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Annan hits out at the U.S. in farewell speech

Suzanne Goldenberg

Washington: Kofi Annan on Monday used his final speech as the United Nations Secretary-General to deliver a parting shot at the Bush administration, accusing the U.S. of committing human rights abuses in the name of fighting terror.

After three years of increasingly vocal opposition to the war on Iraq, Mr. Annan's speech on Monday amounted to a broad condemnation of the neoconservative ideology guiding America's foreign policy under George Bush — a clear break with protocol for a departing U.N. chief.

In his most explicit rebuke, Mr. Annan said America had sacrificed its global leadership on human rights because of its methods in the war on terror.

``When it appears to abandon its own ideals and objectives, its friends abroad are naturally troubled and confused,'' Mr. Annan said, according to a prepared text of his remarks released by the U.N.

The broadside is merely the latest sign of Mr. Annan's anger at the administration since U.S. forces invaded Iraq in March 2003 without the approval of the Security Council.

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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