Posted on 08/14/2007 11:23:07 PM PDT by gpapa
Four years after an explosives-packed suicide cement truck blew up and destroyed the U.N. headquarters building in Baghdad, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to expand its operation in Iraq.
The Aug. 19, 2003, terror bombing wounded over a hundred people and murdered 22. The dead included the distinguished Brazilian diplomat Sergio Vieira de Mello, who was serving as the United Nations' "special representative" in post-Saddam Iraq. Then-U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan had prevailed on de Mello to take the job. De Mello viewed himself as a diplomat with a lot of experience in "the field" -- which he once described in an essay as a place where he had "seen the best and worst of what we have to offer each other."
Everyone who has worked in the world's various hells understands that confronting them requires charity, mercy, discipline, courage and sacrifice. That was de Mello's point and why he went to Iraq.
In the wake of the 2003 massacre, the United Nations effectively withdrew from Iraq, maintaining an office in Jordan and a flickering presence in Baghdad. In July 2004, I visited the United Nations' plywood-walled cubbyhole in the Green Zone. An Australian Army colonel and a British Army lieutenant colonel manned the office. The office had a U.N. sign on the door. We drank tea from mugs with U.N. logos.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
What is the primary function of the UN presence in Iraq? What is its aim? By what measure will its success be realized? What is its exit strategy? Who cares?
Ain’t that the truth?
How could they do this with a civil war going on .. / sarc >
That was my first thought - they wait for the US to do all the work then step in and take credit (and probably $$) for rebuilding.
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