“No nation can make itself secure by seeking supremacy over all others ... States need to play by the rules towards each other, as well as towards their own citizens.”

EDITORIAL

December 13, 2006
Saudi Arabia - The Saudi Gazzette - Home Page (English)    

Kofi Annan's verdict: Iraqis are 'far worse off' now than under Saddam.

—BBC NEWS VIDEO: Kofi Annan says war in Iraq
'much worse' than a civil war, Dec. 4, 00:02:45

—C-SPAN VIDEO: Kofi Annan delivers his farewell address
entitled, 'Global Governance and the Role of the United States.'
He warned that America must not sacrifice its democratic ideals
while waging war against terrorism, Dec. 11, 00:49:44



------------------------------------------------------------------------------

---LIFE INSIDE SAUDI ARABIA---

 

The official Saudi-government executioner for Mecca,
Abdallah Al-Bishi, explains his calling; demonstrates his
weapons and methods, Nov. 4. -WATCH VIDEO BELOW-

—MEMRI VIDEO: LBC TV, Lebanon - Official Saudi
government executioner for Mecca, Abdallah Al-Bishi,
tells of his life's work: chopping off heads, Nov. 4,
00:11:29

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kofi Annan has good reason to have a go at the United States. Under his watch, the United Nations has been damaged beyond repair, mostly by his greatest critic the United States. So it was no surprise that Annan chose the perfect setting to deliver his last major address as secretary general. At the presidential library of Harry Truman - the 33rd U.S. President and a founder the United Nations - Annan mounted a scathing attack on the administration of the 43rd U.S. President, President George W. Bush, who has reduced the world body to near irrelevance.

Annan, who steps down at month's end to be succeeded by Ban Ki-Moon of South Korea, referred to Truman's legacy to be cautious, noting that “no nation can make itself secure by seeking supremacy over all others.”

He slammed the Bush Administration for America's waning international credibility.

“When it (the U.S.) appears to abandon its own ideals and objectives, its friends abroad are naturally troubled and confused. States need to play by the rules towards each other, as well as towards their own citizens,” he said. “No state can make its own actions legitimate in the eyes of others. When power, especially military force, is used, the world will consider it legitimate only when convinced that it is being used for the right purpose - for broadly shared aims - in accordance with broadly accepted norms.”

Annan was so unusually popular as U.N. leader during his first term from 1997 to 2002, that in 2002 his tenure was renewed - a deviation from normal custom. The office usually rotates among the continents with two terms each, and since his predecessor Boutros Boutros-Ghali was also African, the post should have gone to another continent in 2002.

But Annan's second term was a disaster. The U.S.-led war on Iraq put him in direct confrontation with the Bush Administration, the Iraq oil-for-food scandal sullied his reputation, and the Darfur and the Iran nuclear crisis revealed the U.N.'s ineffectiveness in crisis management.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice thought Annan's speech a “real missed opportunity” to restore his soiled legacy. But millions of the world's downtrodden will surely agree that it his was a well deserved parting kick at the world's sole superbully.