One ringy dingy......
Posted on 07/26/2006 1:11:20 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
KIRYAT SHEMONA, Israel - U.N. observers in southern Lebanon called the Israeli military 10 times during a six-hour period to ask it to halt an airstrike before their observation post was hit, according to details of a preliminary U.N. report on the incident. Four U.N. observers were killed in the bombing Tuesday.
During each phone call, an Israeli official promised to halt the bombing, according to a U.N. official who had seen the preliminary report, which was released to The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The U.N. observers said the area within half a mile of the post was hit with precision munitions, including 17 bombs and 12 artillery shells, four of which directly hit the post Tuesday, the report said.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed "deep regret" Wednesday over the killings, and dismay over U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's accusation that the airstrike was "apparently deliberate."
Olmert told Annan in a phone call Wednesday that the U.N. post was hit inadvertently.
"The prime minister expressed Israel's deep regret over the mistaken killing of four U.N. peacekeepers," Olmert said in a statement released by his office. "The prime minister said he has instructed the military to carry out a thorough investigation and that the results will be shared with the U.N. secretary general."
White House press secretary Tony Snow said called the killing of the observers a "horrible thing," but said Israel has acted appropriately by saying it will investigate.
"They'll be completely transparent in the way they conduct the investigation," Snow said. "And I think that's the appropriate way to proceed."
China demanded that Israel apologize for the attack, which killed a Chinese U.N. observer along with observers from Austria, Canada and Finland.
"We are deeply shocked by this incident and strongly condemn it," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said on the ministry Web site.
His statement said Israel's ambassador to Beijing was summoned Wednesday morning and asked to convey a request that Israel issue an apology to China and the victims' families.
"These so-called precision attacks seem to be mainly targeting everyone else except the Hezbollah," said Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, who added that the attack would increase pressure for a cease-fire.
Austria's foreign minister, Ursula Plassnik, told her Israeli counterpart by telephone that the bombing was unacceptable and urged Israel to stop its attack on the area, according to a ministry statement.
The European Union joined China and other nations in demanding an Israeli investigation of the attack.
Olmert expressed dismay over Annan's initial comments in a written statement that the airstrike was "apparently deliberate."
"It's inconceivable for the U.N. to define an error as an apparently deliberate action," Olmert said.
Annan said the "coordinated artillery and aerial attack on a long established and clearly marked U.N. post at Khiam occurred despite personal assurances given to me by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that U.N. positions would be spared Israeli fire."
Furthermore, he said, Gen. Alain Pelligrini, the U.N. force commander in south Lebanon, had been in repeated contact with Israeli officers Tuesday "stressing the need to protect that particular U.N. position from attack."
Lt. Col. John Molloy, the senior Irish officer in the U.N. observer force in south Lebanon, reported making six telephone calls to his Israeli counterparts in the hours before the deadly strike on the border outpost, said Suzanne Coogan, spokeswoman for Irish Defense Minister Willie O'Dea. She said all six calls specifically identified the U.N. post that was ultimately destroyed.
"He warned the Israelis that they were shelling in very close proximity to the post, and his warnings were very specific, explicit, detailed and stark. Obviously those warnings went unheeded," Coogan said.
U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown and Jane Lute, assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping, also made several calls to Israel's mission to the U.N. "reiterating these protests and calling for an abatement of the shelling," Lute said.
Since fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militants began two weeks ago, there have been several dozen incidents of firing close to U.N. peacekeepers and observers, including direct hits on nine positions, some of them repeatedly, a U.N. official said.
As a result of these attacks, 12 U.N. personnel have been killed or injured, U.N. officials said.
Tuesday's bomb hit the building and shelter of the observer post in Khiam near the eastern end of the border with Israel, said Milos Struger, spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL. The four observers were in a bunker that collapsed in the bombing, a U.N. official said.
Israeli forces kept firing as rescue workers tried to clear the rubble, Struger said.
During an Israeli offensive against Lebanon in 1996, artillery blasted a U.N. base at Qana in southern Lebanon, killing more than 100 civilians taking refuge with the peacekeepers.
