Bombing of the U.N. Observation Post
Yesterday, Israel "accidentally" or "deliberately" bombed a United Nations observation post in Beirut killing four U.N. "soldiers". While Israel claims this was a terrible mistake, Kofi Anan called it "an apparently deliberate" attack. Whatever.
Now I by no means will belittle the deaths of the four United Nations observers, but I will say this - Don't you think the U.N. as an entity deserves to be hit? I'm going to be totally frank and honest as I always am. If the four obliterated soldiers did nothing wrong besides have good seats to the game and jump on the field and get blasted, then it is a horrible tragedy... But don't tell me you can't picture a scenario where these four guys were giving coordinates to Hezbollah and Israel found out and then, well then, oops.
Afterall these are the same U.N. observers who observed Hezbollah building up resources and arms over the last six years when they were supposed to be ensuring that very group's disarmament. This is the same U.N. whose observers videotaped the Hezbollah kidnapping of an Israeli soldier a number of years ago and then denied having the tape, only to be forced to apologize to Israel for lying and forced to turn over the tape. This is the same U.N. who has been trusted by Israel to provide a buffer from terrorism in numerous locations throughout Israel, never once proving to be effective, and in fact more often than not proving to be cooperating with terrorist forces. This is the same U.N. that for years has condemned Israel for the humanitarian crisis in neighboring countries and areas, demanded restraint from Israel in its reaction to terrorist attacks, but not once has addressed the humanitarian issues caused by the constant terror attacks against civillians in Israel. The same U.N. that insists that Syria and Iran should be a part of the diplomacy but refuses to recognize that they are not a part of the problem, but in fact are the problem.
So maybe this was a mistake and maybe it wasn't. Either way, I'm not losing any sleep over it, and I doubt the Israelis are either. If it was truly a mistake, well, things like that happen in a war zone and it couldn't have happened to a better group of guys. And if it was in fact, as Kofi Anan calls it, "deliberate", well then I tip my hat to Israel for having the balls to make a point that should have been made by someone years ago. America made that same point to France when they were bombing Khadaffi in Libya. France tried to get in the way, and their embassy's backyard got a free gardening job courtesy of the United States Airforce.
Nobody wants to see violence and nobody wants to see death, but when someone tries to kill you, you kill them first. It's a simple and natural principle. Derived from that principle is another - if someone aids those who try to kill you, you kill them too. Just because the United Nations is a diplomatic entity and not a military entity doesn't mean they are objective, unbiased or in fact innocent. I would argue that along with many countries and entities (E.U. and Arab League included), they have a big decision to make in this global war against terror. Make no mistake about it. This is World War III. It's much different than the first two World Wars and not as easily recognized, but it's clearly a World War. The interesting factor is there are really three sides here.
You have the worldwide terror organizations such as Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, Hamas along with their supporting countries such as Iran, Syria and parts of Iraq. Then you have the United States, Great Britain and Israel along with a few other democracies with a black and white view on terrorism. Finally, there is the U.N., E.U., and Arab League along with many European and Arab nations who will pick and choose when terror is acceptable and when it is in fact unacceptable. It is this third group that is key in the War on Terror. Without their support and understanding of what this war is truly about, victory will not occur.
The terrorists cannot win. They do not have the resources to, BUT they don't want to win. They only want to keep fighting as long as possible. Until other world powers come to this realization, the terrorist nations and groups will continue to fight and punish us for our stupidity.
So while the real enemies are Iran, Syria, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda and others - the U.N., E.U., Arab League and many of their members are certainly not allies at this point. Israel's bombing of the U.N. position, whether deliberate or accidental, will hopefully drive that point home. It's time to get on board with the good guys.
Now I by no means will belittle the deaths of the four United Nations observers, but I will say this - Don't you think the U.N. as an entity deserves to be hit? I'm going to be totally frank and honest as I always am. If the four obliterated soldiers did nothing wrong besides have good seats to the game and jump on the field and get blasted, then it is a horrible tragedy... But don't tell me you can't picture a scenario where these four guys were giving coordinates to Hezbollah and Israel found out and then, well then, oops.
Afterall these are the same U.N. observers who observed Hezbollah building up resources and arms over the last six years when they were supposed to be ensuring that very group's disarmament. This is the same U.N. whose observers videotaped the Hezbollah kidnapping of an Israeli soldier a number of years ago and then denied having the tape, only to be forced to apologize to Israel for lying and forced to turn over the tape. This is the same U.N. who has been trusted by Israel to provide a buffer from terrorism in numerous locations throughout Israel, never once proving to be effective, and in fact more often than not proving to be cooperating with terrorist forces. This is the same U.N. that for years has condemned Israel for the humanitarian crisis in neighboring countries and areas, demanded restraint from Israel in its reaction to terrorist attacks, but not once has addressed the humanitarian issues caused by the constant terror attacks against civillians in Israel. The same U.N. that insists that Syria and Iran should be a part of the diplomacy but refuses to recognize that they are not a part of the problem, but in fact are the problem.
So maybe this was a mistake and maybe it wasn't. Either way, I'm not losing any sleep over it, and I doubt the Israelis are either. If it was truly a mistake, well, things like that happen in a war zone and it couldn't have happened to a better group of guys. And if it was in fact, as Kofi Anan calls it, "deliberate", well then I tip my hat to Israel for having the balls to make a point that should have been made by someone years ago. America made that same point to France when they were bombing Khadaffi in Libya. France tried to get in the way, and their embassy's backyard got a free gardening job courtesy of the United States Airforce.
Nobody wants to see violence and nobody wants to see death, but when someone tries to kill you, you kill them first. It's a simple and natural principle. Derived from that principle is another - if someone aids those who try to kill you, you kill them too. Just because the United Nations is a diplomatic entity and not a military entity doesn't mean they are objective, unbiased or in fact innocent. I would argue that along with many countries and entities (E.U. and Arab League included), they have a big decision to make in this global war against terror. Make no mistake about it. This is World War III. It's much different than the first two World Wars and not as easily recognized, but it's clearly a World War. The interesting factor is there are really three sides here.
You have the worldwide terror organizations such as Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, Hamas along with their supporting countries such as Iran, Syria and parts of Iraq. Then you have the United States, Great Britain and Israel along with a few other democracies with a black and white view on terrorism. Finally, there is the U.N., E.U., and Arab League along with many European and Arab nations who will pick and choose when terror is acceptable and when it is in fact unacceptable. It is this third group that is key in the War on Terror. Without their support and understanding of what this war is truly about, victory will not occur.
The terrorists cannot win. They do not have the resources to, BUT they don't want to win. They only want to keep fighting as long as possible. Until other world powers come to this realization, the terrorist nations and groups will continue to fight and punish us for our stupidity.
So while the real enemies are Iran, Syria, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda and others - the U.N., E.U., Arab League and many of their members are certainly not allies at this point. Israel's bombing of the U.N. position, whether deliberate or accidental, will hopefully drive that point home. It's time to get on board with the good guys.
posted by EDS | 12:45 PM
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