http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2...an-cover_x.htm
Annan to blast U.S. in farewell
Updated 12/11/2006 8:03 AM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Reprints & Permissions | Subscribe to stories like this
Enlarge By Tina Fineberg, AP
Secretary-General Kofi Annan smiles attends the Annual United Nations Correspondents Association Dinner Dance at U.N. headquarters in New York on Friday Dec. 8, 2006.
By Barbara Slavin, USA TODAY
In a farewell speech on U.S. soil today, retiring United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan plans to deliver a tough critique of President Bush's policies. He will accuse the administration of trying to secure the United States from terrorism in part by dominating other nations through force, committing what he termed human rights abuses and taking military action without broad international support.
Though Annan has long been a critic of the war in Iraq and other Bush foreign policies, the planned speech is among his toughest and is unusual for a U.N. secretary-general concluding his tenure.
Annan's remarks, provided to USA TODAY by his office, list principles for international relations, among them "respect for human rights and the rule of law."
These ideas can be advanced only "if America remains true to its principles, including in the struggle against terrorism," the speech says. "When it appears to abandon its own ideals and objectives, its friends abroad are naturally troubled and confused."
In the 61-year history of the U.N., no secretary-general has ended his tenure by criticizing U.S. policies so sharply, said Stanley Meisler, a historian of the United Nations and author of a new biography of Annan.
Ric Grennell, spokesman for the U.S. mission to the U.N., said he would not discuss the remarks prior to their delivery. John Bolton, outgoing U.S. ambassador to the U.N., also declined to comment.
In his speech, Annan refers to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. When "military force is used, the world at large will consider it legitimate only when convinced that it is being used for the right purpose … in accordance with broadly accepted norms."
The speech continues that "governments must be accountable for their actions in the international arena, as well as in the domestic one."
The speech, to be delivered at the presidential library of the late Harry Truman in Independence, Mo., contrasts Truman's support for the United Nations with the Bush administration's unilateral actions.
Annan acknowledges terrorism and other global threats but cautions against nations acting alone. "Against such threats as these, no nation can make itself secure by seeking supremacy over all others," the speech says.
Annan leaves office Dec. 31 and will be replaced by former South Korean foreign minister Ban Ki Moon.
Annan's predecessor, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, developed a personal hostility toward then-U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Madeleine Albright, but saved his anger for a book after he left office, Meisler said.
The United States supported Annan for the job 10 years ago, when it blocked Boutros-Ghali from serving a second five-year term. Annan has worked with the United States on a number of issues, including U.N. reform, said Lee Feinstein, a U.N. expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Critics of Annan in Congress, including Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., faulted the Ghana-born, U.S.-educated diplomat for lax management of the $64 billion U.N. oil-for-food program. The 1996-2003 effort was tainted by $1.5 billion in kickbacks to the regime of Saddam Hussein.
"Annan's legacy will be one of missed opportunity and failed leadership," said Coleman, who urged Annan to resign last year.
I for the most part agree with him.. Ok how long before "I want America to Lose", "Blame America first" etc..... posts come my way from my bretheren on the right..
Last edited by George Gervin's Afro; 12-11-2006 at 10:56 AM.
dubya and his puppet-meisters have clearly left the world a much worse place than it was in Jan 2001. They deserve maximum condemnation, and impeachment.
Even worse, the terrorist piling up in Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan has not yet begun to hit the fan.
well I haven't listened to his whole speech, but if anybody can find something wrong with the quotes in that article I'd be very surprised. Every quote in that article is dead on.
Just wait until Yoni and exray get here... like the sun rising in the east....they will remind us of how corrupt the UN is, they will remind us that Kofi sat by while his son made money from corruption, how the UN is useless..yada yada..
but nothing about the quotes. Crucify the UN and Kofi but ignore the quotes or content..
Truth is truth, regardless of how hypocritcal one may sound when speaking it. We have created a mess in Iraq, there are many issues on the table that place us at a disadvantage in many ways. We have not done the job that we set out to do in the time frame that we set to do it in the manner in which it should have been done.
I'll not trivialize the truth simply based on who said it, but neither will I allow the hypocrite to not be accountable for his own actions as well.
Don't have to say it, you already have. And your right.
You forgot whottt and AHF
Conservatives, by definition less intelligent, are forced to argue from the position of the ad hominem attack. They simply do not posses the intellectual capacity for straight up refutation.
That was the first ad hominem attack in this thread. Nice one.
I know, I know. They just pay the bills, like
Mommy and Daddy.
But don't worry, we will always have a nice
warm meal and a place for you to sleep.
Kofi Annan...whatever...just another politician crticizing another politician for political reasons.
Long story short, Annan couldnt hold sway over a Cub Scout troop nonetheless the UN or the USA. He was ineffectual when he entered the office and graduated to a scorned ineffectual on his way out.
Kofi Annon and the zebra he rode in on!
What do you expect?? How many ppl are dying in Iraq daily??? who took out the goverment that was "controlling" iraq and sent the country into turmoil???
IMO I think Kofi is mainly pissed off at Bush's dumb ass that cost so many innocent lives.
Conveniently missing from Annan’s farewell speech is the Oil-for-Food scandal, U.N. members abusing children, anti-Israel policies and the organization’s inaction on genocide.
Kofi has about as much credibility here as Jimmy Carter advising on policy towards Iran or Michael Moore offering dieting tips.
Kofi Annan: Guilty of being as inneffectual as the Security Council wants the SecGen to be.
Its funny because what yonivore just posted was an entire summary ofthis chick's conservative talk show i heard this morning. The talking points were in exact order of the subjects he listed. What a tool.
Quit conserving synapses.
There's a good percentage of Iraqi's that would tell you to shut the up. What you refer to as "turmoil" many Iraqi's would call their fight for freedom. It's not unusual for people to die seeking freedom rather than live under the suffocating oppression of a brutal dictatorship.
Would you want help if your family/people were living under those cir stances, or are you the type of person who doesn't care?
So, is he saying that what happened in Rwanda and what continues to happen in Africa this very day are broadly accepted norms?When "military force is used, the world at large will consider it legitimate only when convinced that it is being used for the right purpose … in accordance with broadly accepted norms."
Weak.
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