Posted on 07/27/2006 10:40:10 AM PDT by West Coast Conservative
The words of a Canadian United Nations observer written just days before he was killed in an Israeli bombing of a UN post in Lebanon are evidence Hezbollah was using the post as a "shield" to fire rockets into Israel, says a former UN commander in Bosnia.
Those words, written in an e-mail dated just nine days ago, offer a possible explanation as to why the post -- which according to UN officials was clearly marked and known to Israeli forces -- was hit by Israel on Tuesday night, said retired Maj.-Gen. Lewis MacKenzie yesterday.
The strike hit the UN observation post in the southern Lebanese village of El Khiam, killing Canadian Maj. Paeta Hess-von Kruedener and three others serving as unarmed UN military observers in the area.
Just last week, Maj. Hess-von Kruedener wrote an e-mail about his experiences after nine months in the area, words Maj.-Gen. MacKenzie said are an obvious allusion to Hezbollah tactics.
"What I can tell you is this," he wrote in an e-mail to CTV dated July 18. "We have on a daily basis had numerous occasions where our position has come under direct or indirect fire from both (Israeli) artillery and aerial bombing.
"The closest artillery has landed within 2 meters (sic) of our position and the closest 1000 lb aerial bomb has landed 100 meters (sic) from our patrol base. This has not been deliberate targeting, but rather due to tactical necessity."
Those words, particularly the last sentence, are not-so-veiled language indicating Israeli strikes were aimed at Hezbollah targets near the post, said Maj.-Gen. MacKenzie.
"What that means is, in plain English, 'We've got Hezbollah fighters running around in our positions, taking our positions here and then using us for shields and then engaging the (Israeli Defence Forces)," he said.
That would mean Hezbollah was purposely setting up near the UN post, he added. It's a tactic Maj.-Gen. MacKenzie, who was the first UN commander in Sarajevo during the Bosnia civil war, said he's seen in past international missions: Aside from UN posts, fighters would set up near hospitals, mosques and orphanages.
A Canadian Forces infantry officer with the Edmonton-based Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry and the only Canadian serving as a UN military observer in Lebanon, Maj. Hess-von Kruedener was no stranger to fighting nearby.
The UN post, he wrote in the e-mail, afforded a view of the "Hezbollah static positions in and around our patrol Base."
"It appears that the lion's share of fighting between the IDF and Hezbollah has taken place in our area," he wrote, noting later it was too dangerous to venture out on patrols.
The e-mail appears to contradict the UN's claim there had been no Hezbollah activity in the vicinity of the strike.
The question of Hezbollah's infiltration of the area is significant because UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, speaking Tuesday just hours after the bombing, accused the Israelis of the "apparently deliberate targeting" of the base near Khiam in southern Lebanon.
A senior UN official, asked about the information contained in Maj. Hess-von Kruedener's e-mail concerning Hezbollah presence in the vicinity of the Khiam base, denied the world body had been caught in a contradiction.
"At the time, there had been no Hezbollah activity reported in the area," he said. "So it was quite clear they were not going after other targets; that, for whatever reason, our position was being fired upon.
"Whether or not they thought they were going after something else, we don't know. The fact was, we told them where we were. They knew where we were. The position was clearly marked, and they pounded the hell out of us."
Even if Hezbollah was not firing rockets at the time of the bombing, Maj. Hess-von Kruedener's e-mail indicates they were using a terrorist tactic of purposely drawing out enemy forces near a neutral site, said retired Capt. Peter Forsberg, who did two UN tours between 1993 and 1995 during the Bosnian war.
The UN's limited mandate, meaning that its observers are unarmed and have few options, put the observers in a poor position, he said.
If indeed Israel was attempting to hit Hezbollah fighters in the area, it hasn't yet used the excuse to explain its actions because it wouldn't make it any less guilty in the world's eyes, Capt. Forsberg said.
Nothing new here, the UN is notorious for getting innocents massacred and denying their own complicity.
Surprise (NOT)
It's no wonder that Kofi is once again seeking to divert attention from the UN's role in this.
The Canadians, however, seem unwilling to accept it. Good for them.
As far as I'm concerned the UN was using it as a shield too. Both Hezbollah and the UN were in clear violation of Geneva convention rules.
Why is this not a surprise. The UN has set itself up as the cat's-paw to take up the brunt as sacrifices, if that helps remove Israel from the world map altogether. The individual soldiers assigned to the post, perhaps, were not at all in favor of acting as human shields for Islam forces, but the UN is willing to use them for that purpose.
Impossible - Hezbollah is a peaceful regime with a great human rights record. This story is obviously a lie.
ping
Same way they use the U.N. in general.
One more sordid episode in the squalid history of UN so-called "peacekeeping" operations -- which are usually a joke at best and a real aid to the bad guys at worst. Kofi Annan made his career in mis-handling "peacekeeping" operations and then got promoted all the way to the top in a true instance of the Peter Principle in action.
Big surprise.
shocked, SHOCKED
Israel needs to go public with this - there is no need to sustain these PR hits.
You are correct.
Let's all keep in mind that this was an un-armed observation post. The UN mandate was for the Lebonese to patrol the Border. The UN wasn't needed and they certainly should have been pulled after the Hizzies started a war.
If you're letting Hezbollah share your telephones,your kitchens, use your ambulances to transport arms and let them fly their flag RIGHT NEXT TO YOURS, are you really surprised that SOMETHING was eventually going to happen? Or were you just creating a situation where you actually were hoping something would happen?
