Kofi Annan: Bloodshed will Affect Elections
UN’s Annan says Iraq bloodshed will affect elections
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan insisted only Iraq can decide whether to go ahead with elections next month, but he warned that the ongoing bloodshed would have an effect on the polls.
Speaking as the United States insisted that the violence would not derail Iraq’s first post-Saddam Hussein election due at the end of January, Annan said the UN’s work in helping to ready the vote was on schedule. “The technical preparations are on track and I hope that all Iraqis will exercise their right to vote,” he told a press conference at UN headquarters in New York. “The decision (to) go ahead or not is the Iraqis’ decision, not ours,” he said. “But the violence, if it continues, will have an impact on the elections. Elections don’t take place in a vacuum.”
Well, obviously, the violence will “have an impact.” That’s the whole point of the violence. It would be nice, however, if the UN Secretary General didn’t help the cause of the terrorists by promoting their agenda. Allowing them to derail the elections via their campaign of murder and intimidation would be precisely the wrong move.
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About James Joyner
Does anyone consider that his comments won’t escalate the violence?
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I don’t think we can rule out the possibility that Annan was well aware of the possibility.
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Kofi needs to clap louder, dammit.
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Annan came out of the closet during the elctions. I worry about what he is doing behind the scenes to hinder peace.
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Is this Kofi setting up an excuse to not recognize the results of the election if it comes off successfully inspite of terrorist attempts to wreck it? Somehow I think it is.
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Rip & Read Blog Podcast for December 22, 2004
Here’s what I ripped and read today:
Kofi’s Encouragement to Terrorists
Now, I may take some heat for that title, but read the following by James Joyner at Outside the Beltway and tell me if you don’t see the problem with the U.N. Secretary Gene…
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please contact with me
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