Screw The U.N.

Probably more noteworthy than Bush unburdening himself before an open mike at the G-8 summit yesterday was the fact that he seemed to care less about it.  Taking GDub's brunt was Kofi Annan for failing to stand up to Syria and for advocating an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon.

If I say U.N., you say what?  Corrupt ineffectual body filled with grandstanding subversive bit players and conniving superpower wannabes?  Yes, the U.N. has plenty of failings.  Does that mean, however, it should be replace in favor of invitation-only bar-b-ques at the Cheney's?

Interesting how the same day a confluence of world leaders were calling for an immediate and expanded U.N. force on the Israel - Lebanon border, Bush would dump on the viability of U.N. involvement in the region.  I guess that's understandable, however, ever since the U.N. become the relief spot for cowboys looking to stomp on their next evil axis member.

The day before all this focus on blue helmets, The BAG was scanning the wires for related imagery.  The one shot that stood out was this one at WAPO on Saturday.  There was not much context however.  The caption read:  A man hurls a stone at a U.N. vehicle carrying bodies away from the Tyre hospital. (From what I've read, the out-matched UNIFIL -- the U.N. force in Lebanon -- spent most of this week ferrying civilians to safety.)

Really, its a photo only a neocon could love.

Of course, Israel has no passion for UNIFIL, concluding the mission has been largely ineffective, and that the force has looked the other way as Hezbollah positioned munitions inside the Lebanese border.  And for the "other side," well,  just look at the pic for agency cred on the Arab street.

Given the intense danger of the current crisis, coupled with the attitude among Washngton's apocalyptic war heads that all roads lead to Tehran, its no wonder the most prominent contemporary shot of U.N. forces I could find portrayed an faceless entity bearing the brunt of hostility while beating a slow retreat.

So cheers to BushCo., hissing with blame as the world bleeds.  "Let he who is blessed cast the next stone!"

(image: Hassan Ammar/AFP-Getty.  Tyre, Lebanon.  July 15, 2006.  Via washingtonpost.com)

Comments

[jonst]

look, what more can one say about this guy? Is there anyone, ANYONE, else dumb enough to actually stand up on national/international tv and praise 'freedom of religion in Iraq' and offer it as model? I still reeling from the grotesque ignorance and lack of sensitivity in that remark. And Putin rightly handed him his head with his retort.

[jtfromBC]

Is there really anything unusual with this weeks *Screw the U.N.* ???
If human rights and numbers matter check the voting pattern of the USA and (Israel) as undisputed world record holders in various categories, from 1977-2006, eye popping stuff !!!

Use of the Veto on United Nations Resolutions
by the USA
http://www.krysstal.com/democracy_whyusa03.html

[margaret]

Kofi Annan has everything that Bush doesn't have: charisma, dignity of bearing, and statesmanship.
I rode on the same plane with him in the 1980's, the shuttle between Washington and NY and, as he was standing in the middle of a group of aides and security people before entering the plane, he exuded a kind of "light," or aura, which only real leaders possess. His tenure at the UN may have its flaws, or shortcomings, but look at the main players he has to deal with: Bolton? Bush? Heavens to Betsy!

The UN should be strenthened and given the main role of keeping peace in the world. We should return to serious debate with teeth in it, whenever aggression is committed by any nation, including our own. And, the US should pay its dues. We owe it to the world and to peace and health of nations, worldwide.

[margaret]

Just had another thought about Bush: he talks, incessantly, without meaning in the messages, because he's terrified at the vacuum at the center of his being.

[ummabdulla]

And JT, every time I turn on the news I hear some Israeli spokesperson demanding the enforcement of UN Resolution 1559 (under which Hezbollah should be disarmed). But only that one resolution, of course!

I don't know which hospital is pictured here, but I saw this mentioned in one newspaper about one hospital in Tyre. It's just incredible that when I watched the news, I kept hearing about Hezbollah rockets that dropped near a hospital in Israel, but I didn't hear anything about this:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2274521,00.html

"Even the Jabel Amel hospital was struck early on Sunday morning by a missile that demolished an entire wing and killed a family of nine.

"Dr Mrowe said: 'We have recovered five of the bodies. There are another four under the rubble. If they hit the hospital again it will be a massacre.'

"By late yesterday his hospital alone had received 196 casualties, 25 of them dead."

And families tried to take refuge at a UN base but were turned away (not far from Qana, where civilians under UN protection were massacred once before); many of them were killed later when their cars were bombed. UN officials did come and pick the bodies up, though.

So I can see where there might be some frustration with the UN.