Posted on 09/11/2002 7:37:32 PM PDT by GaryMontana
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The world must act together against terrorism or put at risk everything the United Nations ( news - web sites) stands for, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan ( news - web sites) said on Wednesday, a year after the Sept. 11 attacks.
"There could be no greater affront to the spirit and purpose of the United Nations than the terrorist attacks of September 11," he told a solemn ceremony marking the anniversary, held in a garden at U.N. headquarters.
"Everything that we work for -- peace, development, health, freedom -- is damaged by this horror. Everything that we believe in -- respect for human life, justice, tolerance, pluralism and democracy -- is threatened by it. It must be defeated -- and it must be defeated by the world acting as one," he said.
Annan later was to address a special meeting of senior officials of the Security Council's 15 member-nations, along with Secretary of State Colin Powell ( news - web sites).
That meeting was to culminate in the adoption of a statement praising New York's determination "not to give in to terrorism" and vowing to "remain steadfast against the threat that endangers all that has been achieved (by the United Nations) and all that remains to be achieved."
"The world saw terrorists use civilian aircraft for mass murder. They struck at the ideals embodied in the Charter of the United Nations. The attacks challenged each member to rise to the task of defeating terrorism," a draft of the statement said.
Last year's hijack attack on the World Trade Center, only a few miles south of U.N. headquarters, fell just hours before the planned opening of the U.N. General Assembly's 56th annual session.
The session was promptly canceled and the compound -- home to the 190-nation assembly -- was evacuated shortly after the attacks and again the next day after officials received unidentified security threats.
Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden ( news - web sites), blamed by Washington for masterminding the Sept. 11 carnage, later singled out the United Nations in a videotaped message, blaming the world body for the 1948 creation of Israel and for pressuring Muslim Indonesia to give up largely Roman Catholic East Timor ( news - web sites).
Bin Laden in the tape called Annan a "criminal" and branded Muslims who cooperated with the world body as "infidels."
The U.N. compound was sealed off by New York police for months after the attacks, with sand-filled dump trucks blocking every access road to fend off car bombings.
Even today, trucks are barred from driving by the compound, although police enforcement of the dictum is not apparent.
Annan reminded U.N. staff that citizens of more than 90 nations lost their lives in the attacks on the World Trade Center in which about 2,800 people died.
He said the ceremony demonstrated that the world body, like its New York home, was not an isolated enclave.
"Today we come together as a world community because we were attacked as a world community," he said. "May the memory of those who perished on September 11th serve to inspire a better, more just, more peaceful world for all
Follow, get the hell out of the way, or get steamrolled. I don't have a preference.
...And the people of my country will remember those who have plotted against us. We are learning their names. We are coming to know their faces. There is no corner of the earth distant or dark enough to protect them. However long it takes, their hour of justice will come....
As I've told the American people, freedom and fear are at war. We face enemies that hate not our policies but our existence, the tolerance of openness and creative culture that defines us. But the outcome of this conflict is certain. There is a current in history, and it runs toward freedom.
Our enemies resent it and dismiss it, but the dreams of mankind are defined by liberty, the natural right to create and build and worship and live in dignity. When men and women are released from oppression and isolation, they find fulfillment and hope, and they leave poverty by the millions.
....We did not ask for this mission, yet there is honor in history's call. We have a chance the write the story or our times, a story of courage defeating cruelty and light overcoming darkness. This calling is worthy of any life and worthy of every nation.
Kofi--just get out of the way.
TC
I have too much respect for the people that died there than to desecrate the site with the UN. Why not just piss on the Arizona while you're at it... ;-)
Everything the UN stands for wouldn't be much.
Kofi, sweetheart, have I got the perfect solution for you! There's nothing to it. Really. All you have to do is to do what come's naturally...
Step 1. Uh that would mean you and "the world" do what you do so well. You know, just sit just sit tight on your hands and do nothing. You can add a touch of hand-wringing and angst if you want; seeing as you got that part down pat.
Remember? Like you did in Rwanda? OK, then there's Step 2.
Step 2 is we, that's US, not part of YOU (as our Europeon friends are so fond of reminding us), well, WE go in and kick the snot out of the guys who'd blow us up. Now, we really don't have to do this on our own as an "ACT OF AGGRESSION" or anything, seeing as they co conveniently already promised to kill us all, and even gave us a little demonstration. So we'd call that a declaration of war on their part. Don't you think?
So, we fix it and "the world" acts as one.
SIMPLE! Nothing to it. We do it, We are one, We "act as one" and get it done. Just like you said! Got it?
Sit tight there Kofi, we got you covered...
Uh... Kofi? You know, seeing as you are looking for something to accomplish... You were planning to do something about your ol commie buddy Bob Mugabe down in Zimbabwe?
Weren't you?
And I'm not pleased at all that Bush feels the need to go to these leeches for "permission" to defend ourselves.
This went from a war to a UN "police action". I seriously doubt that we will ever have a president whose loyalty is not conflicted again. Apparently, American soveriegnty is a thing of the past.
These terrorists are state-sponsored. War was the right call. But when we have to go to the UN for permission to counterattack, the war is already lost.
It is long past time to stop all of the BS and get on with it.
Inasmuch as it has become blatantly apparent that the UN doesn't stand for anything, then the UN has nothing at risk, and nothing to lose should we act unilaterally... Kofi Inacan, you are irrelevant...
the infowarrior
Apparently asking "permission" is the furthest thing from his mind. Extreme doubt obtains in most quarters that he will be asking anything from the UN, but instead will be telling them a thing or three...
the infowarrior
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