Word: annan
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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When the smoke--well, the fog of diplomacy--cleared, Saddam Hussein emerged whole from last week's confrontation with the U.S., ready to live and cheat again. For that he can thank Kofi Annan. Three times the U.N. Secretary-General insinuated himself into the showdown. By the time he was done, he had saved Saddam from the most serious attack on his regime since the Gulf...
...that he would "unconditionally" allow the U.N. inspectors to return to their work of prying into suspected stockpiles of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons, he threw into confusion the best-laid American plans for military action against him. On the surface, the letter dispatched to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan appeared to fulfill U.S. demands that Iraq let unfettered inspections resume immediately. But it came with a two-page annex listing nine items Iraq wanted in return, which Saddam dubbed "positions" but the U.S. called unacceptable "conditions." The approval--and global sigh of relief--that initially greeted Saddam's backdown...
...letter, however, was all Saddam needed to rev diplomacy into high gear. His yes-but reply arrived in New York City just hours later, forcing the Pentagon to hit the hold button on its imminent air strike. Then Annan gave an early-morning "positive" appraisal to the letter, deflating the momentum for military action before Washington had time to react. "We did a remarkable job isolating Saddam, and the Secretary-General undermined that," lamented a U.S. official. "It was not helpful. And that's a massive understatement...
...anything really changed? Certainly not on paper. Iraqi Deputy PM Tariq Aziz made a point of mentioning that the U.N. inspectors can return to their duties "according to the memorandum of understanding" -- the agreement inked with Kofi Annan last time round. In fact, the rhetoric on all sides has not advanced one jot. There are the same vague assurances of a sanctions review from the secretary general, and the same refusal to talk about sanctions in Washington. Even the military, which came less than 30 minutes away from air strikes this weekend, is getting used to the routine. "This...
...This is just completely different from when Nelson Mandela or Kofi Annan came to speak to us," she said. "With them, I knew about the lectures because of word of mouth. But no one was even talking about Whoopi coming to speak...