Posted on 02/25/2005 6:00:21 AM PST by propertius
What's a "UN Soldier"?
Mercenaries. Not UN peacekeepers. Check out the Congolese Civil War from the early sixties. You'll catch my meaning.
I'm sorry, I was not really clear--because I don't remember the exact details. Maybe I should have said official. Someone in charge. I just don't remember more than that.
In the past, there were a lot more than just Belgian Mercenaries in the Congo. Many Americans in fact went straight from one jungle to the other upon separation. As I recall the 'deal' was $10K a year and a $50K life insurance policy. That wasn't bad in the mid-late 1960's when a new car only cost $2-3K. The only catch (there's ALWAYS a catch) was that the odds were you wouldn't make it a year.
Not to make light of their deaths, but I'm just wondering if this happenned before the change of name from "International Red Cross" to "International Red Cross/Red Crescent" so they wouldn't offend Islamofacists.
I guess it's pretty tough when an organization is coming in to help you from a natural disaster or something and they have a Cross in their name.
I looked on their website and couldn't find when they changed the name.
He certainly did say that on Fox and Friends, before the Iraqi elections. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. He was very negative and, quite frankly, scared the life out of me. I'm very glad to see that he was wrong.
Makes you wonder if they were eaten too. Funny how the media sanitizes things that may "offend" someone.
This story in the Daily Telegraph suggests they may well have had ther innards eaten...
Nine UN soldiers killed in ambush
Nine United Nations peacekeepers were killed and mutilated yesterday when their patrol was ambushed by a Congolese militia notorious for its brutality and cannibalism.
The deaths of the Bangladeshi soldiers immediately threw into doubt the future of the UN's largest peacekeeping mission.
Although the death toll was the highest the organisation has suffered in Africa for nearly 10 years, the savagery of the attack in Congo's lawless Ituri district is unsurprising.
A UN source in eastern Congo said a 21-man patrol was ambushed in the hilly forests outside the town of Ndoki. Two Bangladeshis were killed in the initial exchange of fire, while seven others were taken into the forests and executed.
"According to the reports we are receiving, the bodies were badly mutilated, suggesting they were probably hacked to death and then dismembered," the source said.
The attack was blamed on the FNI militia, whose ranks are predominantly drawn from Lendu tribesmen.
Lendu fighters are infamous for torturing their victims to death and then eating their hearts and livers - a fate that has befallen thousands of Congolese civilians and two Uruguayan peacekeepers ambushed in the region last year.
According to a UN spokesman, the Bangladeshi units returned fire and were reinforced by helicopter gunships. It is unclear how many militiamen were killed.
There are more than 16,000 UN peacekeepers in Congo, scene of the world's deadliest conflict since 1945. More than three million people are believed to have died, mainly from war-related disease and famine. Seven African countries were drawn into the war, backing both the government and an array of rebel groups.
Despite a peace agreement in 2003, which saw former rebels join a transitional government ahead of elections scheduled for May but now postponed, fighting has continued in the east.
Many Congolese are angry that the UN mission, known as Monuc, has failed to stop atrocities often committed within view of its bases. The mission has also been embroiled in a scandal in which UN officials have been accused of sexually abusing children.
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