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Baghdad blues
TownHall.com ^ | Friday, August 22, 2003 | by Oliver North

Posted on 08/22/2003 1:28:21 AM PDT by JohnHuang2

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The flatbed truck had been loaded with more than 1,500 pounds of explosives -- a 500-pound bomb, mortar and artillery rounds, landmines, grenades and plastic explosives -- all of which are readily available throughout Iraq.

Nobody attempted to stop and inspect the heavily laden Russian-made truck as it pulled up to the Canal Hotel -- the U.N. headquarters in downtown Baghdad. Unchallenged, the driver parked the lethal load beside the brick wall surrounding the hotel -- and detonated his cargo. The blast killed 25, including the U.N. special representative to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello -- and wounded more than 100 others. Scenes of the carnage, some of it videotaped as the bomb exploded, were broadcast around the world almost instantly.

Within hours, another suicide terrorist boarded a crowded bus in Jerusalem, moved to the center of the packed vehicle and blew himself -- and 21 others -- to pieces. This attack, like the one that preceded it in Baghdad, also wounded more than 100 others -- on the bus and the street. And as in the case of the Iraqi bombing, images of bloody bodies were immediately broadcast around the globe.

President Bush had barely finished expressing his condolences, and his administration's resolve to stay the course in the war on terrorism, before the "blame game" was underway. Media elites in Baghdad, Washington, New York and Crawford, Texas, began asking why U.S. and coalition forces hadn't provided better security for the United Nations -- as though the United States was somehow responsible for the Baghdad attack.

Speaking to the BBC about the Baghdad blast, U.N. spokesman Salim Lone said: "We didn't expect to have to worry so much. (After all), we are humanitarians." He didn't expect to "have to worry" about terrorist attacks! U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said, "All of us at the United Nations are shocked ... by today's attack." "Shocked!" He also "condemned in the strongest possible terms" the Palestinian suicide terrorist attack in Jerusalem.

Back on Aug. 12, Kofi had also "condemned" two "suicide bombings" in the Israeli town of Rosh Ha'ayin that killed two Israelis and wounded dozens. On Aug. 11, he had "strongly condemned" a Hezbollah rocket attack into northern Israel from Lebanon. On Aug. 5, Annan issued a statement saying he was "horrified" at the "bomb explosion" at Jakarta's Marriott Hotel, which was an "apparent" act of terrorism.

At this point, Kofi and his cronies at the United Nations need to stop talking about their "shock," "horror," "outrage," "dismay" and "surprise," and get on with doing something about it. It's time for the global-government goody-goodies at the United Nations to wake up and smell the coffee. The fanatics who blew themselves and their victims apart in all of these events really are what President Bush called them after the most recent attacks: "the enemies of civilization."

The terrorist groups who perpetrate these attacks have long been coddled by the United Nations -- which has allowed its 58 administered "Refugee Camps" in the Middle East to become recruiting, training and logistics support bases for terrorist organizations. The groups carry names like Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah and Islamic Brotherhood -- and a dozen or more other names around the globe. But they aren't all dancing to the beat of some terror mastermind.

They operate more like a modern fast-food franchise. Individual members are screened at the local level, sent to training at a "Terror U" -- like the camps Osama bin Laden ran in Afghanistan -- and then return home to become "martyrs." None of this could be done without the complicity of governments like those in Tehran, Damascus and Tripoli. And yet, for years, the United Nations, which has been unable to even craft a definition of terrorism, has treated the dictators who run these capitals as misguided children rather than criminal benefactors of terror.

If indeed the truck used in the Baghdad attack did originate in Syria, it calls into question the sincerity of anyone in Damascus who purports to support the United Nations.

President Bush has said that this war will be fought on many fronts over the course of many years. When it is all over, it is quite possible that it will be given the label of "the 50 Year War." It wouldn't hurt for our friends at home to accept that reality, as well.

Last week, Attorney General John Ashcroft was forced to take time off from fighting the war on terror to embark on a 12-city tour of the United States to encourage support for the PATRIOT Act and help to dispel the myths and unwarranted fears that the ACLU has spread about the law.

The Democrats aiming to replace George Bush in the White House have taken to saying, "I told you not to go to war in Iraq," even though some voted for it. And now the media is carping about the "Iraqi quagmire." On a single day last week, The New York Times ran five articles in the editorial and op-ed pages critical of the Bush administration. Two came from their in-house columnists, two from guest columnists and one was a staff editorial.

The correct response to terrorists who want to die while killing you and me isn't mollycoddling. It isn't to invent new names for homicide. And it isn't to blame America because the United Nations in Baghdad didn't want "too many" U.S. troops guarding their headquarters.

If the United Nations wants to help prevent more of these murders, the members will help the United States, Britain and Australia hunt down the organizers, cut off their money and make it clear to those in Damascus and Tehran that there will be terrible consequences if they continue to harbor and support terrorists.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: liberalmedia; olivernorth; rebuildingiraq; staythecourse; unhqbombing
Friday, August 22, 2003

Quote of the Day by NortNork

1 posted on 08/22/2003 1:28:21 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
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To: JohnHuang2; MJY1288; Calpernia; Grampa Dave; anniegetyourgun; Coop; Ernest_at_the_Beach; ...
WOW. Just WOW. Outstanding editorial! Thank you for this post, John.

The correct response to terrorists who want to die while killing you and me isn't mollycoddling. It isn't to invent new names for homicide. And it isn't to blame America because the United Nations in Baghdad didn't want "too many" U.S. troops guarding their headquarters.

Col. North rocks!

