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| International-UN-NGOs |
| Koffee Takes Potshots At Bush At Harvard Commencement |
| 2004-06-11 |
| In a speech laden with implicit criticism of President Bush and the American invasion of Iraq, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan told graduates and alumni of Harvard University yesterday that the world needs Like the UN intervening in the Sudan? Oh, wait... Speaking at Harvard’s graduation ceremonies, Annan did not mention Bush by name but took clear jabs at the administration’s policy of preemptive self-defense. "What kind of world would it be, and who would want to live in it, if every country was allowed to use force without collective agreement, simply because it thought there might be a threat?" he said. Not much ’thought’ there when every intelligence agency, as far back as 1998, was convinced Saddam had WMD’s. The concept, my addle-brained friend Koffee, is to intervene against openly belligerent states (remember those ’No-Fly Zones?) before they become a threat, ties to al-Queda notwithstanding. Annan earned frequent applause during the speech, one of the most pointed critiques he has made of the Bush administration. It’s the People’s Republic of Cambridge, folks. Koffee could call for Bush’s assassination and the crowd would have applauded. Annan said an international system can work only if countries accommodate different points of view and reach decisions collectively. Buit it doesn’t work when countroes don’t ’accommodate different points of view and reach decisions collectively’, which is why Bush was going to ask for your help once, maybe twice, before deciding that this dog and pony show does nothing to prevent further terrorist attacks on our soil. "All great American leaders have understood this," he said, as the 15,000 gathered in a damp Harvard Yard erupted in cheers and laughter. I don’t think Reagan, or Truman, would have agreed. Implicit in leadership is the probability of making unpopular decisions. He praised the United States for seeking a UN resolution endorsing Iraq’s interim government, which passed the Security Council unanimously two days ago after US officials acceded to demands from European countries. "I’m still relevant! They like me! They really, really like me!" Taking a longer view, he also acknowledged America’s Not on this occasion, I’d say. The UN head also reserved some muted criticism for his own organization, acknowledging that UN peacekeepers watched massacres in Bosnia and Rwanda in the 1990s without intervening. ...and repeating, as we speak, with respect to the Sudan. The UN Security Council "cannot expect to be taken seriously unless it fulfils its responsibility to protect the innocent," he said. Any plans to deploy peacekeepers to the Sudan, Koffee? Annan also said the threat of global terrorism and rogue states requires the international community to change and adapt, deciding when preemptive action is justified and how it can be taken in time to be effective. And if the ’international community’ decides not to take measures, are we just supposed to sit around with our thumbs up our asses waiting for your approval, Koffee? Is that your idea of leadership? Annan’s visit had drawn protest the night before in Harvard Square, where about 100 people gathered to criticize him for failing to take action to prevent genocide in Sudan. He touched on the Sudanese situation And what do you do when they don’t, Koffee? Are you unable to draw the oh so obvious parallel between that and Iraq? Many of the thousands of students, parents, and alumni gathered yesterday afternoon greeted his remarks warmly, sometimes standing spontaneously to applaud in the middle of his talk. "I pledge allegiance, to the United Nations..." "I thought it was great," said Sheena Lee, a member of the class of 2004. "He said a lot of things that needed to be said, without being rude." Not rude, perhaps, but insulting nonetheless. Others showed their support for US policy by applauding when he mentioned the post-9/11 view that "you can’t afford to wait till you are sure that someone has weapons of mass destruction." Annan’s speech came during the afternoon portion of Harvard’s elaborate commencement, which featured several ceremonies and took place under heavy security, as police searched bags and roamed the aisles in Harvard Yard. But, but, aren’t you unilateral police supposed to wait until an international consensus is reached first? The university conferred more than 6,000 degrees, nearly 1,600 to undergraduates and the rest to students from Harvard’s 10 graduate schools and continuing-education program. Some of these graduates are, indeed, in need of ’continuing education’. A light drizzle began just before the afternoon ceremony, but the sun soon peeked out. Harvard president Lawrence H. Summers joked that this was the first time in his first three years as president that the "veritas" in his commencement remarks has not been marked by the element of "humiditas." Summers spoke about reducing economic barriers to college, an issue on which he has sought to make Harvard a leader. Easy. Revoke tenure. As good a first step as any... "The American dream is becoming more remote, as the gap between the life prospects of the children of the fortunate and the less fortunate widens," Summers said. How about dipping into that massive endowment? Earlier this year, Summers announced a new financial aid policy, under which families that make less than $40,000 a year do not have to contribute money toward their child’s Harvard education. He described how Harvard is investing more resources, beginning this summer, to recruit students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The university will use school visits, personal phone calls, and student-to-student contacts -- the same techniques "that have worked well for us in recruiting minority students." But universities can’t solve the crisis of inequality alone, he said. "The battle for America’s future will be won or lost in America’s public schools," he said. Which still sucked, last time I looked. |
| Posted by:Raj |
| #6 Kofi was in Cambridge (Peoples Republic of) yesterday? I was wondering what that stench was. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-06-11 6:33:52 PM |
| #5 Strange.... he did not mention the Oil-for-Palaces program (Run by the HIS OWN OFFICE) or the ongoing investigation into the bribes from Saddam to (gasp!) France, Germany, and Russia (all of whom were agaist the war..). As I recall his own son somehow benefitted as well.... The UN head also reserved some muted criticism for his own organization, acknowledging that UN peacekeepers watched massacres in Bosnia and Rwanda in the 1990s without intervening. And Bosnia is 'heating up' again while the bluehelmets watch. And no mention of the villiages razed, men and boys murdered and women and girls being raped in western Sudan. I assume that since Sudan was voted to the Human Rights Comission that the United Nations (and Mr. Kofi personally) approved of the Genocide which is even now going on in Sudan. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-06-11 2:09:18 PM |
| #4 There has been so much flatulance at the college graduations this year that it is a wonder more people haven't passed out from the noxious odors. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-06-11 1:40:32 PM |
| #3 "All great American leaders have understood this," he said, as the 15,000 gathered in a damp Harvard Yard erupted in cheers and laughter. Clinton. Bosnia. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-06-11 12:43:36 PM |
| #2 "What kind of world would it be, and who would want to live in it, if every country was allowed to use force without collective agreement, simply because it thought there might be a threat?" What kind of world would it be? Well, if the Allies had made pre-emptive defence their policy in 1938 or before, it would have been a world without World War II. And Kofi and his ilk still would be bitching about unilateralism and pre-emption. Screw this idiot and all his kind. Like mjh said: US out of the UN, UN out of the US! |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2004-06-11 12:24:18 PM |
| #1 It irks me that this A**hole is basically on the American tax payroll, and has the stones to use his bully pulpit to excoriate the hand that feeds him. Not to mention, most likely charged a speaker's fee in the six digits... US out of the UN, UN out of the US |
| Posted by: mjh 2004-06-11 12:11:51 PM |