Annan to blast U.S. in farewell

[jefferson_dem]

Annan to blast U.S. in farewell
By Barbara Slavin, USA TODAY

In a farewell speech on U.S. soil today, retiring United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan plans to deliver a tough critique of President Bush's policies. He will accuse the administration of trying to secure the United States from terrorism in part by dominating other nations through force, committing what he termed human rights abuses and taking military action without broad international support.
Though Annan has long been a critic of the war in Iraq and other Bush foreign policies, the planned speech is among his toughest and is unusual for a U.N. secretary-general concluding his tenure.

Annan's remarks, provided to USA TODAY by his office, list principles for international relations, among them "respect for human rights and the rule of law."

These ideas can be advanced only "if America remains true to its principles, including in the struggle against terrorism," the speech says. "When it appears to abandon its own ideals and objectives, its friends abroad are naturally troubled and confused."

<SNIP>

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-12-10-annan-cover_x.htm

[Kellyiswise]

1. Friends abroad are not the only ones "troubled and confused."

Many, many US citizens feel the same way. We are just labeled "unpatriotic."

[madokie]

14. You got that right

to DU

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Wow, he's being mild

If I were him I would say it appears that the US has gone insane. They have basically dumped their Constitution and their ideals. The only way to get the US back on track is to remove the insanity from office.

[Peace Patriot]

5. I agree. I wouldn't give the Bush Junta the point that their motive is--or

ever has been--to "keep America safe." I don't believe it. They are the biggest terrorists on earth. They've killed and tortured far more people than any Al Qaeda cell ever dreamt of. Their motive is greed. Their actions are all in furtherance of their greed. They use torture, rendition and spying to cover their tracks. They are not "insane," in this sense. Their utter contempt for the rule of law just looks insane, if you don't grok their motive. They are not acting in the interest of America's national security. That should be obvious in their failure to secure US ports (and their plan to sell them off to UAE Arab sultans, for godssakes!), the farce of "security" at our airports (another greedy boondoggle), their disinterest in natural disasters at home (emergency services as filthy corrupt boondoggle), their vast yawn over capturing OBL (no good targets in Afghanistan--not enough of a filthy corrupt military contractor boondoggle), their deliberate destruction of our election system rendering vote counting extremely insecure and non-transparent (Diebold/ES&S boondoggle--big donors to Bush and to far rightwing causes), etc., etc., etc. And finally, and most of all, their invasion of Iraq in the interest of the Saudi royal family (in their war with Iran/Shias over Iraq's oil--see Greg Palast's latest*, "The Baker Boys: stay half the course.") Not even to secure oil supplies for America, but rather to secure oil profits for the filthy rich sultans of the east.

All this crime has been in the service of greed--military contractor greed and oil greed and to secure the interests of the Bush/Saudi Cartel. Not to "keep America safe." But to sell America, lock, stock and barrel to a foreign country. To sultans. To kings. To absolute monarchs. To people who have zip interest in democracy. You wonder how Bush and Cheney can have such contempt for our form of government, and for us? They don't work for us! The Constitution is an annoyance to them. They bat it away as they would an irritating memo.**

Annan, a good man, whose heart was broken by the US invasion of Iraq, and his inability to prevent it, gives them too much. They are not interested in anybody's "security" but their own and their rich fascist puppetmasters.

-----

*( http://www.gregpalast.com/the-baker-boys-stay-half-the-course )

-----

**("Osama bin Laden determined to strike in the United States"? Open the free passports from Arabia! Call off the FBI! Purge the CIA! Fire John O'Neil! Shut down Colleen Rowley! Befuddle NORAD! Pull NORAD decisions out of the hands of professionals and into Rumsfeld's hands! And kill this memo!)

[Barrett808]

7. Nice rant. Recommended. n/t

[Warren Stupidity]

3. "no nation can make itself secure by seeking supremacy over all others"

Well that is it in a nutshell. The truth stated simply and plainly. The world is being torn apart once again by madmen seeking global supremacy.

[rainy]

4. Is the speech today? What time and where can it be watched on tv?

[wellst0nev0ter]

6. Now He Tells Us.

Could have been nice had he been forceful against the Bush policies, say, oh, sometime during the past five years. But that's what you get when you select a guy to replace Boutros-Boutros Gali (sp?) who had the audacity to criticize Israel's bombing of Qana ten years ago.

[Eugene]

8. Annan warns US against go-it-alone diplomacy (Reuters)

Annan warns US against go-it-alone diplomacy
11 Dec 2006 15:41:53 GMT
Source: Reuters

(Lifts embargo, adds U.N. reform detail, paragraphs 14-15; previous UNITED NATIONS)

INDEPENDENCE, Mo., Dec 11 (Reuters) - Kofi Annan, nearing the end of his tenure
as U.N. secretary-general, urged the United States on Monday to shun go-it-alone
diplomacy and human rights abuses committed in the name of its "war on terror."

In an address to be delivered at Harry Truman's presidential library in Independence,
Missouri, Annan praised the 33rd U.S. president, in office from 1945 to 1953, as a
model for American action in today's world.

"More than ever today Americans, like the rest of humanity, need a functioning global
system through which the world's peoples can face global challenges together," Annan
said. "And in order to function, the system still cries out for far-sighted American
leadership, in the Truman tradition."

-snip-

Full article: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N11199457.htm

Annan is blasting power without legitimacy and unilateralism.
He is not so much bashing the United States as calling it to
live up to its principles.

[maddezmom]

9. Annan chides US on human rights in farewell address

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Outgoing UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has urged the United States not to abandon human rights and the rule of law as it prosecutes its war on terrorism around the globe.

"Human rights and the rule of law are vital to global security and prosperity," Annan said in a speech to be delivered Monday at the Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri, according to an advance transcript of his remarks.

"This country has historically been in the vanguard of the global human rights movement. But that lead can only be maintained if America remains true to its principles -- including in the struggle against terrorism," said Annan.

"When it appears to abandon its own ideals and objectives, its friends abroad are naturally troubled and confused," he added.

"The US has given the world an example of a democracy in which everyone, including the most powerful, is subject to legal restraint," he said.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061211/ts_afp/unusannanspeech_061211160241

[Mudoria]

10. While he's speaking about the US failures

perhaps he can also apologize for the Oil-for-Food scandal and his total ineffectiveness in doing something about Darfur.

[Posteritatis]

11. You mean the Security Council's ineffectiveness. Guess who has a veto there? (n/t)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. You mean the Oil for Food scandal...

that was mostly US media hype to distract from the Iraq War failure?

[Barrett808]

13. Poll at link needs help: 48% strongly disagree with Annan, 30% strongly agree

Get to work, DU!

VOTE: Do you agree or disagree with Annan?
http://www.usatoday.com/news/quickquestion/2006/december/popup2945.htm

[northamericancitizen]

15. K & R Excellent post. eom