[UPDATE BELOW]
The Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, rejected today calls for an international conference to reach a solution to the widening sectarian war in Iraq, saying the Iraqis were working to stanch the bloodshed through their own political process.
Mr. Talabani’s comments came in response to a call last week by Kofi Annan, secretary general of the United Nations, to hold an international conference on Iraq that would include all of the country’s major political groups and representatives from around the region.
“We have an ongoing political process and a council of representatives that is the best in the region,” Mr. Talabani said in a statement, using the formal name of the Iraqi Parliament. “We became an independent sovereign state and we decide the issues of the country.”
Good for them. You cannot preach to the Iraqi's that they need to take control of their country, then try to force them to accept the dictates of others.
Kofi Annan should not be preaching anything to anyone. The man is an anti-semite as was made clear in the last post. During his tenure in the UN, corruption has been exposed and Kofi has done nothing to stem it, in fact one of HIS own aides was responsible for shredding documents dealing with the oil for food program scandal. Dear Kofi refused to step down even though his own son was involved in that scandal.
The UN secretary-general's office was in full spin mode following the release of the eagerly awaited Volcker Interim Report on questions of conflict of interest involving Annan, whose son Kojo was employed by the UN oil-for-food contractor Cotecna..
Despite his promise of reform, which has been an overwhelming failure, Kofi still thinks when he talks, people should listen. What a joke!!!
President Talabani’s firm stand on the issue contradicts not only Mr. Annan, but also the recommendation by a growing number of American policy makers that the United States and Iraq should hold a conference that would bring together all the countries in the region that have vested interests in trying to reestablish stability in Iraq. Such a meeting might include Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia, all accused by various American and Iraqi leaders of fomenting violence here
President Talabani seems to understand even if the "American Policy Makers" (predominantly Liberal, of course) do not, that you cannot negotiate with countries, such as Iran, that are part of the problem itself. That would be tantamount to trying to negotiate with Hitler.
Lieberman comapres dealing with Iran and Syria with the local fire department asking an arsonist for help.
The Iraqi's are dealing with trying to maintain the start of a democracy, and to expect them to do a better job that we, ourselves did, is ludicous. After all, it took us over a decade, a war and two constitutions to establish ourselves and that does not even count the fact that later, we still had to deal with a civil war.
Thank the heavens that his stint is up at the end of this year.
So Mr. Annan, take your suggestions and shove them where the sun don't shine!!!!
[UPDATE] 12/04/06- Via the BBC more anger at Kofi Annan's remarks.
Iraq's national security adviser says he is shocked by UN head Kofi Annan's suggestion that the average Iraqi is worse off than under Saddam Hussein.
Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie also accused the UN of shying away from its responsibility towards the Iraqi people.
(SNIP)
Mr Rubaie rejected Mr Annan's comments, asking: "Doesn't Kofi Annan differentiate between the mass killing of Iraqis by the security and intelligence apparatus of Saddam Hussein and the present indiscriminate killings of civilians, Iraqi civilians, by the al-Qaeda terrorists in Iraq?"
He added: "I'm shocked and stunned by what Kofi Annan alluded to, that the condition was better under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein."
Looks like the Iraqi's see Kofi for exactly what he is, as this last parting remark from Mr. Rubaie indicates.
Referring to the invasion, Mr Rubaie said: "The UN, I believe, shied away from the responsibilities towards the Iraqi people in 2003."
Considering that Kofi is surrounded by countries in the UN that are dictatorships, perhaps that is why he favors a dictatorship over a democracy. The Iraqi people don't though and they are on the ground in Iraq and know a little bit more than Kofi does about their own country.
