Behind the UN Bombing

FrontPageMagazine.com ^ | Thursday, September 4, 2003 | By Ralph Peters

[JohnHuang2]

Behind the UN Bombing
By Ralph Peters
New York Post | September 3, 2003

The terrorist is the pundit's friend. Plant one seed of terror and a thousand opinions bloom in the media's heavily manured fields.

In the wake of the recent bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad, we heard, yet again, that the sky was falling, that our involvement in Iraq is damned and doomed. One online "intelligence" service even predicted a vast Arab uprising, from Morocco to the Iranian border, that would bury our soldiers beneath the desert sands.

Well, the Arab world can barely get out of bed in the morning, let alone rise up against America. Remember how the "Arab Street" was going to go on a rampage if our troops invaded Iraq, how our influence in the Middle East would be lost forever?

The more we listened to the debates about the UN bombing, the less we knew. Meanwhile, some remarkable facts about the lead-up to that attack and its aftermath have gone unreported.

Why? Because the truth involved American heroes. Wouldn't want that sort of thing to get mixed in with the constant accusations of American incompetence from the hackademic legions of the Left. (I'm waiting for Noam Chomsky, Radio Pacifica and Al-Jazeera to blame the UN bombing on the Israelis. Or on us.)

Here's the truth, relayed from within the UN compound:

In the weeks before the truck-bomb attack, the UN's veteran security officer on site struggled, argued and begged for better protection. He knew the Canal Hotel was a vulnerable and likely target - but the UN chain of command refused to acknowledge the dimensions of the threat.

The U.S. military did offer protection - repeatedly. But UN bureaucrats turned it down. They didn't want to be associated with those wicked, imperialist, ill-mannered Americans. After all, everybody loves the United Nations, don't they?

Repeatedly stymied by prejudice and inertia, the UN security chief - a retired U.S. Army Special Forces officer with a wealth of prior experience - nonetheless managed to cajole his superiors into letting him build a wall around the hotel.

That wall was made of reinforced concrete, almost 17 feet high and a foot thick. But UN officials refused to let the security officer push the wall very far out from the hotel. They didn't want to annoy anyone by limiting access to a public alley. Still, the security officer inched the wall as far out as he could.

The truck-bomber could not get inside the compound - the security measures in place at least prevented that. But the truck was able to speed toward the wall's exterior, using the alley that "had" to be kept open.

The driver knew exactly where he was going. He aimed his truck-bomb precisely to decapitate the UN's in-country staff.

We all know what happened: Two dozen dead, including one of the UN's most capable senior diplomats. Almost 150 wounded. A tragic day, indeed.

But without that wall and the security measures for which one American veteran fought, the hotel would have been leveled, with a death toll in the hundreds. The wall absorbed the initial force of three separate bombs packed into the truck.

And there is some justice in the world: Although his office disintegrated around him, the security officer walked out of the wreckage uninjured.

An active-duty U.S. Army officer, Lt.-Col. Jack Curran, was in charge of local medevac operations. Weeks before the truck-bomb attack, he, too, recognized the vulnerability of the hotel compound. Diplomatically, he asked if his pilots and medical personnel could "practice medevac ops" at the UN headquarters.. "Just for training." With the security officer's help, he got permission.

As a result, there had just been two full, on-site rehearsals for what had to be done after the bombing. Thanks to this spirited, visionary officer, our helicopters and vehicles knew exactly how to get in, where best to upload casualties and where a triage station should be set up.

With impressive speed, the U.S. Army medevaced 135 UN employees and Iraqi civilians from the scene, saving more lives than will ever be known for certain.

U.S. Army Reserve engineers and Army mortuary personnel moved in to do the grisly, demanding work of rescuing any trapped survivors and processing the dead.

Now that the damage is done, the U.S. Army's welcome. A company of our 82nd Airborne Division took over external security for the site last week.

But what were the first complaints we heard from the media "experts"? That the U.S. Army was to blame, because it failed to provide adequate security.

In fact, we offered the UN armored vehicles. They told us to take a hike. U.N. bureaucrats put more trust in the good will of terrorists and Ba'athist butchers than they did in GI Joe.

But when the U.N.'s own people lay bleeding, they were glad enough for our help. As one UN employee, speaking from inside the Baghdad compound, put it to me, "It was a proud day for the U.S. Army."

Of course, no one at UN headquarters had any public thanks to offer our soldiers. By the end of last week, the French delegation had already warned its U.N. colleagues not to be tricked into supporting American and British efforts to help the Iraqi people just because of a terror bombing.

And our own media didn't give five seconds of coverage to the superbly professional rescue efforts our military made after the bombing.

One is tempted to say, "Next time, let the French do it." But we're Americans, of course. We'll save your sorry backsides, even after you trash us.

If the United Nations won't say it, I will: "Thanks, GI."

[JohnHuang2]

Thursday, September 4, 2003

Quote of the Day by kcordell

[McGavin999]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm getting fed up with this. Our guys are over there pulling off miracles every single day and they get NO recognition from our media. I find myself praying that if there has to be another terrorist attack on US soil, it will have the New York Times as ground zero. I know that's an awful thing to think John, but I just can't help myself, I hate them that much. And CNN, CBS, NBC and ABC aren't far behind.

