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July 21, 2006
United Nations -- United in graft and murder
Before you buy off on the idea that the U.N. is part of the solution, read how it is part of the problem.
The United Nations Intermn Force in Lebanon's (UNIFIL) most notorious collaboration with terrorists involved the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli soldiers, and the subsequent cover-up.
On October 7, 2000, Hezbollah terrorists entered Israel, attacked three Israeli soldiers on Mount Dov, and abducted them Lebanon. The kidnapping was witnessed by several dozen UNIFIL soldiers who stood idle. One of the soldier witnesses described the kidnapping: the terrorists set of an explosive which stunned the Israeli soldiers. Clad in UN uniforms, the terrorists called out, "Come, come, we’ll help you."
The Israeli soldiers approached the men in UN uniforms. Then, a Hezbollah bomb detonated—-apparently prematurely. It wounded the disguised Hezbollah commander, and three Israeli soldiers.
Two other terrorists in U.N. uniforms dragged their Hezbollah commander and the three wounded soldiers into a getaway car.
According an Indian solider in UNIFIL who witnessed the kidnapping, "By this stage, there was a big commotion and dozens of UN soldiers from the Indian brigade came around." The witness stated that the brigade knew that the kidnappers in UN uniform were Hezbollah. One soldiers said that the brigade should arrest the Hezbollah, but the brigade did nothing.
According to the Indian soldier, the UNFIL brigade in the area "could have prevented the kidnapping."
"I’m very sorry about what happened, because we saw what happened," he said. Hezbollah "were wearing our uniforms and it was too bad we didn’t stop them."
It appears that at least four of the UNIFIL "peacekeepers," all from India, has received bribes from Hezbollah in order to assist the kidnapping by helping them get to the kidnapping spot and find the Israeli soldiers. Some of the bribery involved alcohol and Lebanese women.
[...]
The UN cover-up began almost immediately.
Lebanon's The Daily Star reported the story told by a former officer of the Observer Group Lebanon (OGL), which is part of the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO). ("UN 'destroyed' evidence after abduction of 3 Israeli troops," The Daily Star, July 20, 2001.)
[...]
Rather than using the very-recently-abandoned vehicles as clues to rescue the kidnap victims, the UN initiated a cover-up. The next morning, eighteen hours after the kidnapping, a team of OGL and the Indian UNIFIL began removing the contents of the cars.
The Range Rover was soaked with blood. Among the contents of the vehicles may have been a cell phone belonging to the terrorists. The UNTSO officer confirmed that the cars contained "extremely sensitive" items which included "current and relevant information that could have been easily linked to the incident."
A UNIFIL peacekeeper videotaped the removal of the contents, and attempted to tow one of the cars. According to a much-later U.N. report, there were fifty items taken from the car, seven of them blood-stained. (Report of the fact-finding investigation relating to the abduction of three Israeli soldiers on 7 October 2000 and subsequent relevant events, Aug. 2, 2001.)
The end of the UNIFIL videotape featured armed Lebanese men confronting the UN forces, and taking the cars away from the UN. The UN personnel did not resist, because, they later claimed, the cars did not belong to the UN anyway.
The UNTSO officer told The Daily Star that the UN ordered its personnel to destroy all photographs and written reports about the incident.
The U.N. did not provide the Israelis with the automobile contents, or the videotape, both of which might have helped the Israelis rescue the kidnap victims. Instead, the seized contents of the cars were taken to a town in Lebanon, stored in a safe, and some were eventually returned to Hezbollah.
Israel found out about the videotape, and demanded that the UN let Israeli investigators see it. Kofi Annan and his Special Envoy denied that any videotape existed. It is not clear whether Annan was lying, or whether he was misled.
Nine months after the kidnapping, July 6, 2001, the UN admitted that is had the videotape. Annan ordered an internal UN Report, which was led by UN undersecretary-General Joseph Connor. (Connor was later implicated in the Oil-for-Food scam.) The report revealed that the UN had two additional videotapes—one of which contained still photographs from the kidnapping itself. The UN investigation declared that there was no evidence that the UNIFIL forces had been bribed, or that the UN had deliberately misled anyone.
Even after admitting the existence of the first videotape, Annan refused to allow Israel to view it. He claimed that letting Israel see evidence about the kidnapping would undermine the UN’s neutrality. Thus, Annan insisted on neutrality between innocent victims and terrorists who had used fake UN insignia and who had taken vehicles from UN staff a gunpoint.
The United States House of Representatives, on July 30, 2001, passed by a vote of 411-4 a resolution urging the UN to allow Israel to see the videotape. Annan relented, but only under the condition that the tape be edited so as to hide the faces of the Hezbollah perpetrators. He also agreed to give the Israelis some, but not all, of the items which the UN had seized from the getaway cars.
On January 29, 2004, the bodies of the murdered Israelis were returned to Israel by Hezbollah, as part of a prisoner exchange.
The United Nations exists to provide a forum for tyrants and terrorists to berate Western democracies, and to pass resolutions condemning the world's only Jewish state, while ignoring the depradations and depravities of its thugocratic Third-World members.
U.N. "Peacekeepers" rape and murder the very people they are supposed to protect, or stand idly by while others do the same. Will someone please tell me why the United States continues to provide the lion's share of the budget to this bunch of crooks?
Infuriating.
Posted by Mike Lief at July 21, 2006 06:26 PM
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Comments
I visited Israel as a boy. My mother and father have close friends in Israel that welcomed us into their homes with open arms. They extended kindness to us and talked of world affairs as civilized people. They longed for permanent peace with the Muslim fanatics who have sworn to murder them in their beds. I wonder now if they would be so optimistic and filled with hope for a better future.
For those that criticize Israel in our own country, I wonder what their reaction would be if American school children were murdered, if suicide bombers slaughtered morning commuters on subways and buses on a regular basis? Israel has tolerated and suffered for too long. Muslim extremists will not be satisfied until all Jews in Israel, including children have been murdered. Islam is a culture of death. Islam is a culture of cruelty. I am convinced that war must be the deciding factor and that both cultures should be separated by distance and a natural wall.
We have been so foolish here in the United States. We have embraced the Saudis while the Saudis spread the anti-western, anti-christian, anti-Jew rhetoric so common in Pakistan, Gaza and every other Muslim land where radicals thrive. If the Iranians are allowed to obtain nuclear weapons, you will see millions in Israel die in a nuclear blast. In turn, you will see tens of millions of Iranians die during the counter-strike. Why should the west wait for this to happen? Appeasment does not work with Islamic savages!
Posted by: Efraim at July 22, 2006 08:59 PM
I am not sure distance will do it. I think the Muslim fanatics want ALL Jews to die. The Jews are just a scapegoat for the Arabs internal problems. Their leaders want their society to stay in a medivial state.
They hate us because we are inovative, open, and prosperus. (We are prosperous because we are innovative, open, and attempt to have equality of oppertunity. They are the antithesis of that.)
Posted by: jim at July 24, 2006 08:28 AM