by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright September 19, 2006
All Rights Reserved.

peaking for the last time as U.N. secretary-general to the annual meeting of the General Assembly, Kofi Annan offered a bleak picture of world events, hard-pressed to find a silver lining. While Annan gave the bad news, wire services reported a military coup in Thailand, ousting Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, swapping times with Montenegro to urgently address the world body. Annan, whose beleaguered tenure earned corruption charges for his son Kojo's involvement in Saddam's notorious oil-for-food program, ends his term Dec. 31. Speaking to the 192-country assembly, Annan identified Middle East peace, Iran's nuclear ambitions and the genocide in Dafur as the U.N.'s top priorities. U.S. president George W. Bush presented his utopian vision, calling on members to embrace his pro-democracy Mideast agenda, something viewed skeptically since the Iraq war.

      Obliquely slapping at Bush's foreign policy, Annan told delegates that terrorism was being used as a “pretext” for violating human rights. Bush told delegates that they must accept the path of democracy to create a peaceful world. Since former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell defied U.N. weapons inspectors and told the Security Council Feb. 5, 2003 that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction, the U.N. hasn't trusted U.S. credibility. Now Bush wants the U.N. to take punitive action against Iran for defying U.N. demands to halt enriching uranium. “We face a world whose divisions threaten the very notion of an international community,” Annan told delegates, questioning the U.N.'s current peacekeeping efforts yet still holding out hope. “I remain convinced that the only answer to this divided world must be a truly United Nations,” Annan urged members.

      Ending his 10-year term, Annan waxed philosophical about the Arab-Israeli conflict, continuing the prevailing rhetoric about Israeli occupation. He said little about the dangerous rise in Islamic extremism, causing the east-west culture clash threatening to divide the world. “As long as the Palestinians live under occupation, exposed to daily frustration and humiliation. As long as Israelis are blown up in busses or in dance halls, so long will passions everywhere be inflamed,” said Annan, perpetuating the same powerful anti-Semitic myth that Jews displaced Arabs from their land. Annnan won't unequivocally condemn radical Islam's incendiary rhetoric and attempt to sabotage peace. Annan mentions nothing about Sept. 11 or the band of criminals hijacking Islam to advance a radical agenda, launching terror attacks against innocent civilians around the globe.

      Annan saved his most passionate pleas for the hundreds-of-thousands that have perished in the western Darfur region of Sudan. Though the Sudan has accepted largely ineffective African Union troops in Darfur, they resist U.N. peacekeepers to stop the bloodshed. “Where the continued spectacle of men, women and children driven from their homes by murder, rape and burning of their villages makes a mockery of our claim, as an international community, to shield people from the worst abuses,” said Annan, chastising the General Assembly to take responsible action. Instead of dealing with the Darfur issue, Annan was too busy defending himself, though not lately, against allegations of corruption. Kofi mentioned nothing about the Pope's current woes for allegedly insulting Islam Sept. 12, reminding Muslims that the pen [or free speech] is mightier than the sword

      Kofi walked a dangerous tightrope blindly supporting the third world—including outlaw regimes—in his attempt to show evenhandedness. While Western democracies were under siege from radical Islam for the past 10 years, Kofi sat on the fence, unwilling to go out on a limb condemning terrorism. “Together we have pushed some big rocks to the top of the mountain, even if others have slipped from our grasp. But this mountain with its bracing winds and global views is the best place on earth to be,” expressing regret about the unfinished business that must be left to others when he finishes his job Dec. 31. Kofi spent too much time in backroom deals than changing the global landscape to promote world stability and peace. He has nobody to blame but himself for choosing personal greed over building a more secure and stable world to advance the U.N.'s humanitarian charter.

      Kofi's 10-year reign was marked by missed opportunities, allowing personal self-interest to eclipse a more responsible U.N. agenda. While there's nothing wrong with the U.N. charter, there's much to fix with the bureaucracy that seems biased against established democracies. Since Sept. 11, Annan could have dedicated his efforts toward laying a solid diplomatic foundation for defeating global crime and terrorism. "I yield my place to others with an obstinate feeling—a real obstinate feeling—of hope for our common future,” Kofi told delegates, acknowledging the unfinished business. Whoever the U.N. chooses as its next secretary-general, her or she must be committed to ending radical Islam's attempt to blackmail the civilized world. Promoting human rights and economic development requires the U.N. to take an unequivocal stand against rogue regimes and terrorist states.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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