h/t to Drudge for this late-breaking story about the new U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon via the AP. Apparently, Ban has ticked some of the U.N. appeasers and thugs off by not denouncing the death penalty carried out against Saddam Hussein.

Secy. General Ban Ki-moon

From the AP:

New U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon ran into trouble on his first day of work Tuesday over Saddam Hussein’s execution when he failed to state the United Nations’ opposition to the death penalty and said capital punishment should be a decision of individual countries.

The U.N. has an official stance opposing capital punishment and Ban’s predecessor Kofi Annan reiterated it frequently. The top U.N. envoy in Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, restated it again on Saturday after the former Iraqi dictator was hanged.

Ban, however, took a different approach, never mentioning the U.N. ban on the death penalty in all its international tribunals, and the right to life enshrined in the U.N. Charter.

“Saddam Hussein was responsible for committing heinous crimes and unspeakable atrocities against Iraqi people and we should never forget victims of his crime,” Ban said in response to a reporter’s question about Saddam’s execution Saturday for crimes against humanity. “The issue of capital punishment is for each and every member state to decide.”

His ambiguous answer put a question mark over the U.N.’s stance on the death penalty. It also gave the new chief an early taste of how tricky global issues are, and how every word can make a difference.

And here’s an even more promising passage:

Ban later addressed hundreds of U.N. staff members in New York and via teleconference at eight locations around the world, urging them to maintain the highest level of ethics and discipline in the face of recent criticism about lack of accountability, ethical lapses and inefficiency at the U.N.

“I stand before you humbled, with a heavy weight on my shoulders, but my heart is beating with quiet excitement,” he told them.

The new secretary-general has said his first priority will be to restore trust in the United Nations, whose reputation has been battered by the oil-for-food scandal in Iraq, corruption in the U.N.’s purchasing operations and sexual abuse by U.N. peacekeepers.

Oh, and guess where he ate on his first day of duty? In the U.N. cafeteria with other U.N. workers, and even stood in line to pay for his meal of meat and rice just like everybody else. Gee, what a refreshing change! I’ll bet Kofi would have never been caught dead associating with lowly U.N. staffers. The article even says the staffers were stunned by this act.

Bravo, Ban! Now we finally have a secretary general who understands what it’s like to have to deal with brutal dictators (especially their own neighbors). And I doubly agree that it’s up to the individual member state to decide their own dang policy on whatever they choose. If Iraq wants a speedy death penalty, then they can have it. I just think we should take some clues from them on convicted murderers in the U.S. Let’s hope this is a sign of good change at the U.N. Thank God Kofi is gone.