NEW YORK President Obama will pay tribute to Ambassador Chris Stevens in his address before the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday and call on the international community not to be disheartened by the violence that has spread across the Middle East this month.
In the aftermath of a terrorist attack at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans and sparked anti-U.S. protests that have gripped the Muslim world, Obama will tell world leaders that the recent violence is "an assault on the very ideals upon which the United Nations was founded."
"If we are serious about those ideals, we must speak honestly about the deeper causes of this crisis," Obama will say, according to excerpts of his address releasedby the White House. "Because we face a choice between the forces that would drive us apart, and the hopes we hold in common."
Obama will also call on world leaders to condemn the violence that took the life of Stevens and three other Americans working on behalf of the U.S. mission in Libya.
"Today, we must affirm that our future will be determined by people like Chris Stevens,and not by his killers," Obama said."Today, we must declare that this violence and intolerance has no place among our United Nations."
In recent days, White House aides have said that Obama would use the speech to condemn the incendiary video that portrays the prophet Mohammed as a child molester and his followers as goons. But Obama will also use the address to make the point that"no slander â?¦ provides an excuse for people" to kill innocent people.
In his speech, the president will also renew his call for Iran to abandon its suspected nuclear program. Obama is facing growing pressure from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to articulate a red line with its nuclear program that Tehran must not cross or risk facing a military strike.
GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney has hammered Obama by saying he is not takingthe threats in the Middle East seriously. The president appears intent on using his address to push back against such criticism.
"America wants to resolve this issue through diplomacy, and we believe that there is still time and space to do so," Obama will say according to excerpts. "But that time is not unlimited

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