In his case, I think the "dickhead principle" may be a more appropriate choice of words....
I heard something the other night that surprised me. Forget which news service. Said that since 1979, at least 250 "UN soldiers" had been killed patrolling that region. I didn't know that there were UN soldiers. And I would think that if over 200 UN anything there had been killed, we would have heard it plainly. I heard this right, but either I misinterpreted it or it was reported incorrectly.
The only reason I can see that the UN would keep the OP manned was to give Hezballah a secure firing position. Keeping unarmed troops in a hot war zone is murder. The UN knew that the OP was under fire and being used by Hezballah.
The UN powers, including Anan, who made the decisions to keep this team of UN observers at that post, have blood on their hands. Perhaps now, those who at first showed a total lack of compassion nor regret for those observers/soldiers who were killed, will realize the error of their thinking and responses. Those soldiers followed orders, they did not give those orders.
It must be they are using these observers as a different kind of human shield. US-led coalition (and by extension, the eeeeevil George Bush) in charge? "Run away! Too dangerous!!" Hezzies in charge? "Aw, we're as safe as a baby in its mother's arms."
bump for publicity
Blue Helmet = Red Shirt?
One way of looking at it is stupid negligence by the UN.
Another way- and maybe the only way when one pauses to consider why they were not pulled out- it that higher ups in the UN were deliberately awarding the benefit to Hezbolla of fighting from behind UN cover.
Kofi Annan probably encouraged Hezbollah to set up shop nearby and he probably has the money sitting in a Swiss bank account to prove it.
Same old evil from the same old evil people.
Canadian UN observer wrote Hezbollah using UN post as cover to lob rockers into Israel - ping!
● May 2004: Armed Palestinians are filmed using UNRWA ambulances to transport terrorists and, possibly, remains of fallen Israeli soldiers in Gaza.
● Sept. 2003: After the Israeli military court convicts three UNRWA employees for terrorist activities (such as throwing firebombs at a public bus), Israel detains at least 16 other UNRWA staff members for various security-related matters.
● Dec. 2002: A Shin Bet report indicates that numerous UNRWA facilities in the West Bank and Gaza had been used by Palestinian terrorists as meeting grounds and for weapons storage.
● Sept. 2002: Nahd Attala, a senior official of UNRWA in Gaza, reveals that in June-July 2002, he used his UNRWA car for the transportation of armed members of Fatah who were on their way to carry out a missile attack against Jewish settlements. In addition, Nahd admits he used an UNRWA car to transport a 12 kg explosive charge for his brother-in-law, a Fatah member.
● August 2002: Nidal Nazzal, a Hamas member and ambulance driver employed by UNRWA, confesses to transporting weapons and explosives in an UNRWA ambulance, and that he had taken advantage of the freedom of movement he enjoyed to transmit messages among Hamas members in various Palestinian towns.
● February 2002: Alaa Muhammad Ali Hassan, a Tanzim member, confesses during interrogation that he had carried out a sniper shooting from the school run by UNRWA in the al-Ayn refugee camp near Nablus. He also told his interrogators that bombs intended for terrorist attacks were being manufactured inside the UNRWA school's facilities.
Exactly! ding ding ding, we have a winner.
Blue helmet resources are used and tossed away like so much soiled tissue by the egocrats on East 32nd.
Some info on the UN post!
Yes, but he speaks very softly.
Or are you in a situation in which the Hezbos are the UN and the UN is the Hezbos?
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So can we say that the hezzies have also taken the UN hostage as well? (along with the soldier captives and the millions in bomb shelters.)
The truth is that Hezbollah is the most dangerous terrorist group in the world. It has about 25,000 armed members and as we saw in the pro-Syrian march in Beirut, it can muster a million in the streets.Hezbollah does have a dozen members in the Lebanese parliament, which shows how smart Hezbollah is; it is trying to go both way by having a political side and a standing terrorist apparatus.Hezbollah has been operating inside the United States. Since the 1980s, the FBI has deported hundreds of members and had dozens of cases. Mostly, in these years, the Hezbollah cells were busted for criminal activity such as insurance fraud, credit-card fraud, counterfeiting clothes such as Levi jeans, phony marriages which they arranged to get green cards, and cigarette smuggling. Though these are sort of under-the-radar crimes, they raised millions of dollars which were sent to Hezbollah coffers in Beirut and in some cases used to buy highly sophisticated "dual-use" equipment in Canada such as very sophisticated computers, cell phones hooked up electronically to be capable of remotely controlled explosions, and intelligence drones.
Kofi Annan has been encouraging people to accept Hezbollah.I think the crook is on their payroll..And will do and say anything for a buck..
How come Coffi Anus didn't mention this? /s
The devil is alive and well.
I like your comparison of the UN soldier to a Star Trek red shirt. Those guys were always dead meat on a stick.
GREAT post.
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2006_07_16-2006_07_22.shtml#1153523571
An interesting and enlightening read about a 10/2000 incident involving Hezbollah and UNIFIL. Explains a whole bunch 'O stuff....
It is the higher ups in the UN who need to be called on the very public carpet. i.e. hearings demanded by the countries of the soldiers involved. I want to know WHY their commander did not have them removed from the scene immediatly after hostilities broke out. After all, they were unarmed in a hot war zone. Some commander needs to be put on trial.
Thank you!I will read...
I'm SHOCKED! Shocked, I tell you.
add this video to your list
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqGjz7iJTns&mode=related&search
The UN aiding and abetting terrorists, nothing new.
No wonder they won't define "terrorist." It might include them.
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