Saturday, April 5, 2003
The above are two pictures of Kofi Annan. The one on the left is the real Kofi Annan, the one you would see if you were to look at him with your real eyes. That's the one that exists in the real world and represents, at least as well as a photograph can represent, reality.
On the right is the way I see him - sort of cartoon-like, devoid of detail, less real, to be taken less seriously. That's the same mental image I get these days when hearing reports of the statements made by the perfidious French, the opportunistic Germans or the opprobrious Russians and Chinese.
They all started to shift into this sort of "half-life" world while I watched the UN gyrations over the past few years. It was like a hypnotizing dance, a sort of ritual that drew me into a Carlos Castanedaesque altered state of consciousness, but instead of me being drawn in, it was the dancers who receeded from my world as I watched from the safety of grounded reality.
Now, that's all well and good. Lots of people spend their days in a sort of fantasy-world. It only bothers me in so far as it affects me. Listening to leaders like Rumsfeld, Bush and Rice has made me feel fairly confident. These folks seem grounded in reality. They seem to understand that those dancers need not involve them - the dancers can dance on without them just as well. But as I've listened to the news lately, I've grown concerned. I'm worried that wanting to help our friend Tony Blair may dispose some of our leaders to become confused and start taking these cartoon people seriously. That's dangerous. Cartoon people are not to be taken seriously - unless they find a way off the film and back into our real world.
Rice says U.S. to have 'leading' role in Iraq -- The Washington Times
The United States and its coalition partners will be the "leading" force in establishing an interim Iraqi authority, and the role of the United Nations is not currently under discussion, the White House said yesterday.
"It would only be natural to expect that after having participated in having liberated Iraq with coalition forces and having given life and blood to liberate Iraq that the coalition intends to have a leading role," said National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.
"The exact character of the U.N.'s role is really not an issue for discussion right now," she said.
But Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, who favors a U.N. mandate for the interim government, said discussion on the matter had begun, including his own conversation by telephone yesterday with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
"The U.N. will be a partner in all of this — everybody understands that. There is no disagreement about that," Mr. Powell said. "We'll work our way through the intricacies of the role to be played by the U.N. in the days ahead."[...]
"It would only be natural to expect that after having participated in having liberated Iraq with coalition forces and having given life and blood to liberate Iraq that the coalition intends to have a leading role," said National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.
"The exact character of the U.N.'s role is really not an issue for discussion right now," she said.
But Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, who favors a U.N. mandate for the interim government, said discussion on the matter had begun, including his own conversation by telephone yesterday with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
"The U.N. will be a partner in all of this — everybody understands that. There is no disagreement about that," Mr. Powell said. "We'll work our way through the intricacies of the role to be played by the U.N. in the days ahead."[...]
I like both these people, Powell and Rice, and I have faith they'll find the right path. /crosses fingers
