Iraq will need military help for years: Annan

AFP ^

[saquin]

HAMBURG, Germany (AFP) - UN chief Kofi Annan said in an interview to be published on Monday that Iraq would need military aid for years to come but ruled out sending UN peacekeepers to help stability in the war-torn country.

The UN secretary general also lashed out again at the US strategy of pre-emptive action which led to the launch of the war on Iraq in March and warned that if others followed suit the "law of the jungle" would prevail.

"We must expect that Iraq will need military aid for years," Annan was quoted as telling Germany's weekly news magazine Der Spiegel.

"A new Iraqi government must be able to count on support not only from the US-led coalition but also other countries, based on an international mission mandated by the Security Council."

However Annan said it would "not be realistic" to send UN peacekeepers to Iraq as such as mission would be too much of a burden on its forces.

While urging an end to the tensions between the United Nations and the United States over Iraq, Annan criticised President George W. Bush's "first strike" policy.

"Using pre-emptive violence worries me and worries many governments," Annan said, warning that if other countries were to adopt such a policy "we would be heading towards a world where the law of the jungle reigns."

[saquin]

UN chief Kofi Annan said in an interview to be published on Monday that Iraq would need military aid for years to come but ruled out sending UN peacekeepers to help stability in the war-torn country.

But...but...I thought they wanted the U.S. to hand control over to the U.N.?? Why does anyone even listen to these assclowns? They say the U.N. should take control, then they run for the borders the first time a bomb goes off. Useless... utterly useless.

[angkor]

"we would be heading towards a world where the law of the jungle reigns."

Would that be comparable to Rwanda, over which Kofi Annan had U.N. peacekeeping authority as nearly one million innocents were slaughtered during a three-month period in 1994?

The same Kofi Annan who said of the 1999 slaughter in East Timor "Nobody in their wildest dreams thought what we are witnessing could have happened. We are no fools."

http://www.globalpolicy.org/secgen/annan/re-election/010430.htm

"[I]n May of 1994, when the extermination of Tutsis was at its peak in Rwanda, Kofi Annan told a Senate hearing in Washington, D.C., that UN peacekeepers "have the right to defend themselves, and we define self-defense in a manner that includes preemptive military action to remove those armed elements who are preventing you from doing your work. And yet our commanders in the field, whether in Somalia or Bosnia, have been very reticent about using force."

--Annan as quotes in the book We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/evil/warning/premonitions.html

[sandlady]

Iraq will need military help for years

Anyone who thought otherwise is delusional.

[Wonder Warthog]

"The UN secretary general also lashed out again at the US strategy of pre-emptive action which led to the launch of the war on Iraq in March and warned that if others followed suit the "law of the jungle" would prevail."

Someone should tell "Coffee Bean" Anan that the only reason the US was forced into unilateral (NOT pre-emptive) action was because the UN was sitting around with their thumbs up their collective bums.

[Bringbackthedraft]

"and warned that if others followed suit the "law of the jungle"

Yeah, he right, that would mean the removal of other despots that support him.

[telebob]

..."we would be heading towards a world where the law of the jungle reigns."

That's cool as long as it's our law of the jungle...

[William Tell]

Annan said: "We must expect that Iraq will need military aid for years ..."

That's right. There is something magical about Iraq that makes it unable to police its own behavior so it must rely on a bigger government of even greater diversity to become stable. Obviously, Annan believes that Iraq was better off under Saddam. He did not insist on military intervention to stabilize Saddam's Iraq.

Perhaps Annan should identify for us today just which nations are unable to govern themselves. That way, even if the US defies the non-intervention "concensus" we will have the advantage of being able to point out that we are supplying military aid to nations in need of it.

[CWOJackson]

"...Annan said, warning that if other countries were to adopt such a policy "we would be heading towards a world where the law of the jungle reigns."

What really miffs Annan is that President Bush is the biggest BADA$$ in the jungle.

[McGavin999]

I just love this. While all this whining and crying is going on, Iraq is steadily growing stronger and more stable. By next June we will have transferred soverienty to the Iraqi people and they will be well on their way to governing themselves. At some near future point, we will be there as invited guests and the UN will still be calling us "occupiers" and screaming about our "unilateralism". About that time, all the 40 odd countries who participated in this "unilateral" action will be receiving their share of the prime contracts to rebuild Iraq. Oh yeah, and at around the same time the french and german unemployment rates will be approacing 12%.

[Billthedrill]

Good grief - at this rate, by the end of next year Iraq will be a beacon of stability and the UN will be utter chaos.

We need to remind everyone at that point that a certain junior Senator from New York thought it would be a jolly idea to put the UN in charge of Iraq.