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once took a particularly difficult philosophy course, in which the
questions posed were so complicated, it was hard to know even where
to begin to think. Fortunately, there was a student in the class
who was always wrong, a kind of philosopher's stone in reverse,
for which we were always most grateful. Whatever he said could be
discarded, thus limiting the universe of correct answers.
So it is with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi
Annan. He rules over one of the most corrupt bureaucracies in the
world (it was once explained to me by a chief of state that he only
sent to the U.N. people who would otherwise cause trouble at home),
which regularly issues defamatory "reports" based largely
on rumor (a dear friend of mine was recently slimed by one of these,
which accused the poor man of diamond smuggling and money laundering),
diverts substantial sums of money to despots, organizes international
conferences to promote anti-Semitism, and takes advantage of American
hospitality while opposing or sabotaging American policy with monotonous
regularity.
We can all be grateful to the New York Times, once known
as the newspaper of record, more recently as the newspaper of lament,
for publishing Kofi Annan's plea to put him in charge of our war
against terrorism on Friday. "This was an attack on all humanity,"
he tells us, "an all humanity has a stake in defeating the
forces behind it."
Wrong on all counts. It was an attack against the United States,
and much of humanity cheered it, and some of humanity has a stake
in defeating us, because they support the forces behind it.
Wrong internally. If there are "forces behind it," then
by definition "all humanity" cannot possibly want them
destroyed.
He moves on. "The United Nations is uniquely positioned to
advance this effort." Not hardly, since the U.N. sponsored
the disgusting Durban conference, and Mr. Kofi Annan was out in
front.
He tells us that our response to the terrorists must not "fracture
the unity of Sept. 11," and then he gets to the real point:
...there are enemies common to all societies...they are not,
are never, defined by religion or national descent. No people,
no region and no religion should be targeted because of the unspeakable
acts of individuals...Terrorism threatens every society...
In short, he's fronting for the terror states. We shouldn't target
Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, or any of the others who have made possible
the terror network. We should arrest the terrorists, and then, thanks
to U.N. conventions on extradition, bring them to trial, leaving
Saddam and the others free to recruit new killers. But Kofi Annan
has "higher" callings: We have to eliminate the "conditions
that permit the growth of such hatred...we must confront violence,
bigotry and hatred even more resolutely. The United Nations' work
must continue as we address the ills of conflict, ignorance, poverty
and disease."
This is right out of the PC hymnal. You can't eliminate terrorism
until and unless you address its "root causes." Coincidentally,
this is precisely what the terrorists say.
Which, I suppose, is just one more bit of evidence for the unerring
wrongheadedness of Mr. Kofi Annan, and we can thank our lucky stars
that the president of the United States has yet to mention the U.N.
in our antiterrorist war.
I hope somebody mentions this to the secretary of state.
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