December 3, 2004 -- President Bush withheld support for embattled U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday and demanded the world body produce a "full and fair" accounting of the Iraq oil-for-food scandal.
The United States broke with other nations on the U.N. Security Council, including Britain, Russia, France, Germany and China, which announced their support for Annan.
"It's very important for the United Nations to understand that there ought to be a full and fair and open accounting of the oil for-food program," Bush said at the White House .
"In order for the taxpayers of the United States to feel comfortable about supporting the United Nations, there has to be an open accounting."
Meanwhile, in Albany, the Republican-led state Senate dealt a severe blow to a U.N. plan to build a 35-story building on nearby parkland, tabling a bill that would have started the process.
The United Nations "has evolved into an anti-Israel, anti-Semitic group of petty, sniping bigots who are pursuing an anti-freedom, anti-democratic, anti-American agenda," said state Sen. Serphin Maltese, a conservative Republican from Queens.
"To authorize an expansion of their headquarters would be a slap in the face of American citizens."
Meanwhile, GOP Reps. Vito Fossella, Peter King, and Sue Kelly called a press conference in front of U.N. headquarters, endorsing legislation calling for cutting 10 percent of U.S. funding for the United Nations unless it cooperates with investigators probing the oil-for-food scandal.
Heidi Singer contributed to this report.
http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/32363.htm
The United States broke with other nations on the U.N. Security Council, including Britain, Russia, France, Germany and China, which announced their support for Annan.
"It's very important for the United Nations to understand that there ought to be a full and fair and open accounting of the oil for-food program," Bush said at the White House .
"In order for the taxpayers of the United States to feel comfortable about supporting the United Nations, there has to be an open accounting."
Meanwhile, in Albany, the Republican-led state Senate dealt a severe blow to a U.N. plan to build a 35-story building on nearby parkland, tabling a bill that would have started the process.
The United Nations "has evolved into an anti-Israel, anti-Semitic group of petty, sniping bigots who are pursuing an anti-freedom, anti-democratic, anti-American agenda," said state Sen. Serphin Maltese, a conservative Republican from Queens.
"To authorize an expansion of their headquarters would be a slap in the face of American citizens."
Meanwhile, GOP Reps. Vito Fossella, Peter King, and Sue Kelly called a press conference in front of U.N. headquarters, endorsing legislation calling for cutting 10 percent of U.S. funding for the United Nations unless it cooperates with investigators probing the oil-for-food scandal.
Heidi Singer contributed to this report.
http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/32363.htm