posted on February 1, 2005 11:59:47 AM new
UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Kofi Annan has selected former U.S. President Clinton to be the U.N. point man for tsunami relief and reconstruction, U.N. diplomats said Tuesday.
“The secretary-general wants to make sure that once the television cameras leave, the world will not forget the victims,” said one envoy.
U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard refused to confirm the appointment but said "a statement will be released on the subject by my office in the next few hours."
Annan wants to appoint a special envoy not only to focus on the cleanup and reconstruction but to try to make progress on resolving conflicts with rebels in the two worst-hit countries — Indonesia and Sri Lanka, Eckhard said.
Tsunami fund-raiser
Clinton and former President George H.W. Bush already cochair a tsunami fund-raising effort at the request of President Bush.
The two former presidents have been traveling throughout the United States raising money and Bush said last week that they hope to go to the tsunami-ravaged Indian Ocean region to illustrate the need for continued financial help from Americans to rebuild the area. He didn't say when.
Ironically, the report surfaced as The Associated Press obtained a letter by former Sen. Jesse Helms in which he predicts Clinton will try to become the next U.N. secretary-general.
In a fund-raising letter for his senatorial library, Helms invokes the specter of the former president leading the United Nations after Annan retires next year.
“I’m sure you might agree that putting a left-wing, undisciplined and ethically challenged former President of the United States into a position of such power would be a tragic mistake,” wrote the 83-year-old Republican, who left office in 2003 after five terms.
The letter contains a petition asking President Bush to “rebuke all efforts by Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and every other liberal in Congress to push for Bill Clinton to become Secretary-General of the United Nations.”
A spokesman for Clinton did not respond to a call seeking comment. Clinton has said nothing publicly about wanting to lead the United Nations.
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- "Give it up for George W. Bush, the best friend international jihad ever had."
posted on February 1, 2005 12:21:10 PM new
Maybe by that time there won't be any United Nations. Check and see what Nations are united? I doubt it very much if Clinton becomes secretary general not much would change EXCEPT - you finish the sentence....
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posted on February 1, 2005 12:46:55 PM new
Tsunami Czar... Shouldn't that be "Tsunami Tsar"
Tsk,tsk...
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[ edited by replaymedia on Feb 1, 2005 12:47 PM ]
posted on February 1, 2005 12:53:11 PM new
While Clinton would be a good choice, I don't think it will happen. Only because the rest of the world will see it as just one more area where the US is trying to put its policies on the rest of the world.
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
---------------------------------- "Give it up for George W. Bush, the best friend international jihad ever had."
posted on February 2, 2005 05:23:42 AM new
Jess Helm's is trying to block this.
And all over the rightwing websites everyone's telling jokes about how it would be with clinton knowing so much about corruption he'd fit right in...the interns, of course...and more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Four More Years....YES!!!
posted on February 2, 2005 11:59:28 AM new
Hellooooo!
You'd think that Clinton was the first and only President to ever have affairs or just plain sex outside of their marriages, while in office... several Presidents and and other highly respected, influential men have been guilty of the same thing over and over again....
c'mon now....
Let's see, how about John Kennedy or FDR and then there was Martin Luther King Jr., all who had affairs and in the case of Kennedy and King, many affairs!
Then there was, Nixon, Ford, Carter and Bush Sr.who were completely faithful in their marriages...some of the least effective leaders of all time..
To quote author Dennis Prager...
"If we had to find a link between marital fidelity and good leadership, the evidence would point to a negative one: Men who committed adultery were most likely to be great leaders"
Absurd of course, but no more absurd than the argument that a man who can't keep his promise of fidelity can't be a trusted leader....
posted on February 2, 2005 02:28:33 PM new
LOL That, maggie, sounds like the NYT's version of events.
To my knowledge NO other President was impeached for lying. He was impeached because he lied under oath and was found guilty of obstructing justice.
Yea...not something to be proud of at all, for anyone, especially not someone who had the highest job in the Nation.
[hint] The NYT's was called on forgetting to mention that....they did do a correction and post it was for lying and obstruction. It's just they wait so long to do their corrections and they hide them so few notice.
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Four More Years....YES!!!
[ edited by Linda_K on Feb 2, 2005 02:31 PM ]
posted on February 2, 2005 03:02:25 PM newTo my knowledge NO other President was impeached for lying. He was impeached because he lied under oath and was found guilty of obstructing justice.
No, he was impeached because the Republicans were on a witch hunt. Even if he hadn't lied, they'd have pushed for it.
I don't see any Republicans rushing to impeach Bush for his lies, which got us into a war...
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"Bad temper is its own scourge. Few things are more bitter than to feel bitter. A man's venom poisons himself more than his victim." --Charles Buxton
posted on February 2, 2005 04:03:47 PM new
That's most likely because they don't believe he did lie about the threat the past three administrations also believed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Four More Years....YES!!!
