OP/ED: Kofi Annan goes on record to say that the Iraq war was Illegal

I think Koffi Annan is a little confused about the role of the UN, it's a coordinating body trying to prevent world war through dialogue. It is not global governance with Koffi Annan as the SuperPresident. Maybe the role of the multitude of third world countries that worked tirelessly to get another african elected as Secretary General should be revisited. When the vast majority of the members of the UN are members in order to secure the best donations/aid possible for their countries, and try to control the first world like though equal representation there may be an inherent problem with the structure. Regional stuctures such as the OAU have become jokes and lobby groups for third world countries. h


[edit on 16-9-2004 by Mynaeris]

Originally posted by cstyle226
I've posted this in other threads, but it applies here again...


As Bush said, "You're either with us, or against us."

And we all know where we stand on THAT issue

If the US were a kid they would be told to play on their own and stop bullying the other kids. Maybe we should send the whole lot of them to their own planet so they CAN GO AND PLAY ON THEIR OWN!!!

[edit on 16/9/2004 by Corinthas]

It's a little late to say this, don't you think! He should have said that inmidiatly when America went to war. But that's the problem with the UN.

rai76:

It's a little late to say this, don't you think! He should have said that inmidiatly when America went to war. But that's the problem with the UN.

No, the problem is you have either no memory or you're just talking about something you are ignorant about.

www.commondreams.org...

UNITED NATIONS, March 10 � Secretary General Kofi Annan warned today that if the United States fails to win approval from the Security Council for an attack on Iraq, Washington's decision to act alone or outside the Council would violate the United Nations charter.

"The members of the Security Council now face a great choice," Mr. Annan said in The Hague, where he was trying to broker a United Nations deal on Cyprus. "If they fail to agree on a common position and action is taken without the authority of the Security Council, the legitimacy and support for any such action will be seriously impaired."

Mr. Annan's remarks drew a sharp response from Washington, where the Bush administration, like its allies overseas, was engaged in a strong lobbying effort to win the necessary nine votes to pass a resolution this week authorizing war.

The White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said in a strongly worded retort that "from a moral point of view," if the United Nations fails to support the Bush administration's war aims, it will have "failed to act once again," as it did in Kosovo in the face of persecution of the ethnic Albanians by Serbia and earlier in Rwanda in the face of widespread massacres by Hutus against Tutsis.

That was in 2003. And before anyone jumps on the source, it's from the New York Times, referenced at commondreams website.


The way the pro-war crowd guffaws at Kofi Annan and about how irrelevant he and the UN are make me sick. You will be crawling to them for help to get you out of Iraq before long, they are already helping out like mad in Afghanistan and you're still losing there. You should hope they will have enough food and aid to give to you when your economy gets weaker and weaker and your poverty keeps growing.

You need the UN, because you need the rest of the world to help you get of these stupid messes you got yourselves into. The reason why you think you don't need the rest of the world's help is because you believe what your dumb, ignorant, annoying President tells you.

And like it or not, as imperfect as it is, the UN is the closest thing we have to a government body that represents the "rest of the world".

this war was illegal when it began. we all knew that, this announcement isnt really special. what is special though, is that if you call it 'illegal' then morons everywhere who just found out who george bush was (they exist, here in america too) will be shocked, etc.
could this have anything to do with costa rica withdrawing its support from the Iraq war? seeing as they provided neither troops nor aid, i think their withdrawal from our coalition was the spark kofi needed (jk).

kofi annan, hes a good man. i had the pleasure of meeting him and talking with him for five minutes. he has this aura about him, its so calm yet so powerful. people listen to him, as they should, but, more importantly they respect him.

the UN. a touchy subject. its set up fantastically, and its got a great purpose. the two main problems, as i see them, are as such:
1. the idea of a single nation having a veto is so limiting. 5 nations will always disagree, a perfect consensus will never be reached and theres no impetus for the vetoing party to cooperate at all. its hard to organize a majority overrulling with five nations, but if more were given a veto (dont ask me who) then it wud be more like a giant governing body of nations.
2. if the UN force is comprised of mainly american troops, by a landslide, that is no good at all. nations should give according to standard amounts based on their nation. (the US should contribute far more than say a -stan, but france the US shud be much closer)

As if it matters what the UN says.

Look at Reagans reaction the the World Court ruling on Nicaragua.

He responds by stepping UP the campaign by sending more support there. Then as if to rub salt in the wounds he delares the day after "law day" in america!

