October 21, 2003
Months after the rancorous lead-up to the war in Iraq, Kofi Annan, the secretary general of the United Nations, said in Pittsburgh Tuesday the world body and the United States can and must work together. "You quite often hear pundits talk, or you read in the newspapers about disputes, or even conflicts, between the United States and the United Nations, as though the United Nations and the United States were somehow rivals or opponents," Mr. Annan said, speaking at the University of Pittsburgh. He added that "such talk ill serves the public."
Earlier in the day, Mr. Annan had received the Heinz Company Humanitarian Award from Pittsburgh-based H.J. Heinz Co. He made his address later in the afternoon. In the speech, Mr. Annan argued the United States is naturally an integral part of the United Nations. Not only was the organization the brain child of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, but the United States is the sole remaining superpower. "It follows that this superpower is bound to play a leading role in any organization that it belongs to," Mr. Annan said. "The idea that a peaceful and prosperous world could be organized without the active engagement and cooperation of the United States is not credible."
But the decision by the Bush administration and its closest ally, Britain, to prosecute the Iraq war without broad United Nations backing ruffled feathers across the world stage, with France and Germany voicing the loudest objections. At one point in his speech, Mr. Annan seemed to suggest he disagreed with the way the United States handled the approach to the war. "The United States is the sole remaining superpower," he said. "But with that power comes great responsibilities. I sense widespread international acceptance of American leadership. But leadership is most effective when pursued by means of persuasion." "This means the patient building of alliances through diplomacy," Mr. Annan added. "For it is diplomacy, rather than the exercise of unchallenged military power, which is the true fulcrum that moves the world."
Still, Mr. Annan said opinions are bound to differ over situations as complex and emotionally charged as the Iraq war. What is more important -- in rebuilding Iraq and in tackling other matters of global importance -- is cooperation, he said. "To my mind it is unthinkable that we should resign ourselves to the lack of a global consensus," Mr. Annan said. He pointed to the adoption by the U.N. Security Council last week of a resolution sought by the Bush administration that calls on the United Nations to strengthen its role in Iraq as an example showing the United States and United States can achieve common goals.
Mr. Annan received the humanitarian award from Heinz in recognition of the United Nations' efforts to combat malnutrition, especially among poor children in the developing world. The Heinz Company Foundation also presented Mr. Annan with a check for $10,000 to support the United Nations Children Fund's annual "Trick or Treat for UNICEF" campaign.
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