State Dept on Kofi Annan

From yesterday's briefing (via email):

QUESTION: Sean, Kofi Annan is delivering a speech at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri.

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: And apparently he's lashed out at the Administration in particular about the Iraq war.

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: Calling it too much macho, too little diplomacy. And do you see this in any way as a reflection on UN Ambassador John Bolton's tenure at the UN?

MR. MCCORMACK: No.

QUESTION: His behavior and --

MR. MCCORMACK: No. And we have an as prepared for delivery set of his remarks. I haven't seen the actual delivered version of the remarks and I'm not sure I see any sort of bombast that has been portrayed -- that these remarks have been portrayed as having been delivered by Secretary General Annan. Again, I'm working off the as prepared text. We'll see what the actual delivered text looks like.

Look, you know, there's no Secretary General of the United Nations that going to be in lockstep with the United States or any other country with regard to its policies. That's not that person's job. We worked well with Secretary General Annan on a number of different issues. There's some issues on which we disagree; that is to be expected.

QUESTION: Can I follow up?

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah, sure.

QUESTION: Well, actually the speech was pretty verbatim to the prepared text that you mentioned. But what he said was that the United States in trying to secure -- the Bush Administration in trying to secure the country in the war on terrorism was dominating in its policy against other states, committing what he called human rights abuses. And I mean, I can't remember a Secretary General in recent history whose tenure was marked over the last four years by such harsh criticism of the United States. And do you think that this has soured the relationship between the UN Secretariat and the Bush Administration? Ambassador Bolton has had some pretty harsh remarks for the Secretary General over the last year or so.

MR. MCCORMACK: Look, there's going to be a new Secretary General. The Secretary of State is actually going to be meeting with him this evening for a series of discussions about what the United States -- what United States priorities are for the United Nations, what our policies are. We have a good working relationship with the Secretary General-elect -- I guess that's what we would call him. And I would expect that he is getting the same kinds of briefings and having the same -- similar kinds of meetings with other member countries of the United Nations.

As I said, are we going to see eye to eye on every single issue with Secretary Generals of the United Nations? No, probably not. With respect to Mr. Annan's remarks, he, of course, is entitled to his opinion. There have been instances that we have all seen, for example, Abu Ghraib, which had been shameful. But are these a -- are these part of a concerted policy? No. These are -- those were terrible, shameful acts by some individuals.

And in terms of how the United States has sought to protect itself and act in its own national interest and, by the way, also try to help protect and defend freedom and liberty and those countries that subscribe to that political viewpoint, of course, we have made difficult decisions and we don't expect that everybody has agreed with those decisions and people are entitled to their opinions.

But this country and this President and the Secretary of State are acting on the principle of defending liberty and spreading freedom and democracy throughout the world. That is at the core of this President's foreign policy. You can see it in the Second Inaugural. You can see it in our actions. You can see it in speeches and remarks by other members of this Administration. But that is at the core of our foreign policy.