kofi anan.......the undiplomatic diplomat

[gardenweasel]

""As reports of the attack emerged, Annan rushed out of a hotel in Rome following a dinner with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.

“I am shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently ""deliberate targeting"" by Israeli Defence Forces of a UN Observer post in southern Lebanon,” Annan said in a statement later.

Annan said in his statement that the post had been there for a long time and was marked clearly, and was hit despite assurances from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that UN positions would not be attacked.

“I call on the goverment of Israel to conduct a full investigation into this very disturbing incident and demand that any further attack on UN positions and personnel must stop,” Annan said in the statement.

Gillerman said “Israel is carrying out a thorough inquiry into this tragic incident and will inform the UN of its results as soon as possible.”

hmmmm...israel has said they deeply regret the incident and vowed to investigate...

but ,annan already knows who to blame....it was deliberate....before an investigation...

i thought the head of the u.n. was supposed to be a diplomat, someone who understands the gravity of making hasty accusations with no evidence....and how that type of overreation can exacerbate a situation...

and what is annan going to do about it even if they did?......i understand the paper cuts from a strongly worded letter can really hurt if desert sand gets in them...other than that,?....

and wtf are they doing in a war-zone?... what the heck was the u.n. observing?.... katusha rocket attacks?....vicious and unbridled maddog israeli aggression?....

i mean,they hadn't so much as twitched in twenty-eight years ... maybe the israeli`s mistook them for clothing-store dummies ...

 

[djv]

They been there like 20 years. Put there after another one of these little tussels. Both side know where there at.

 

[kosar]

and wtf are they doing in a war-zone?... what the heck was the u.n. observing.

I've wondered that myself. They keep referring to 2,000 UN 'peacekeepers' and they keep showing these idiots standing in towers as rockets whiz by them. What are they doing there?

 

[djv]

Waiting for orders and getting in the way. And getting them self's killed. Did they ever think they were going to stop anything. Might as well went home a few years ago. They better do it right next time. I would guess Israel wants another 7 to 10 days before cease fire. And will stay in place till a NATO force moves in to that area. I think it's only way they go back to there border. Just another run of the mill UN force won't get it done.

 

[Chadman]

This doesn't add up to me. Why would Israel knowingly blast a UN observer post? What would that possibly gain them? There has to be more to this story, like hezbollah folks using it as a shield or something? I dunno, it just doesn't make any sense to me.

 

[DOGS THAT BARK]

Ditto here Chad--lacks all logic. Will be interesting to see what investigation turns up. For K.A. to say it was deliberate is totally irresponsible--and what is he still doing in that position after findings in oil for food scandal.

 

[SixFive]

Ditto here Chad--lacks all logic. Will be interesting to see what investigation turns up. For K.A. to say it was deliberate is totally irresponsible--and what is he still doing in that position after findings in oil for food scandal.

exactly on both points.

We have a thing called a superego that keeps us from saying things even though we might be thinking them. Maybe Kofi has had a frontal lobe head injury? Would explain a lot of his actions!

 

[gardenweasel]

Kissing cousins: The UN and Hezbollah flags fly side by side at the UN observer post.

"Do these people seriously think Israel aims to kill UN staff, and that this was not simply - as Israel insists - a tragic mistake?

What makes Annan’s allegation so unforgiveable is that his UN Interim Force in Lebanon has been warning for days about what almost certainly caused this tragedy. Hezbollah fighters, who have already been firing behind screens of women and children, have also been shooting from behind and next to the UN positions, presumably hoping Israel will not dare shoot back and risk exactly this kind of propaganda disaster.

Read the UNIFIL press releases for yourself to learn that Hezbollah has not just shot at and seriously wounded UNIFIL observers - without any protest from Kofi Annan. You’ll also learn that UNIFIL has repeatedly reported Israeli shelling and bombing near UNIFIL outposts because Hezbollah fighters were shooting from right beside them .

Says the UNIFIL press release of 20 July:

""Hezbollah firing was also reported from the immediate vicinity of the UN positions in Naquora and Maroun Al Ras areas at the time of the incidents (of Israeli return fire).""

Can the jeering critics of Israel stop catcalling for a minute and explain how Israel is to defend itself against an enemy that shoots from among women and children, and from behind UN soldiers? Can they explain why they are such apologists for terrorists? Can Annan explain why he did not call on Hezbollah to stop risking the lives of his staff, or pull them out when they were being used to screen terrorist fighters?

UPDATE 1: More evidence. Retired Canadian Major General Lewis Mackenzie says he recently received emails from the Canadian peacekeeper killed at the UN post who’d told him that Hezbollah was using his post as cover.

"We received emails from him a few days ago, and he was describing the fact that he was taking fire within, in one case, three meters of his position for tactical necessity, not being targeted. Now that’s veiled speech in the military. What he was telling us was Hezbollah soldiers were all over his position and the IDF were targeting them. And that’s a favorite trick by people who don’t have representation in the UN. They use the UN as shields knowing that they can’t be punished for it. "


canadian p.m. stepehen harper/ “We want to find out why this United Nations post was attacked and also why it remained manned during what is now, more or less, a war during obvious danger to these individuals,” he told reporters.

.....................................

somebody asked the question last night...how does hezbollah get 13,000 missiles...through 2,000 u.n. peacekeepers in the desert in south lebanon......without even an inkling of knowing anything is going on?.....

slightly incredible?....these aren`t the burmese jungles.....it`s desert...

it`s beginning to look like either israel wouldn't bomb and hezballah could continue shooting, or israel would bomb and kofi could use their deaths as p.r. against israel....

and it`s getting dicey....i`m reading that the chinese have observers in lebanon checking out how the american made israeli weapons size up....that`s a tad scary.....what are the chinese preparing for?...

and the syrians are still making noise about jumping in....those syrians are a tough bunch...more than willing to fight 'til the last "palestinian/lebanese" is killed....