At the United Nations, outgoing Secretary-General Kofi Annan gave his final press conference Tuesday before stepping down at the end of the month. Annan criticized the U.S. for invading Iraq without the support of the U.N. Security Council.

Outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan: “I hope that when next time one is dealing with a broader threat to the international community, one will wait and seek the approval of the Security Council. As I’ve said, a government, a country has a right to defend itself, but when it’s an issue of broader threat to the international community, it’s only the Security Council that has that legitimacy to authorize action on that basis.”

Annan also addressed the U.N.’s handling of the Oil-for-Food Program.

Outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan: “When historians look at the records, they will draw the conclusion that, yes, there was mismanagement, there may have been several U.N. staff members that were engaged, but the scandal, if any, was in the capitals and with the 2,200 companies that made a deal with Saddam behind our backs. And of course I hope the historians will realize that the U.N. is more than Oil-for-Food, the U.N. is a U.N. that coordinates tsunami, the U.N. that deals with the Kashmir earthquake, the U.N. that is pushing for equality and fighting to implement the millennium development goals.”

Annan will be succeeded by the South Korean diplomat Ban Ki-moon.