Gee, and to think some Americans don't think too highly of him.

From this article:

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) said Tuesday that recent Iraqi attacks on U.S. and British planes in the so-called no-fly' zone did not constitute a violation of the recently passed tough U.N. Security Council resolution on Iraq.



"Let me say that I don't think the (Security) Council will say that this is in contravention of the resolution that was recently passed," Annan told reporters, speaking in a village near Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, where he is on an official two-day visit.

However, in Washington, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Monday the Iraqi anti-aircraft fire "appears to be a violation" of the latest U.N. resolution.

Also Monday, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld called recent Iraqi attacks in the no-fly zone "unacceptable," but said the United States would hold back on going to the U.N. Security Council to debate possible military action against Iraq.

On Sunday, Rumsfeld, speaking in Santiago, Chile, said the United States is waiting for a pattern of Iraqi misdeeds to emerge before going to the Security Council.

The United States appeared to be the only member in the 15-member Security Council to claim that a violation of the no-fly zone could be a trigger for war under the recently passed Resolution 1441.

The U.N. resolution demanding that Iraq disarm includes a sentence that could be interpreted as requiring Iraq to stop its frequent firings on American and British planes enforcing no-fly zones over the country's northern and southern sectors.

One sentence in the resolution says Iraq "shall not take or threaten hostile acts" against any personnel of any U.N. member state who are "taking action to uphold" any Security Council resolution.