The UN

Not everyone’s favourite organisation, but not deserving of death, like the four who were killed by the Israelis as part of their “defence” against Hizbollah.

Now the facts of the case are:

- they notified the Israelis of their position prior to operations starting and it was static
- they made contact ten times again saying where they were, and that they were under threat from Israeli fire
- there were no Hizbollah positions within 500 metres

(Not my words incidentally, those of the secretary general of the UN)

So does that stack with an accidental killing as the Israelis claim? Let’s consider the possibility

1. They didn’t know the base was there ~ unlikely as it was highly visible and they had been previously informed
2. The artillery fire was off target ~ again unlikely, there wasn’t a Hizbollah position within 500 metres and computer controlled artillery these days is pretty good
3. They were taken out by an air strike ~ two possibilities, it was a targeted mission, and again, Israeli intelligence shouldn’t get the facts that wrong or it was a target of opportunity, which for a fixed position is unlikely, as they tend to go after mobile rocket launchers

Okay, then, it’s hard to see how a modern army, with prior notice and GPS systems could accidentally hit something like that, but fog of war and all (though given that the IDF are unopposed in the sky, how foggy could it really be?), but why would they deliberately do something like this ? After all, it’s bound to attract condemnation.

Well maybe because they want a few more weeks of killing before the international force is in place. This is truly sinister. Take out a few low level UN guys to delay an international deployment (because who would send troops in now? Even if you are sure that Hizbollah won’t attack you, you couldn’t rule out another Israeli “mistake) and extend the window of slaughter a little longer.

PS Well done to the sincere and truthful Bush administration for calling for peace and giving $30M for reconstruction, whilst at the same time sending the Israelis yet more weapons through Prestwick airport today, whilst alleging Syria is giving Hizbollah much smaller and less effective weapons, and condemning them for it.