Annan Bows out of UN with Attack on Bush...

[bridgit]

· Secretary general accuses US of human rights abuses
· Washington 'abandoned its ideals' in war on terror

'Kofi Annan yesterday used his final speech as the United Nations secretary general to deliver a parting shot at the Bush administration, accusing the US of committing human rights abuses in the name of fighting terror.

After three years of increasingly vocal opposition to the war on Iraq, Mr Annan's speech yesterday amounted to a broad condemnation of the neoconservative ideology guiding America's foreign policy under George Bush - a clear break with protocol for a departing UN chief.

No nation can make itself secure by seeking supremacy over all others. - Kofi Annan

In his most explicit rebuke, Mr Annan said America had sacrificed its global leadership on human rights because of its methods in the war on terror. "When it appears to abandon its own ideals and objectives, its friends abroad are naturally troubled and confused," Mr Annan said, according to a prepared text of his remarks released by the UN.

The broadside is merely the latest sign of Mr Annan's anger at the administration since US forces invaded Iraq in March 2003 without the approval of the security council. Earlier this month, he upset the White House by saying that many Iraqis believe they were better off under Saddam Hussein, and he has said he does not believe the country can rebuild on its own.'

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1212-04.htm