At the U.N. headquarters in New York on September 12, 2002, “Due to speak immediately before [President] Bush, he [U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan] had guaranteed the morning headlines by releasing the text of his remarks early, including a warning that invading Iraq without U.N. support would be a grave mistake and a violation of international law. ‘No country,’ Annan said, ‘should reject cooperation as a simple matter of political convenience.’ ”
– Karen DeYoung, Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell, Page 411