Apparently framing Israel

Ah, a look inside Kofi Annan's head-- of course Israel deliberately targeted the UN. If I were Kofi I'd be suspicious too. Especially if I apparently created the situation to begin with.

It appears that it wasn't just Hezballah who was willing to use UN troops as human sheilds against Israel. The facts seem to indicate either great ignorance or willful malignance on the part of Kofi Annan as well.

From the urgently shocked and deeply depressed UN press release:

I am shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting by Israeli Defense Forces of a United Nations observer post in southern Lebanon that has killed two United Nations military observers, with two more feared dead.

This coordinated artillery and aerial attack on a long established and clearly marked United Nations post at Khiyam occurred despite personal assurances given to me by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that United Nations positions would be spared Israeli fire.  Furthermore, General Alain Pelligrini, the United Nations Force Commander in south Lebanon, had been in repeated contact with Israeli officers throughout the day on Tuesday, stressing the need to protect that particular United Nations position from attack.

I call on the Government of Israel to conduct a full investigation into this very disturbing incident, and demand that any further attack on United Nations positions and personnel must stop.  ~UN.org

I'd like to call for a full investigation as well -- into why Kofi ignored the warnings of his own troops who subsequently were killed. An investigation into why Kofi apparently had a shocking and deeply depressing press release ready to blame Israel even though Hezballah was also shelling UN positions as well as shooting from UN positions according to a UNIFIL press release.

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 or The Age. 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 . ~Andrew Bolt, The Herald Sun

The UNIFIL press release is here.

What makes this all the more appalling is the total lack of moral clarity. Why are UN troops even in Lebanon? It seems to me that Israel pulled out of Lebanon with the understanding that Hezballah would be disarmed and a peacekeeping force would be in place as a buffer to keep kidnappings and rocket attacks from happening.

It seems clear to me that it is the UN and Kofi Annan in particular who have utterly failed here. And as Eugene Volokh [correction-] David Kopel (thanks soccerdad for pointing that out) helpfully relates some elements of the UN forces may in fact have collaborated in the past with Hezballah...

One reason is that UNIFIL does not interdict Hezbollah attacks on Israel. Instead, UNIFIL allows Hezbollah to set up positions next to UNFIL units, in effect using UNIFIL as human shields against Israeli counterstrikes. (Aluf Benn, Israel accuses UN of collaborating with Hezbollah," Haaretz, Sept. 11, 2005.)

UNIFIL's most notorious collaboration with terrorists involved the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli soldiers, and the subsequent cover-up.

On October 7, 2000, Hezbollah terrorists entered Israel, attacked three Israeli soldiers on Mount Dov, and abducted them Lebanon. The kidnapping was witnessed by several dozen UNIFIL soldiers who stood idle. One of the soldier witnesses described the kidnapping: the terrorists set of an explosive which stunned the Israeli soldiers. Clad in UN uniforms, the terrorists called out, "Come, come, we’ll help you."

The Israeli soldiers approached the men in UN uniforms. Then, a Hezbollah bomb detonated—-apparently prematurely. It wounded the disguised Hezbollah commander, and three Israeli soldiers.

Two other terrorists in U.N. uniforms dragged their Hezbollah commander and the three wounded soldiers into a getaway car.

According an Indian solider in UNIFIL who witnessed the kidnapping, "By this stage, there was a big commotion and dozens of UN soldiers from the Indian brigade came around." The witness stated that the brigade knew that the kidnappers in UN uniform were Hezbollah. One soldiers said that the brigade should arrest the Hezbollah, but the brigade did nothing.

According to the Indian soldier, the UNFIL brigade in the area "could have prevented the kidnapping."

"I’m very sorry about what happened, because we saw what happened," he said. Hezbollah "were wearing our uniforms and it was too bad we didn’t stop them."

It appears that at least four of the UNIFIL "peacekeepers," all from India, has received bribes from Hezbollah in order to assist the kidnapping by helping them get to the kidnapping spot and find the Israeli soldiers. Some of the bribery involved alcohol and Lebanese women.

The Indian brigade later had a bitter internal argument, as some members complained that the brigade had betrayed its peacekeeping mandate. An Indian government investigation sternly criticized the brigade's conduct.

There is evidence of far greater payments by Hezbollah to the UNIFIL Indian brigade, including hundreds of thousands of dollars for assistance in the kidnapping and cover-up.

The UN cover-up began almost immediately.  ~volokh.com

The rest is definitely worth reading as Kopel has loads more evidence and does an excellent job explaining it all.

UPDATES:

Claudia Rosen gets on the bandwagon. And the NY Sun has this devastating fact check on the UN's version of events:

UNITED NATIONS — An apparent discrepancy in the portrayal of events surrounding the deaths of four unarmed U.N. observers in Lebanon threatens to unravel Secretary-General Annan's initial accusation that Israel "deliberately" targeted the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon.

A Canadian U.N. observer, one of four killed at a UNIFIL position near the southern Lebanese town of Khiyam on Tuesday, sent an e-mail to his former commander, a Canadian retired major-general, Lewis MacKenzie, in which he wrote that Hezbollah fighters were "all over" the U.N. position, Mr. MacKenzie said. Hezbollah troops, not the United Nations, were Israel's target, the deceased observer wrote.

A senior U.N. peacekeeping operation official who briefed the press yesterday, however, said that on the day the deaths occurred, the only "known Hezbollah activity was 5 kilometers away."The official's briefing was conditioned on anonymity, but the undersecretary-general for peacekeeping operations, Jane Holl Lute, supplied the Security Council with similar information at an earlier briefing yesterday.

"To our knowledge, unlike the vicinity of some of our other patrol bases, Hezbollah firing was not taking place within the immediate vicinity" of the base that was hit Tuesday. ~nysun.com

I suspect that the "shock and outrage" on the part of Kofi Annan are in fact more theatrical in nature intended to give his calls for an immediate ceasefire more moral authority. In fact, using the death of his own troops as a political ploy. UN diplomacy at it's finest.

The council yesterday attempted to agree on a statement on the deaths of the U.N. observers, but the American ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, objected to any condemnation of Israel. Mr. Bolton also warned against using the incident as a "backdoor way of getting a cease-fire or other larger political and military questions," he told reporters.

Mr. Annan has called for "immediate cessation of hostilities." During yesterday's council briefing on the UNIFIL incident, Ms. Lute said, "I reiterate" that call.  ~nysun.com

This is no way to conduct an international peace organization. I call on Kofi Annan to resign.

UPDATE II:

Radio Blogger posts a picture of two flags flying side-by-side on the Lebanese Israeli border. What do you know? It's the UN and Hezballah flags!

This picture is featured on page 155 of Jed Babbin's 2004 book, Inside the Asylum. This a photo taken around January, 2004, at a facility on the Lebanese-Israeli border, not too far from near a town called Metullah.

The United Nations flag is flying a couple of feet away from the Hezbollah flag. Now I do not believe Israel intentionally targeted U.N. earlier today. But if the U.N. has personnel sharing facilities with Hezbollah, how can Israel possibly be blamed? Precision weapons can do a lot, but they can't only blow up the Hezbollah side of the building.

I'm also told this isn't the only place where the two flags fly side by side. How can anyone expect the U.N. to broker or keep the peace? How can anyone believe the U.N. has not already taken sides once you see a picture like this?

[H]egemonic Word count: 1722

Powered By: BackLinkr

 

---