives of his administration, including $15 billion that Washington has dedicated to fighting AIDS as part of a global $5.6 billion fund; a call for an increase in international monetary institutions’ contributions to battle poverty, and a Pentagon initiative, in collaboration with the Italian government and the G-8 nations, to train 75,000 peacekeepers, initially from Africa, for global operations.