NEW YORK, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan is readying a report that would back preemptive military strikes, The Independent reported Wednesday.
The report, with 101 recommendations that include one to increase the Security Council from 15 to 24 nations, comes from 16 high-level experts who began their work on global security solutions in the midst of the war in Iraq.
Although implicitly critical of the United States, the report says there are times when force is justified "preventively and before a latent threat becomes imminent," the newspaper reported.
With disagreement even among panel members on models for an expanded Security Council and competition among nations to win such a seat, "the report is unlikely to lead to any consensus on an issue that has divided the UN membership for more than a decade," the newspaper reported.
The report, to be presented by Annan on Thursday, comes at a time when the United Nations' reputation is marred by the oil-for-food scandal in which Iraq's Saddam Hussein diverted billions of dollars.
