The devil is in the numbers. The leadership, including its military, is always a very small percentage of the population. 
Posted on 10/12/2001 5:06:28 AM PDT by mdittmar
DUBLIN (Reuters) - United Nations (news - web sites) Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson called on Friday for a suspension of air strikes against Afghanistan (news - web sites) in order to provide aid to civilians before the onset of winter.
Speaking on Irish state radio, she said the situation for civilians in Afghanistan was ``desperate.''
``This is the real wish of the humanitarian agencies...the desperate urgency now is to use this window until about the 15th or 16th of November when the winter snows will prevent access and the people will freeze and starve to death because they will have neither food nor shelter,'' she said.
``We must have a pause in order to enable huge humanitarian access and to allow a number of Afghans to come across the borders,'' she said.
The United States carried out a fifth wave of air strikes overnight in an assault against the hardline Taliban for its refusal to surrender Saudi-born Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), the prime suspect in the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
Robinson, a former president of Ireland, said there was an opportunity to save many lives, but time was of the essence.
``All I can say is there is a desperate situation for hundreds of thousands -- perhaps up to two million -- of the Afghan civilian population who desperately need food,'' she said.
``It is absolutely wrong that 6,000 people were killed in the terrible events of September 11 but equally we must have regard for the population in Afghanistan,'' she added.
Robinson said it was also important that military attacks be confined to targets that did not put civilians at risk.
Asked whether she was happy that this was the case at present, she said: ``It's very hard to tell, we don't have much access.''
Nope, not the Sudan; Strasbourg. Think of the wonderful pissing contests they could have with the EU as they both jockeyed for power.
Besides, starving saves ordinance.
That's all I need to know.
Hey Mary, the next call you should make is to:
1-800-WAH-WAH-WAH!
Good idea. We need office space in this city. We'll level the U.N. complex and put up office towers with a river view.
And the real estate agents will have a field day finding buyers for all those missions and embassies. A win-win situation--taxpayers instead of rich foreign parasites.
I sent the following to that e-mail address:
I note where Mary Robinson has taken leave of her senses to demand that the United States "suspend of air strikes against Afghanistan in order to provide aid to civilians before the onset of winter."
I was unaware that the United Nations put seriously delusional individuals in charge of major agencies such as the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
It seems that Ms. Robinson has not noticed (or does not care) that three attacks were launched against the United States by individuals in Afghanistan, that those attacks killed nearly 7000 people, that the Afghan government refused to turn those responsible over to the United States, and that those responsible for the tragedies in the United States are promising more such attacks, which may include an incident of biological warfare in Florida.
Further, Ms. Robinson's ignorance (or possibly naïveté, although naïveté on this level verges on the delusional) blinds her to the fact that the starvation in Afghanistan is caused primarily, not by American bombing but by the targets of the American bombing -- the Taliban government -- which in the past has blocked food aid from the United Nations, and is currently practising their interrogation techniques on United Nations personnel by regulary beating those personnel.
If Ms. Robinson seriously believes that a pause in United States bombing -- prior to the completion of its objective, the destruction of the Taliban -- will permit food to reach Afghan civilians (or rather Afghan civilians not related to Taliban leadership), then perhaps she should consider taking a long leave of absence so that she can check herself into a mental health clinic. She obviously needs treatment more involved than that possible through weekly visits to a therapist. I understand that Switzerland, where you are located, has many excellent facilities for treating such delusional individuals.
If Ms. Robinson does not realistically believe what she is saying then she should resign. Anyone who would choose to play politics with such a situation should.
Again, I hope that you will see that Ms. Robinson gets the mental therapy she so desperately needs.
Yes, it is a US-led coalition but the action is being carried out with UN approval. This is a much published fact. Nato has invoked its Charter which allows for an attack against one member to be treated as an 'attack against all', which is why Britain and other countries are involved. Fact not opinion.
I wonder if his decision to pay up on back UN dues is an attempt to give them just enough rope to hang themselves?
The devil is in the numbers. The leadership, including its military, is always a very small percentage of the population.
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