Don't Call People Names, George

Kofi Annan today criticized bush for his frequent use of the world "evil", saying:

'Thinking of people as 'evil' can lead us to become evil or, at least to do evil, ourselves... It is the moral equivalent of declaring war.'

'There is something about the word, when we apply it to another human being - and more especially to a group of human beings - that makes me uncomfortable. It is too absolute. It seems to cut off any possibility of redemption, of dialogue or even coexistence.'

'Whatever we think about individuals, we must not allow ourselves to generalise and attribute evil characteristics to whole groups of people.'