UNITED NATIONS, 17 September 2005 — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez took President Bush to task in front of a global summit for waging war in Iraq without UN consent and won rousing applause for his critique.

The leftist leader told a UN summit on Thursday that fighting the war without UN authorization showed Washington did not respect the world body. He recommended moving UN headquarters to a country that has more regard for the organization.

“There were never weapons of mass destruction but Iraq was bombed, and over UN objections, (it was) occupied and continues being occupied,” Chavez said. Bush alleged that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction but none have been found, shattering one of his main arguments for going to war.

“That’s why we propose to this assembly that the United Nations leave this country, which is not respectful of the very resolutions of this assembly,” Chavez said.

Chavez, a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, suggested moving UN headquarters from New York to an international city “outside the sovereignty of any state” and said some have mentioned Jerusalem as one possibility.

But the Venezuelan leader said the new headquarters has to be in the South, home to most developing countries.

Bush was not in the audience when Chavez spoke to the world representatives. But the US president did address the summit’s opening session on Wednesday morning, then returned to Washington later that day.

World leaders at the summit had been asked to speak for five minutes but Chavez ran long and when the presiding diplomat passed him a note saying his time was up, he threw it on the floor. He said if Bush could speak for 20 minutes, so could he.

When he finally stopped, he got what observers said was the loudest applause of the summit.

Relations between Chavez and Washington have become increasingly strained, though the United States remains the top buyer of Venezuelan oil.

Chavez repeatedly has accused the US government of backing plots against him, and recently alleged Washington was preparing to invade his country.

American religious broadcaster Pat Robertson recently suggested the United States assassinate Chavez because he poses a threat. Chavez responded that Robertson had clearly “expressed the wish of the elite that govern the United States.” Robertson has since apologized.