[At _War_With_Liberals]

The media is at war with us. They declared it and they are waging it in every way they know how to.

FGS, don't feel bad about not liking it.

[Steely Tom]

I find myself praying that if there has to be another terrorist attack on US soil, it will have the New York Times as ground zero.

There is no need to debase yourself with such unworthy thoughts. Why not be thankful that so many of the enemies of the light conduct their business in full view where they can be seen? More people every day see the truth about the dandified poseurs of the press.

Keep your own thoughts pure even in the presence of such provocation. That purity will help you maintain strength of purpose and keep clear your discerning eye.

(steely)

[McGavin999]

More people every day see the truth about the dandified poseurs of the press.

That may be true, but I'm writing to a couple of kids over in Iraq. They read the papers and get CNN. You have no idea how much it hurts them to know that they are doing so much good, and all that's getting reported are the deaths and bombings. They're frantic to let us know that things are going better then what's reported, and they're worried we'll stop supporting them. I keep trying to tell them that most of the people are behind them, but............

[Steely Tom]

You have no idea how much it hurts them to know that they are doing so much good, and all that's getting reported are the deaths and bombings. They're frantic to let us know that things are going better then what's reported, and they're worried we'll stop supporting them. I keep trying to tell them that most of the people are behind them, but............

I understand. We don't receive any English-language broadcast television in our house, because we don't want our children seeing it (they're still quite young) and because it gets me too upset (can't sleep, bore my wife raving about media bias). Our kid's television is wired to a VCR and a DVD player. Tapes from the public library. We can sort of reproduce a television environment similar to that I grew up with.

Keep in mind, ratings for the alphabet channels have been trending downward for years, with their news programs leading the way. Circulation for big-city newspapers is on a downward trend too, if I understand the data correctly.

Stay cool. Where would you rather be?

(steely)

[McGavin999]

It's now where I would rather be, it's where they would rather be. They seem to be the ones who hate this country and what it stands for. They read the same press releases we read, they have people who are over there and yet they only publish the bad.

You can't defeat evil by ignoring it, or hoping it goes away. Sometimes you have to confront it head on. That's what we're doing in Iraq, and yet here at home we're turning the other cheek, and while we're turning that other cheek, we're being stabbed in the back. Actually, it's not so bad that we're being stabbed in the back, but I find it pretty hard to take that those kids who are over there putting their lives on the line for us are being stabbed in the back.

[McGavin999]

You know what it's like Steely? It's like spraying one of those giant cockroaches. It flips over on it's back and it's little legs start frantically kicking in the air. You stand there and watch it with varying degrees of revultion and pity. That's what it's like watching the media lately. You know it's dying but you don't know whether you want to save it or just step on it and let it out of it's misery.

[Steely Tom]

You can't defeat evil by ignoring it, or hoping it goes away.

To the extent that mass-market television is evil's distribution channel, you can defeat it by ignoring it, in my view. You can make it go away from your house, which, while a tiny victory, is nonetheless a victory. Evil is fundamentally weak, only having such power as it can pilfer from the righteous (9-11 is an example of this).

I don't hope it goes away. Pushing those with evil in their hearts underground where they fester in darkness is no solution.

Our free society is (among other things) a gigantic teaching machine. Best to have these influences out in the light as I said earlier. Have faith in human nature.

I know things look bad right now in some ways. In my view, beliving in the future of America is identical to believing in the basic goodness of human nature. As Tolkien said "Even the wise cannot see all ends."

(steely)

[Steely Tom]

You know what it's like Steely? It's like spraying one of those giant cockroaches. It flips over on it's back and it's little legs start frantically kicking in the air.

Ha ha! What it reminds me of is the way dogs behave when they fight each other. All snarls and spittle until they start to lose, then whimpering like the oppressed. Then, the second the heat is off, back to the snarls, back on the attack. Without any awareness of irony, without any self-awareness or understanding of how ridiculous they look.

(steely)

[samtheman]

In the weeks before the truck-bomb attack, the UN's veteran security officer on site struggled, argued and begged for better protection. He knew the Canal Hotel was a vulnerable and likely target - but the UN chain of command refused to acknowledge the dimensions of the threat.

The U.S. military did offer protection - repeatedly. But UN bureaucrats turned it down. They didn't want to be associated with those wicked, imperialist, ill-mannered Americans. After all, everybody loves the United Nations, don't they?

And the rational for giving the UN greater power in Iraq is... ???

[angkor]

things are going better then what's reported

I was working overseas several years ago, and the disconnect between what was being reported in the Western press, and the actual reality on the ground, was absolutely astonishing.

For weeks, the press was reporting chaos, anarchy, and mayhem, while in fact everyone was simply going about their normal day-to-day business and the worst of it (a three-day coup) had long since passed.

It was pretty clear that the Western reporters in the city were sucking-up every little rumor, problem, and disagreement in town, and reporting it as overwhelming fact.

In the effort to enhance their careers, they needed "a story," and they were not gonna' let reality stand in their way.

I spent several weeks reassuring my Western family and friends that they were reading exaggerated and misleading stories in their local newspapers.

[mewzilla]

BTTT.