The U.N. mission, which has nearly 2,000 military personnel and more than 300 civilians, is to patrol the border line, known as the Blue Line, drawn by the United Nations after Israel withdrew troops from south Lebanon in 2000, ending an 18-year occupation.
On Wednesday, dovish lawmaker Ran Cohen, a colonel in the Israeli army reserves, said that from his experience in Lebanon it was quite possible to make such a mistake.
"I have not even the slightest doubt that we're talking here about a mistake, technical or otherwise. The army, as long as I've known it and I'm fairly critical, never wants to hit UNIFIL forces," Cohen said.
Maybe the tenth call should have been for a cab.
UN people don't think like real human beings...
... especially considering how the Hezzies make it a point to get as close as they can to civilians and the UN observers.
Why was their continued presence there so important that they couldn't pull out of the area? Oh yeah...they were there on a "peace keeping mission."
"Get off the phone, ya big dope!"
One ringy dingy......
No doubt. Pop your head out of the hole, look around, say "no peace here," and scoot.
They should learn that when hezbollah troops start to set up near their post, they should call the Hezbollah first and ask them to move. If they don't, then call Israel (with coordinates and wind) while in the process of hasty evacuation.
Just doing all they could to maintain the status quo there. Someone needs to witness/document Hezbollah's destruction of Israel, why not the UN.
All in a day's work.
I don't understand all the fuss. Israel did stop the bombing, immediately after the target was taken out.
Case closed.
They would be alive today if they had observed the terrorist installation being built a half mile away. The UN people have taken a side and are now getting hurt because a militant base has been built around them. Their observation post is part of the terrorist organization. Duh!
http://lazerbrody.typepad.com/
...For almost 30 years, since the inception of UNIFIL in South Lebanon, the UN soldiers have had Jewish blood on their hands; no, they haven't pulled triggers, but they've certainly gone out of their way to aid and abet Israel's enemies. Try this:
* UNIFIL observers have frequently revealed the whereabouts of IDF counterinsurgence ambushes to the terrorists;
* UNIFIL observers, happy to augment their meager incomes with fat Iranian-funded wads of dollars by moonlighting for the Hizbolla terrorists, have served as artillery spotters to help direct terrorist fire against Israel;
* UNIFIL observers during the past 6 years have closed a blind eye to the massive construction of bunkers in South Lebanon, as well as the massive stockpiling of deadly weapons intended for use against Israel;
* UNIFIL observers have given free passage to terrorists on their way to infiltrating or attempting to attack Israel.
* UNIFIL observers have kept the terrorists updated and abreast of IDF movements.
UNIFIL observers - observing for whom?
From a spiritual standpoint, Kofi Annan is right; Hashem does things deliberately, not by accident. Maybe the world wasn't aware of the Jewish blood on antisemitic UNIFIL hands, but Hashem knew. The UNIFIL boys atop El Hyam know full well what favors they've done for the Hizbolla; they also know why they got hit. Just as UNIFIL shed no tears for the maimed and homeless of Kiriat Shemona and Tzfat, we shed no tears for UNIFIL.
I think the UN post was overstepping their bounds with regards to Hezbollah. Been reading today that the UN post was ate up with Hezzies.
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/004340.html
Exactly! One bomb bursting in air, and I'm moving my lilly white Irish ass outta there!
"The U.N. observers said the area within half a mile of the post was hit with precision munitions, including 17 bombs and 12 artillery shells, four of which directly hit the post Tuesday, the report said."
so, how many terrorist were also killed in that 1/2 mile area?
I think they are there to provide cover for Hezbollah.
Must stop thinking evil thoughts.
Must stop thinking evil thoughts.
Must stop thinking evil thoughts.
I give up. It's not working. I just can't seem to make myself feel bad about this.
Maybe if the UN was in Southern Lebanon to make sure the Hezbollah was not there and the UN didn't see them, maybe it's possible the Israelis couldn't understand the phone calls. All ten of them.
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