Kofi Annan Could Have Ordered Peace Keepers To Leave

CNSnews ^ | July 26, 2006 | Julie Stahl

[Cindy_Cin]

Haifa, Israel (CNSNews.com) - The four United Nations peacekeepers killed in an Israeli attack on their outpost were required to stay at that post "until they were ordered by the [U.N.] secretary general to withdraw," said a member of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization on Wednesday.

But the peacekeepers apparently never received such an order, despite the fierce cross-border fighting that erupted in southern Lebanon two weeks ago.

The four peacekeepers -- from China, Austria, Canada and Finland -- had taken security precautions and were in a shelter under their bunker when they were killed, said Wicki Dieter, the chief plans officer for the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO).

[nuconvert]

This is just what I don't understand. Why not pull them out?

[Realism]

Israel screwed up, period. It happens in war and now they'll have to deal with the fallout.

[IrishRainy]

Just reading this article about that POS Kofi has me seething, again. So he was involved in the Rwanda debacle? And was in charge of the UN Peacekeepers? And then becomes Secretary-General of the UN?

Um, why? It's obvious he's incompetent, and always was. He apparently has no military or political background, he's just a bureaucrat, and a miserable one at that.

Yet he gets rewarded with the top position at the UN, gets treated like a king, like he's wise and good and fair...when in reality he's the total opposite. And people are dead because of this monster.

[weegie]

Yup that Candian officer corps - working hand in hand with Hezbollah - again.

Finns too. Why I'll bet that the Finnish millitary is training Hamas suicide bombers in Helsinki right now.

As for the Austrian soldier was killed, well wasn't Hitler Austrian?

Sheeeesh.

[Sam Ketcham]

Immediateky after the attack, KOFI stated the hit was deliberate. How did he know? How did he know so soon? The forward UN observers, surrounded by Hizbollah, were looking towards Isreal, not Lebanon as they were in Lebanon. So what were they observing, and to whom were they reporting? Was it the people to whom they were reporting that gave KOFI the news so promptly with their slant?

[sonic109]

Victor Hanson calls the UN Peacekeepers "uniformed bystanders " ..Useless.In this case maybe even enemies.

[Reaganesque]

If Israel had actually intended to attack the UN position, there would be far more than just four dead.

[Peach]

The repairing damaged roads in Hizballah-controlled areas—roads the IAF bombed specifically to impede Hizballah movement—right in the middle of the war. (Hat tip: mich-again.)
http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/unifil/pr09.pdf

[Peach]

Let me try that again:

The UN is repairing damaged roads in Hizballah-controlled areas—roads the IAF bombed specifically to impede Hizballah movement—right in the middle of the war. (Hat tip: mich-again.)
http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/unifil/pr09.pdf

[dfwgator]

BS! The blood is on Hezbollah's hands, they could care less about the UN observers.

[eyespysomething]

Were they there to videotape hizbullies kidnapping Israeli soldiers again, like they did with the 2 kidnapped earlier this month? Way to hold off hizbully in S. Lebanon UN!

[YellowRoseofTx]

I personally don't have proof, I heard a report on the John Batchelor show recently, from a contact in the area. True, you can hear all kinds of things that may or may not be correct as you can find anything on the internet that may or may not be true. And I'm sure not all UN observers would fall in that catagory, but some would.

[HawaiianGecko]

Of course, a U.N. "interim force" has been "monitoring" the border since 1978. (The Hezbollah and U.N. flags fly side by side there). In 2000, blue helmets videotaped Hezbollah kidnapping three Israeli soldiers. The video could have been useful in rescuing the soldiers. But, for eight months, the U.N. troops angrily denied having the tape. When forced to admit they did, they refused to release it because that might compromise their "neutrality." 

http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/07/26goldberg_edit.html

 

[Realism]

BS! The blood is on Hezbollah's hands, they could care less about the UN observers.

I agree. But I would even go further and say the blood is on Iran, Syria and Hezbollah's hands. Israel being the dominant force still needs to maintain the political upper hand.

[NorCalRepub]

....maybe not enemies....but obstacles to be sure....what is it with the U.N. that they think they need observers.. to do what...observe terrorists running around building bunkers and arming themselves?.....that is such a ludicrous idea....but of course the U.N. has no idea what it takes to make peace.....but they are great at things like Oil for food scandals.....they excel at that

[Peach]

I can't stand the guy. What evidence does he have that Israel deliberately targeted these UNIFIL guys? None.

But when given plenty of evidence that Iraq was violating the UN's own resolutions, he refused to act. Same with Lebanon violating the UN resolutions. He's an impotent POS.

The UN is repairing damaged roads in Hizballah-controlled areas—roads the IAF bombed specifically to impede Hizballah movement—right in the middle of the war. (Hat tip: mich-again.)
http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/unifil/pr09.pdf

[YellowRoseofTx]

My original post should have been
"Why would he have the leave when, if it's true, they've given information to hezbollah on Israeli's locations......"
However, it is known that the UN is not Israel friendly so if they did have some spies (whether bribed by hezbollah or sympatheic to hezbollah or whatever reason) it wouldn't surprise me.

[Rummyfan]

From your link:

One incident we encountered during our visit to Israel last year illustrates this sad fact. In January 2005, Hezbollah planted five camouflaged “improvised explosive devices” (IEDs), inches on the Israeli side of the border near Zarit, 15 mountainous miles inland from the Mediterranean coast. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) detected these IEDs and, following procedure, notified UNIFIL. A French UNIFIL engineer duly certified that the devices were indeed IEDs, then “requested” that Hezbollah remove them. Hezbollah, not denying it had planted them, flatly refused, stating that since the mines were (just barely) inside the “Zionist” border, it was up to the “Zionists” to remove them. So the IDF sent in a large armored bulldozer to carry the mines off for disposal. This task required making a sharp 90-degree right turn from an Israeli road onto the narrow border trail where the IEDs were located. Making this sharp right turn, the left front corner of the bulldozer inevitably occupied, for a couple of seconds, about a meter of land on the Lebanese side. During those seconds a Hezbollah fighter directed an anti-tank missile at the narrow, unguarded windshield of the bulldozer. The pinpoint strike, which our Israeli sources have admitted required extraordinary training and skill, killed the bulldozer’s driver, Sgt. Maj. Jan Rotzanski, a 21-year-old Russian immigrant from Herzliya. The cynical cruelty of this murder, which Hezbollah proceeded to widely celebrate across Lebanon, speaks volumes not only about Hezbollah, but also about UNIFIL.

Kill these animals!