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Kofi Annan Lashes Out at the Press, Riles Iraq in Year-End Appearance
The New York Sun ^ | December 22, 2005 | BENNY AVNI

Posted on 12/26/2005 10:16:53 AM PST by george76

After advising his yet-unnamed successor to grow "thick skin," Secretary-General Annan yesterday appeared to have thinned his own, lashing out at reporters who asked about United Nations and Annan family scandals.

Mr. Annan refused to allow a London Times correspondent, James Bone, to ask a question, accusing him of being "an embarrassment" to his profession.

The eruption...reflected frustrations...poor supervision of the oil-for-food program...failed to move on such world events as the Darfur genocide...

none of the U.N. reform ideas championed by Mr. Annan were implemented beyond window-dressing.

Mr. Annan's...remark that the Iraq war was illegal.

The comment did not sit well with Iraqi officials.

"If the United States and its allies had not removed Saddam Hussein, he would still be torturing us" rather than standing accused on trial, Iraq's deputy U.N. ambassador, Feisal Amin al-Istrabadi...

When asked by The New York Sun about the perception among U.N. staffers that there is double standard in firing two high officials while refusing to even address other, more serious, accusations against other officials, Mr. Annan said parts of the question were "libelous."

Speaking specifically about one man, former chief of staff Iqbal Riza, who has shredded reams of documents related to oil for food, Mr. Annan denied that his situation was comparable to that of President Nixon's last days in office.

CNN's Richard Roth asked a recurring question about the whereabouts of a Mercedes-Benz that was bought in Mr. Annan's name by the secretary general's son, Kojo.

The son's childhood friend, Michael Wilson, who is an executive at the Swiss-based Cotecna company, which employed the two, and the secretary-general himself contributed to the car's purchase, and Mr. Annan has been unable to say where the car is now.

(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...


TOPICS: Australia/New Zealand; Canada; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Germany; Government; Israel; Japan; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; Russia; US: District of Columbia; United Kingdom; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: annan; cnn; cotecna; darfur; darfurgenocide; genocide; gwot; iqbalriza; iraq; jamesbone; kofiannan; londontimes; mercedesbenz; oilforfood; paulvolker; riza; swiss; swissbasedcotecna; terrorism; terrorists; un; unitednations; unreform; usa; windowdressing; wot
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To: FlyVet

The Democrats want a person as Ambassador to the UN who would be a Kofi Annan sycophant walking around with his head up Kofi's butt and saying Yassuh all the imte . To me Bolton is perfect just for the reason he wont do that.


21 posted on 12/26/2005 12:45:03 PM PST by sgtbono2002
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To: McGavin999

The Late Larry Krebs was the only truly decent Journalist I ever met.

A friend of police and Firefighters in the District of Columbia and a decent man.


22 posted on 12/26/2005 12:46:46 PM PST by sgtbono2002
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To: sgtbono2002

Yes, and today Michael Yon is probably one of the best war reporters this country has ever seen. Yet few even know who he is. Frightening.


23 posted on 12/26/2005 12:54:13 PM PST by McGavin999 (If Intelligence Agencies can't find leakers, how can we expect them to find terrorists?)
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To: Mike Darancette
Billy Goat Klinton is available.

Just for a change the UN could be headed by a communist.

24 posted on 12/26/2005 12:55:06 PM PST by FerdieMurphy (For English press one. (Farewell Tookie. Is hell really hot?))
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To: Mike Darancette

Kofi Annan is just po'ed he and family got caught with hand in cookie jar...the head UN thug throwing a fit what a real joke. The UN crooks make the ACLU look like a bunch of ambulance chasers


25 posted on 12/27/2005 8:41:02 PM PST by Karliner ("Things are more like they are now than they ever were before. DDE)
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To: george76
I don't think the UN Secretary General can come from a country that sits on the Security Council.

But just imagine Hitlary as President and Bill as Secretary General. They would co-opt America.

26 posted on 12/28/2005 3:14:23 PM PST by mcar
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