UN Secretary General Kofi Annan criticized on Monday U.S. foreign policy, noting "Human rights and the rule of law are vital to global security and prosperity."

"When it appears to abandon its own ideals and objectives, its friends abroad are naturally troubled and confused," Annan said in his speech at the Truman library in Missouri.

"The U.S. has given the world an example of a democracy in which everyone, including the most powerful, is subject to legal restraint."

"Its current moment of world supremacy gives it a priceless opportunity to entrench the same principles at the global level," he said.

Annan did not mention Iraq and the Bush administration by name, but his remarks sound to be a criticism of the American drive to Iraq war to overthrow Saddam Hussein in 2003, and the Bush doctrine of preemptive action against looming threats.

The UN chief argued that no nation could make its actions legitimate to others if they could not convince the world the use of military force was legitimate and for "broadly shared aims -- in accordance with broadly accepted norms."

In an age of threats like weapons of mass destruction in the hands of rogue states, terrorism, and health threats like SARS, " no nation can make itself secure by seeking supremacy over all others. We share the responsibility for each other's security," Annan said.

Annan will step down by the end of this month after 10 years as the UN chief and be replaced by South Korea's Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon.

Source: Xinhua