United Nations ? President Bush, reaching out to an audience he has antagonized in the past, told the assembled leaders of the world Wednesday that the United States shares “a moral duty” to combat not only terrorism but also the poverty, oppression and hopelessness that give rise to it.

Addressing the United Nations, Bush linked his campaign against terrorism to the anti-poverty agenda advanced by other nations, although he shied away from adopting some of the specific commitments sought by allies. He later took the U.S. seat at the Security Council for the first time in his presidency to emphasize his solidarity with other countries in the struggle against terrorism.

“We must help raise up the failing states and stagnant societies that provide fertile ground for the terrorists,” Bush said at the gathering of more than 150 presidents and prime ministers on hand to mark the 60th anniversary of the world body. “We must defend and extend a vision of human dignity and opportunity and prosperity, a vision far stronger than the dark appeal of resentment and murder. To spread the vision of hope, the United States is determined to help nations that are struggling with poverty.”

Arguing that trade can lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, Bush pushed for a new global trade agreement and for the first time vowed to drop all U.S. tariffs, subsidies and other barriers to foreign goods if other countries do the same. He also urged other nations to join U.S. efforts to fight AIDS and malaria, and he launched a new international partnership to address the spread of avian flu.

Paying special notice to perennial conflicts that leave much of the world destitute, Bush said the United States will train 40,000 African peacekeeping troops over five years “to preserve justice and order in Africa.”

Irish rocker Bob Geldof, who organized the Live Aid concerts and campaigns against poverty, said he was sitting with U.N. anti-poverty chief Jeffrey Sachs and they couldn’t believe what they heard.

“I think he’s really throwing down the gauntlet. It’s a very bold move,” Geldof said of Bush’s trade tariff proposal.