AMY GOODMAN: Today, a day after the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, President Bush will address the United Nations General Assembly. Administration officials say he’ll challenge the U.N. to enforce resolutions requiring Iraq to accept the destruction of its chemical and biological weapons. The U.S. will seek a single, toughly worded Security Council resolution that would authorize military action if Iraq refuses comprehensive inspections. Bush will tell the U.N. its authority will be wrecked unless it forces Iraq to comply with previous resolutions.

This is exactly why people are on the East River across from the United Nations right now. Activists have just hung a gigantic banner. Jason Mark is on the boat. He’s with Global Exchange.

Welcome to Democracy Now!

JASON MARK: Thanks so much, Amy.

AMY GOODMAN: Can you tell us what the banner says?

JASON MARK: Sure. It said, “Earth to Bush: No Iraq War!” underscoring the point that the world is essentially unanimous in its opposition to the White House’s plans to invade Iraq.

AMY GOODMAN: And describe where you are.

JASON MARK: We’re coming back into port right now. The Secret Service are closing down the East River. And that’s why we were out here at dawn today and had our banner up for about an hour.

AMY GOODMAN: How did you unfurl the banner?

JASON MARK: With four giant helium-filled weather balloons. So, we had a mesh banner with the message on it, and then used helium banners off a boat in the river to raise it up and show it to the people of Manhattan and to the folks inside the United Nations.

AMY GOODMAN: Jason Mark with Global Exchange, www.EarthToBush.com.

It’s not only protesters who are angry at Bush. The renowned former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, has condemned the United States as, quote, “a threat to world peace.” In an interview with Newsweek magazine published yesterday, Mandela repeated his call for President Bush not to launch attacks on Iraq, and said Bush is trying to please the U.S. arms and oil industries. Mandela also called some of Bush’s senior advisers, including Vice President Dick Cheney, “dinosaurs.” He said the U.S. backing for a coup by the shah of Iran in 1953 led to Iran’s Islamic Revolution. He said U.S. support for Osama bin Laden and the Mujahideen in Afghanistan, and its refusal to work with the United Nations after the Soviet withdrawal, led to the Taliban taking over. He said, quote, “If you look at those matters, you will come to the conclusion that the attitude of the United States of America is a threat to world peace.”

President Bush also spoke yesterday on the anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Speaking on Ellis Island, he said, “We will not allow any terrorist or tyrant to threaten civilization with weapons of mass murder.” Thousands of people packed the area around ground zero on the anniversary of the September 11th attacks, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg opened the memorial service just before 8:45 in the morning, the time the first hijacked plane crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center one year ago. Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani then began reading the names of the nearly 3,000 people who were killed in the twin towers on that day. Several people participated in the reading, which took around two hours. At peace vigils, speakers noted that the names of the undocumented immigrants who died that day were not included in the unofficial reading. Many Muslims stayed at home for fear of hate crimes. F-16 fighters and early-warning aircraft patrolled the skies and surface-to-air missiles ringed Washington.

Yasser Arafat has suffered what the London Guardian describes as one of the biggest humiliations of his career yesterday, when his entire Cabinet resigned to avoid a parliamentary vote of no confidence.

Two-time nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize Stanley Tookie Williams could be executed by the state of California as early as next year. On Tuesday, a federal appeals court upheld his death sentence, that stems from four murders 23 years ago. At the time, Williams was a member of the Crips, the Los Angeles street gang he helped found. Williams maintains he did not commit the murders. He’s become a leading voice condemning gang violence. He’s written nine books, including Tookie Speaks Out Against Gang Violence. He also helped create the Internet Project for Street Peace.

A day after the U.S. government awarded the Colombian military $42 million in aid, the nation’s president, Álvaro Uribe, took further steps to suspend Colombia’s constitution in the name of the war on terror. On Tuesday, the nation’s military was granted authority to search private homes and arrest people without a warrant. The army was also given greater power to impose curfews on civilian populations and to restrict travel.

And Leonard Peltier, the Native American leader in Leavenworth, is 58 years old today. His mother died on Monday. The federal penitentiary did not grant him permission to attend the funeral. When his father died several years ago, he also could not attend. The prison requires an inmate to pay for the room, the lodging, the salaries, the travel of the guards who accompany a prisoner. The prison said that Leonard Peltier would require 12 guards. The court, though, has agreed to an October 8th hearing that could lead to a reduction of sentence. Leonard Peltier is currently serving two consecutive life sentences for the murders of two FBI men on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1975. He continues to maintain his innocence.