See You Annan

Leaving the United Nations, the Secretary General tells us why it's not working.

Comments (0) By Nat Hentoff Tuesday, Dec 19 2006

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And in his successful book signings around the country, Barack Obama has yet to say specifically what he would do about the CIA secret prisons, the warrantless eavesdropping on us by the National Security Agency, or the government's use of the "state secrets" weapon to foreclose judicial oversight into its "exceptions" to American and international law.

Further, while Hillary Clinton did briefly come alive on some of these "exceptions" to the Bill of Rights during floor debate on the Military Commissions Act (while McCain dozed), these do not appear to be among her current priorities, let alone those of hordes of advisers for her presidential campaign.

Photo: http://www.priu.gov.lk

Kofi Annan

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And whoever thought of Rudy Giuliani as a civil libertarian—or a passionate protector of human rights around the world? But at least Annan, much too late in his tenure, has set clear standards for all presumably civilized nations, very much including this one. Any presidential candidates listening?