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Annan: Pre-emptive strikes set dangerous precedentPresident Bush, France's Chirac to speak to General Assembly
UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan delivered an implicit rebuke of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq on Tuesday but urged U.N. members to assist in the country's reconstruction. "Whatever view each of us may take of the events of recent months, it is vital for all of us that the outcome is a stable and democratic Iraq," Annan said in remarks to the opening of the U.N. General Assembly's plenary session. Annan's comments precede a key speech to the assembly by President Bush, who is seeking support for his vision of postwar Iraq and international help to shoulder the burden of rebuilding the country. Annan criticized states that argued for "the right and obligation to use force pre-emptively" to head off perceived threats, but he urged the Security Council to figure out how to deal with similar questions in the future. "This logic represents a fundamental challenge to the principles on which, however imperfectly, world peace and stability have rested for the last 58 years," Annan told the General Assembly. "My concern is that, if it were adopted, it could set precedents that resulted in a proliferation of the unilateral and lawless use of force, with or without credible justification." The founders of the United Nations set up a network of international institutions that would allow countries to work together for peace, Annan said. "Now we must decide whether it is possible to continue on the basis agreed then, or whether radical changes are needed." The United States and its allies sought explicit Security Council authorization to use force against Iraq, warning that Baghdad was defying U.N. resolutions demanding it give up chemical and biological weapons, long-range missiles and efforts to develop a nuclear bomb. The Bush administration argued those weapons could be provided to terrorists. But the Security Council was unable to reach a consensus on the matter, and a U.S.-led army invaded Iraq in March without the blessing of the United Nations. "The council needs to consider how it will deal with the possibility that individual states may use force pre-emptively against perceived threats," Annan said. "Its members may need to begin a discussion on the criteria for an early authorization of coercive measures to address certain types of threats -- for instance, terrorist groups armed with weapons of mass destruction." Although Bush was expected to push for a new Security Council resolution that would create a broader multinational force in Iraq, he is said to have no plans to accept a French proposal that seeks to hasten Iraqi sovereignty. "The French plan, which would somehow try to transfer sovereignty to an unelected group of people, just isn't workable," Condoleezza Rice, Bush's national security adviser, told reporters at the White House on Monday. Meetings to followAfter his speech, Bush plans to hold bilateral meetings with several world leaders, including French President Jacques Chirac, who has sharply criticized the administration's Iraq policy. France says it wants the coalition to turn over control to the Iraqi people in six to nine months. Chirac suggested in a New York Times interview Monday that France might abstain from voting on a resolution lacking a timetable but not veto it. (Full story) "The French will have to make their own determination," Rice said when asked about the possible abstention. Rice said the administration wants to see a national conversation in Iraq, followed by the writing of a constitution, national elections and transfer of sovereignty. She refused to put a timetable on when that would occur. "We'll see how long it takes," she said. "The establishment of sovereignty for the Iraqi people is the goal of everybody, most especially the United States." L. Paul Bremer, U.S. civil administrator in Iraq, also said the French plan is a recipe for disaster. "To do so would invite economic collapse, followed by political extremism and a return to terrorism," he said Monday on Capitol Hill. He said the coalition is seeking "as quickly as possible to give Iraqis responsibility for their country," but that the security situation is currently too unstable. "One of the reasons we are seeking additional money now for security is to be able to build up much more rapidly a professional Iraqi police force and a professional Iraqi army," Bremer said. In addition to Chirac, Bush is to meet Tuesday with the leaders of Spain, Indonesia, Afghanistan and Morocco. He is to meet Wednesday with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, another staunch critic of his Iraq policy.
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