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A United Nations conference this week sought to define 'Islamophobia' and to find ways to confront its consequences -- in policy-making decisions, social perceptions, and cultural interactions. The forum came six months after another UN seminar focused on confronting anti-Semitism. Both are part of a series entitled "Unlearning Intolerance." UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan opened the conference by urging the condemnation of terrorist and violent acts carried out in the name of Islam but which "no cause can justify." However, Annan also urged people not to judge all Muslims by the acts of a few extremists who target civilians. United Nations,...

A few hundred years ago, several groups of people who desired something better for themselves and their families- packed their meager belongings and looked for a land of freedom. They no longer felt an allegiance to their government or their established laws. These people longed for freedom and they looked to a new land where the shackles of oppression could be broken and they could choose where they wanted to worship, work, live and raise their families. These pioneers, who were the spirit of freedom, didn’t want the elitist kings, rulers and intelligentsia to dictate to them any longer. With...

FAIR  Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting     112 W. 27th Street   New York, NY 10001CNN's Dobbs Attacks Annan on Iraq War Legality September 21, 2004 When U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a September 15 interview that he thought the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was illegal, CNN's Lou Dobbs was outraged, calling it "another incredible outburst by Kofi Annan" ( 9/16/04). But Dobbs and his CNN reporters neglected to pursue the most important aspect of the story: Was Annan right? In a BBC interview, Annan said the war was "not in conformity with the Security Council, with...

Tomorrow night Fox News is slated to open its series on the UN oil for food program. Prior interviews with the reporters have hinted at widespread corruption. This may be our opportunity to provide a clearinghouse for information on these reports and any others that may or may not appear in the blogosphere. It is highly doubtful that MSM will play the terrier in this investigation. Would the moderators consider a thread or a base of some kind where this information, as it is ferreted out, can be held in one place and cross referenced etc? I think it is...

US says Iraq invasion was legal Watch Kofi Annan The US has rejected the United Nations secretary-general's claim that the US-led invasion of Iraq was illegal. Kofi Annan told the BBC the decision to take action in Iraq contravened the UN charter and should have been made by the Security Council, not unilaterally. But US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the use of force against Iraq had a sound legal basis. Earlier, US allies including the UK, Australia and Poland also said the war was backed by international law. In Baghdad, the interim Iraqi government said Iraqis had been...

Conservatives, myself included, love to gripe about the United Nations or, more specifically, why America still belongs to it given the fact we're as popular there as Jesse Helms at the NAACP Image Awards. So far, there hasn't really been a reason to leave the UN because they are usually pretty quiet and don't make much noise. Ah, but there are problems with that august body, not the least of which being the recent scandal involving the UN's "oil for food" program with Iraq. Seems that neither the UN nor Saddam Hussein were completely honest with one another. Kofi Anan's...

FALLUJAH, Iraq — The skies above Fallujah lit up for a second night in a row Wednesday as U.S. forces mounted a strategic strike in the Iraqi city that has a strong anti-American insurgent presence. American forces decided to delay potentially dangerous patrols into the besieged city.

WASHINGTON The cover-up in the office of the United Nations secretary general of a multibillion-dollar financial fraud known as the Iraqi oil-for-food program is beginning to come apart. The scandal has been brewing for years. The first I learned of it was in a New York Times Op-Ed article last April by the journalist Claudia Rosett charging that the secretive UN oversight of more than $100 billion in Iraqi oil exports and supposed humanitarian imports was "an invitation to kickbacks, political back-scratching and smuggling done under cover of relief operations." After checking with Kurdish sources in Iraq, I reported that...

The UN has earned its reputation as the largest anti-self-defense organization in the world. Their lust for depriving individuals of firearms for self-defense is strong and growing. They have been promoting a universal gun registration program in order to set the stage for confiscation. Consider who comprises the UN. Communist China is the largest thugocracy in the world. Other countries suffering from a variety of crooks and thugs include Syria, Sudan, Lybia, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Iran and North Korea. We are supposed to take them seriously because they send their goons all dressed up in suits to UN meetings? The only...

Instead of voicing his disapproval of the US invasion of Iraq, Kofi Annan should tender his resignation as secretary-general of the UN. In so doing, he will set a precedent for future secretaries-general in the event that the UN charter is violated by any permanent member of the Security Council. If he remains in power, he will not be able to look anybody in the eye.