Annan: United We Stand

Wall Street Journal Op-Ed

By UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan

“This Sunday marks the 60th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Charter in 1945. Debate about “reform” of the U.N. has been raging almost from that moment on.

This is because — especially but not only in the United States — idealism and aspiration for the U.N. have always outstripped its actual performance. For 60 years Americans — conservative and liberal alike — have expected much from the U.N. Too often, we have failed to meet those expectations.

In Washington, the debate now centers on two documents which appeared last week: the report of the bipartisan Task Force led by former Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Senator George Mitchell, and the Henry J. Hyde United Nations Reform Act, adopted by the House of Representatives.”

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