No come on that is PURE contempt for the UN and all it stands for the US and Israel should be expelled for obviouslt not giving a @!$%.

FYI......The United States, when the die hard neo-cons are in office and running the show over here, does not give the slightest damn what Kofi Annan thinks or says. The U.S. is all about self preservation for the moment, about killing the enemy in his/her land, rather than vica/versa, and the UN will just have to take a breather whilst we finish business.....albeit, it may take a few years.

This was an illegal war, and rightfully so, the US claimed war was its last resort (which is absolute BS, they pulled inspectors out before they could even finish their job).

Just maybe if the US came forward with a pre-prepared plan for Iraq without all the fear mongering WMD bullsh*t, they might have agreed (they agreed to the first gulf war).

If the US hadn't rushed into it before the emotional effects of 911 wore off, hundreds of soldiers might not be dead and the Iraqi people might not have gotten enraged enough to pick up a gun and shoot the first foreign soldier they saw. You guys were not even finished taking care of Afghanistan (what the hell were you all thinking?)

Now bush is saying (when talking about Iran) "war is my last resort", I can see where this is going to lead. Bush is a foolish, foolish man.

Rehashing his opinion from last year may play well in say France, but tell me how does it help????

He was pressured into an answer by a journalist, its not like he ordered a press meeting to declare the stated fact again.

really dont know why he has chosen to come out with this now.

Because, like the UN itself...he's slow and ineffective... ???

[edit on 16-9-2004 by Gazrok]

The U.S. is walking a slippery slope of alienating the rest of the world. The "we don't need the rest of the world; they need us" reasoning is fallacious. Global cooperation is necessary for our security and for our economy--to claim to be a member of the U.N. and then undermine the organization by violating the rules will have serious repurcussions for global cooperation in the future. By going against the U.N. security council and by not allowing the weapons inspections to continue--and it is now apparent why the Bushies didn't want them to continue--the U.S. violated the U.N. rules and further damaged relationships with the very countries that we need support from to make many of our international economic and security policies work.

The repurcussions of invading Iraq are not only felt in the U.S., but the U.S. is the only country that made the decision to go to war. Going it alone will only cost us more in the future--and it is not just money that we are talking about here. I think it is time to face facts--continuing down the path of acting unilaterally when our actions have negative effects in other countries will only lead to more dissention and war.

Originally posted by lmgnyc
The U.S. is walking a slippery slope of alienating the rest of the world.

No kidding. And the half that support Bush at all costs going so far as to mock Kofi's comment and effectively the rest of the world are starting to scare the heck out of me.

It's like 140 million people flipping off 6 billion going (Cartman voice) Oh, no. The people of earth hate me. Waaah. Do the little earth babies want a bottle? Are you gonna cry human race? Oh I'm so scared... 6 billion people don't like me. Ew, I'm a war criminal. I'm a big bad oil executive. Do you want some more pollution you big babies? Did I break your stupid little earth laws. Boo hoo hoo. I've got God and the National Guard on my side and now I can buy assault weapons. I'm not scared of 6 billion stupid earth people. We've got the bomb. Screw you planet. We can do want we want, and justify it later. Why you gotta be so unAmerican? Stupid babies. Most of you guys aren't even from here.

[edit on 16-9-2004 by RANT]

Kofi Annan has said this in the past. What the big deal? I guess its official now

Originally posted by RANT

Originally posted by lmgnyc

No kidding. And the half that support Bush at all costs going so far as to mock Kofi's comment and effectively the rest of the world are starting to scare the heck out of me./quote]

You and me both, Rant.

US has been charge for crimes against Iraq.


deoxy.org...


kofi Annan is opening a door by his statement to have US take responsibilities for his roll on crimes committed against humanity in Iraq.

[edit on 16-9-2004 by marg6043]

Originally posted by marg6043
US has been charge for crimes against Iraq.

deoxy.org...

um... that was the first bush and his administration, in 1991. as in, 13 years ago. are you saying this is kofi trying to get this started again? cuz, obviously it didnt work back then. i dont think anything happened to us/bush and co. and the veto and permanent members were certainly not abolished.

that deoxy.org site is fantastic tho, i really like it.

Bush father made a very smart decision for not taking Saddam and Invading Iraq, he knew the stakes, for some reason Bush junior is now to pay for the sin of his father and you cannot compare the destruction and death in Iraq now.

Mr. Annan is right!!! If countries abandon the rules of international law then none of us any where will every be safe from preemtive attack. Rules of international law should be honored by all countries, especially by super powers who set the example for other countries.