Me too. I advise you to start running now.
Posted on 03/26/2003 3:48:13 PM PST by kattracks
A
By Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS, March 26 (Reuters) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan admitted on Wednesday the world was bitter at the United Nations' handling of the Iraqi crisis and said it was time for the big powers to unite on the needs of the Iraqi people.
In the last few months, Annan said, the peoples of the world had shown how much they expected from the United Nations and the 15-member Security Council.
"Many of them have been bitterly disappointed," Annan told a Security Council debate on Iraq, the first since the U.S.-led war began a week ago.
"All of us must regret that our intense efforts to achieve a peaceful solution through this council did not succeed," he said. "We are living through a moment of deep divisions, which, if not healed, can have grave consequences for the international system and relations between states."
He said faith in the United Nations could only be restored if the council worked on specific goals for Iraq, including tapping into billions of dollars in Iraqi oil revenue to finance the emergency aid under the U.N. oil-for-food program, which is still stalled in the council.
Annan, however, criticized both Iraq for neglecting arms inspectors and the United States for acting unilaterally.
He said many people asked why the Iraqi government did not take full advantage of a last chance given to it by the council to cooperate "in substance as well as procedure" with U.N. arms inspectors accounting for its weapons of mass destruction.
"But, at the same time, many people around the world are seriously questioning whether it was legitimate for some member states to proceed to such a fateful action now -- an action that has far-reaching consequences well beyond the immediate military dimensions -- without first reaching a collective decision of this Council," Annan told the council.
He reminded the United States and Britain that they were responsible for the basic needs of the Iraqi people.
OIL, FOOD PROGRAM MAKES PROGRESS
After bitter divisions over the war, council members have been meeting for several days to restart the oil-for-food program, aimed at granting Annan a new mandate to coordinate the delivery of supplies to Iraq as soon as possible.
Most council members said they made progress and another version of a draft resolution would be sent to capitals to gauge their response on Thursday.
The aim is to adopt a resolution by Friday that would authorize Annan to set new priorities for the U.N. program that provides food and medicine to more than 13 million Iraqis for 45 days.
The oil-for-food program, which began in December 1996, allows Iraq to sell oil to purchase food, medicine and a host of civilian supplies under U.N. supervision. Annan suspended the program shortly before the invasion and evacuated more than 300 relief workers who monitor the distribution of supplies.
Future oil exports are not being considered at the moment. The issue before the council is to ensure that that would ensure that more than $10 billion in Iraqi goods -- including $2.4 billion, mainly for food, approved earlier could enter Iraq when conditions allow with some adjustments by Annan.
"Hopefully, we'll be able to reach agreement on a text and adopt a resolution before the week is out,"' U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said.
But Russia voiced concern that contracts for goods Iraq had ordered would be changed. Syria said Annan had no right to hold sway over oil revenues without permission of the Iraqi government it said was still in place.
French Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, another opponent of the war, however, said he saw "lights at the end of the tunnel, and I think now that the tunnel is short."
In his address to the council, Annan said the war created some needs, which the oil-for-food program could not cover.
"We do not yet know how many people will be injured, how many will be displaced from their homes, or how many will be deprived of food, water, sanitation and other essential services. But we fear the numbers may be high," he said.
He was referring to an emergency aid appeal for more than $2 billion the United Nations was expected to launch on Friday.
Annan spoke at the start of a council debate called by the Arab League to criticize the war. Iraq's U.N. ambassador, Mohamed Aldouri, accused the United States and Britain of inflicting thousands of casualties on his country and demanded the Security Council condemn the attack.
Some 70 speakers are expected to address the council before the meeting ends on Thursday. But it is still doubtful whether a resolution would be submitted to condemn the invasion.
03/26/03 18:39 ET
And if he is smart he will simply get out of the way, or he will be rolled over again.
Eff you Kofi. Guess you didn't like Powell's comments. You and the frogs are spit and won't get spit when this is done. Bottom feeding, grave robbing, cowardly punks, the lot of you....
Oh, yeah, Kofi? Then why do we need you again?
Me too. I advise you to start running now.
When he says "we" he sounds like he is a self-described magnanimous monarch using the "Royal We".
But the President doesn't, so it is a non-starter.
After the war, look for GW Bush to take multiple measures to demonstrate his devotion to the UN. Core US allies, Britain and Australia, are desparate to show that the UN lives, and it would be hard for us to ignore this. I'm not saying it is right, just explaining what will happen.
Can you imagine what a strong Dem issue it would become if the UN were to really die our watch?
Kofi Annan's security team carries unregistered H & K MP-5's--send the BATF, Delta, HRT Prize Patrol for this bum.
Can you imagine what a strong Pub issue it would become if the UN were to really die our watch?
I fear that you are right, and the rest of the world will cuddle up to the UN to restrict our future requests.
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