Vindication. Iraqi …

Vindication.

Iraqi Minister Scolds U.N. for Inaction Regarding Hussein
UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 16 — Iraq’s foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, accused the United Nations Security Council today of having failed to help rescue his country from Saddam Hussein, and he chided member states for bickering over his beleaguered country’s future.

So says the NY Times. Got to applaud the Times this time, as apparently the BBC decided to spike the whole scolding thing. The Times continues,

“Now is not the time to pin blame and point fingers,” [UN Secretary General Kofi Annan] told reporters. Saying that Mr. Zebari was “obviously entitled to his opinion,” Mr. Annan said that the United Nations had done as much for Iraq as it could under the circumstances and was prepared to do more.

Which, as Instapundit noted, translates to, “Now is not the time to pin blame and point fingers at me.”

If you want to do the free registration thing with the Times, you can read the whole thing. Very much worth your time. For those who don’t, here’s what the Iraqi foreign minister said.

“Settling scores with the United States-led coalition should not be at the cost of helping to bring stability to the Iraqi people,” Mr. Zebari said in language unusually scolding for an occupant of the guest seat at the end of the curving Security Council table.

“Squabbling over political differences takes a back seat to the daily struggle for security, jobs, basic freedoms and all the rights the U.N. is chartered to uphold,” he said.

Taking a harsh view of the inability of quarreling members of the Security Council to endorse military action in Iraq, Mr. Zebari said, “One year ago, the Security Council was divided between those who wanted to appease Saddam Hussein and those who wanted to hold him accountable.

“The United Nations as an organization failed to help rescue the Iraqi people from a murderous tyranny that lasted over 35 years, and today we are unearthing thousands of victims in horrifying testament to that failure.”

He declared, “The U.N. must not fail the Iraqi people again.”

It was not immediately clear how the accusatory tone of Mr. Zebari’s speech affected the closed-door discussion over the United Nations’ role in Iraq that followed, but Secretary General Kofi Annan, the first to emerge from the hall, appeared taken aback.

He’s used to accepting groveling and platitudes, not the truth.

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