If you want off or on my pro-Coalition/anti-wanker ping list, just ping.

8 Unapologetically Pro-Coalition News Links and Articles

2 posted on 08/23/2003 5:10:07 AM PDT by Ragtime Cowgirl (Troops can handle the enemy.Help them inform the world!~http://www.freerepublic.com/~ragtimecowgirl/)
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To: Ragtime Cowgirl
Unfortunalty the folks at the UN will never get it. They will continue to go though life dismayed, shocked and saddened that life is not as they see it through the rose colored glass's living the life of a diplomat
3 posted on 08/23/2003 5:38:07 AM PDT by boxerblues (God Bless the 101st, stay safe, stay alert and watch your backs)
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To: JohnHuang2
IMHO, it's not so much that the UN mollycoddles, but that it facilitates the acts of terror by looking away or actively supporting those who kill and maim innocents the world over.
4 posted on 08/23/2003 5:39:32 AM PDT by OldFriend ((Dems inhabit a parallel universe))
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To: Ragtime Cowgirl
Thanks for the heads up!
5 posted on 08/23/2003 5:58:59 AM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: JohnHuang2
Speaking to the BBC about the Baghdad blast, U.N. spokesman Salim Lone said: "We didn't expect to have to worry so much. (After all), we are humanitarians."

When I heard this on the news I about lost it.
There is so much wrong with this statement.
The assumtion is there are really no bad peple in the world, just misunderdstood people.
saddam and his friends really aren't bad, evil, wicked, reprobate, sinful, vicious killers they just have an "alternative" view of how Iraq should be run, and who should run it. And like these "humanitarians" they really want what's best for Iraq and its people.

Can't we all just get along?....NO!
6 posted on 08/23/2003 6:52:48 AM PDT by Valin (America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy.)
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To: JohnHuang2; Ragtime Cowgirl
Great article John, thank you. Rags, thanks for the ping.
7 posted on 08/23/2003 6:59:28 AM PDT by Soaring Feather (I'll be around for a little while yet.)
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To: JohnHuang2
If the United Nations wants to help prevent more of these murders, the members will help the United States, Britain and Australia hunt down the organizers, cut off their money and make it clear to those in Damascus and Tehran that there will be terrible consequences if they continue to harbor and support terrorists.


Now there's some good advice that I don't expect to be accepted by the UN in the near future ... say a hundred years or so.
8 posted on 08/23/2003 7:17:51 AM PDT by Tunehead54 (Taglines incorporated by reference: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/860760/posts (';-)
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To: boxerblues
He also "condemned in the strongest possible terms" the Palestinian suicide terrorist attack in Jerusalem.

I've figured out one of the things that bugs me about UN-speak. I don't want to see Palestinian terrorism "condemned in the strongest possible terms", I want some actual TERMS. Adjectives are good: "vicious", "brutal", "cowardly". Nouns too: "atrocity", "murder", "homicide". Combine the adjectives and nouns and you can get really precise. Wonder why the U.N. hasn't figured that out yet? (/deadpan)
9 posted on 08/23/2003 7:47:57 AM PDT by Foxfire4
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To: Tunehead54; JohnHuang2
I can only hope they will "get it" sooner...Thanks for another great column,John.
10 posted on 08/23/2003 9:07:56 AM PDT by MEG33
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To: Ragtime Cowgirl

Death To all Muslim Extremist's!

Be Well ~ Be Armed ~ Be Safe ~ Molon Labe!
11 posted on 08/23/2003 11:57:20 AM PDT by blackie
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To: Ragtime Cowgirl; JohnHuang2; Grampa Dave; BOBTHENAILER; Ernest_at_the_Beach; SAMWolf; ...
Qick read; rapid-fire, crew-served, belt-fed, target destroyed.

Now, about the UN and/or Kofi Annan ever, ever, ever doing squat about terrorists:

When Kofi Annan and the UN crack down on terrorists. . . .
Pigs will not merely fly, they will own Boeing and run the FAA

12 posted on 08/23/2003 2:13:16 PM PDT by PhilDragoo (Hitlery: das Butch von Buchenvald)
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To: JohnHuang2; PhilDragoo
Great article. Thanks for the ping.
13 posted on 08/23/2003 2:21:12 PM PDT by snippy_about_it (Pray for our troops)
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To: PhilDragoo
The UN is worthless, always was, always will be.
14 posted on 08/23/2003 2:45:21 PM PDT by SAMWolf (Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.)
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To: Ragtime Cowgirl
Thanks for the ping to this 'core issue' editorial by Col. North. He DOES rock!
15 posted on 08/23/2003 6:16:16 PM PDT by windchime
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To: JohnHuang2; Ragtime Cowgirl
I am soooooo behind and trying to catch up. LOL!!

If the United Nations wants to help prevent more of these murders, the members will help the United States, Britain and Australia hunt down the organizers, cut off their money and make it clear to those in Damascus and Tehran that there will be terrible consequences if they continue to harbor and support terrorists.

I just don't think I'll bother holding my breath on this ever happening. USELESS, they are!

Excellent post, John, and thanks for the heads up, RC!

16 posted on 08/24/2003 2:24:41 AM PDT by radu (May God watch over our troops and keep them safe)
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To: PhilDragoo
When Kofi Annan and the UN crack down on terrorists. . . . Pigs will not merely fly, they will own Boeing and run the FAA

Perfect analogy for coffee anon and org.

17 posted on 08/24/2003 8:53:19 AM PDT by BOBTHENAILER (One by one, in groups or whole armies.....we don't care how we getcha, but we will)
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