Yasser Arafat and Kofi Annan
Posted on 11/11/2004 3:54:28 PM PST by Nice50BMG
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
While Yasser Arafat is being remembered by many as the father of modern terrorism, the United Nations headquarters in New York City is honoring the Palestinian leader by lowering its flag to half-mast.
Yasser Arafat and Kofi Annan |
"Deeply moved" by news of his death, U.N. General Secretary Kofi Annan gave Arafat a "special tribute" before the General Assembly this afternoon after conveying condolences to his wife and daughter.
"By signing the Oslo accords in 1993 he took a giant step towards the realization of this vision," Annan said in a statement delivered by a spokesman.
"It is tragic that he did not live to see it fulfilled."
In a briefing in New York, spokesman Fred Eckhard said the secretary-general has asked Terje Roed-Larsen, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process and personal representative to the Palestinian Authority, to represent him at President Arafat's funeral in Cairo.
Eckhard said Annan was not going to the funeral because it was impossible for him to make the travel arrangements on such short notice.
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The U.N. chief, he noted, travels commercially and to get to Cairo by tomorrow probably would have required a private plane.
Annan was not sending any kind of message by not attending, Eckhard asserted.
He noted that the General Assembly, in a series of rulings over the years, had accorded Arafat a status equivalent to a head of state.
Annan decided Arafat should be accorded the same status in death as he obtained during his life, and the General Assembly president agreed, the spokesman said.
Was it lowered for Reagan?
Were the UN flags at half-staff when Reagan died?
I had the same thought.
Offensive - and lame.
Flags on BOATS are at "half-mast."
Flags on land are half-staff.
Everyone gets this wrong, and all the time.
One-half down, one-half to go....
They're just recognizing his embezzling ability, a skill they can respect.
Nice of them to show whose side they are on.
I will be deeply saddened when the UN has to relocate to Froggyville. Not!
"One-half down, one-half to go...."
Good observation! It's half of a good idea!!
If Clinton were President, US flags would be at half staff, too. If Kerry was President, the US flag WOULD be the UN flag.
Yup!
Kofi Annan never met a terrorist he didn't love. He 'feels their pain'.
I'm suprised the Great Stainmaker isn't going to the funeral so he can yuck it up with the dictators and communists, and then bite his lip and cry when the cameras are pointed his way.
Good riddance to a POS, every day earth is without Arafat the world is a little better.
Kofi Annan's words and actions are nothing less than an OBSCENITY. He is glorifying a mass murderer and terrorist whose goal in life was to destroy the state of Israel.
The UN is morally bankrupt.
Nothing new there, unfortunately.
Change that to U.N. flag is half-ast with Arafat and it is written correctly.
It'll probably be lowered for Saddam as well.
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