MORAL BATTLE:Georgie Ann Geyer

[jbfam4]

MORAL BATTLE: KOFI ANNAN FIGHTS FOR U.N.'S FUTURE

Tue Dec 21, 7:04 PM ET Op/Ed - Georgie Ann Geyer
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2205&ncid=2215&e=2&u=/ucgg/20041222/cm_ucgg/moralbattlekofiannanfightsforunsfuture

WASHINGTON -- As Kofi Annan (news - web sites) walked into the crowded salon at the Council on Foreign Relations here Thursday, there was not a sound to be heard. He looked dignified and deeply serious, this true man of the world who is increasingly being targeted by far-right, anti-United Nations (news - web sites) Republicans as a way to kill off the U.N. with one grand stroke.


But there is another side of the moral equation here. The radical, far-right Bush neocon forces want above all else to shame Kofi Annan as the prime malefactor and cut off funding from the U.S. Congress, destroying the United Nations for all time.

Actually, before and after the secretary general's speech, there WAS a lot of discussion in the audience about another of President Bush (news - web sites)'s moral and ethical choices -- in this case, the awarding this week of the prestigious Presidential Medals of Freedom. Of all the great Americans who could be so honored, President Bush gave it to three men who do, indeed, represent something grand: three components of one of the grandest failures in American history.

There at the White House proudly stood fired CIA (news - web sites) Director George Tenet, who had told President Bush it was a "slam dunk" case that Iraq (news - web sites) had weapons of mass destruction, wearing the splendid medal. There, too, was L. Paul Bremer, who dissolved the Iraqi army and Baath party on a utopian whim, leaving Iraq (and us) in the chaos and anarchy of today. And finally, there was Gen. Tommy Franks, who refused even to try to put enough troops on the ground to make the disastrous war work. (How could they have forgotten all the neocons, whose delusionary power madness started this war? A clerical mistake, perhaps?)

[cap]

1. couldnt Kofi bring up all the US companies and their subsidiaries

who were trading with Iraq, Iran, and NK despite sanctions.

[indepat]

2. That we the people have rewarded the architect of one of the grandest

failures in American history with four more years, four more years says mountains about us as a people, a people who most certainly get the government they so richly deserve. Let the rejoicing begin and, for God's sake, let there be absolutely no moaning, whining, griping or complaining should the sledding get a little tough.