In his farewell address, outgoing UN Secretary General Kofi Annan identified five essential requirements for global security: collective responsibility, global solidarity, rule of law, mutual accountability and multilateralism.
He warned that America must not sacrifice its democratic ideals in its war against terrorism.
"Human rights and the rule of law are vital to global security and prosperity," Annan's text said. When the U.S. "appears to abandon its own ideals and objectives, its friends abroad are naturally troubled and confused," he said.
"As President Truman said, 'The responsibility of the great states is to serve and not dominate the peoples of the world,'" Annan said.
"He believed strongly that henceforth security must be collective and indivisible. That was why, for instance, that he insisted when faced with aggression by North Korea against the South in 1950, on bringing the issue to the United Nations," Annan said.
"Against such threats as these, no nation can make itself secure by seeking supremacy over all others."
After a private dinner Tuesday night at the White House for Annan, departing UN ambassador John Bolton joked that "nobody sang 'Kumbaya.'"
Told at the time of Bolton's comment, Annan laughed and asked: "But does he know how to sing it?"
One great man and one very, very small man.
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