What international papers are saying about latest UN dead.

[icymist]

From Canada:

Canadian among four UN observers killed when Israeli bomb hits post

/ AP; CP
World - Wednesday, July 26, 2006 @ 10:00

An Israeli bomb destroyed a UN observer post on the border in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, killing four peacekeepers, including a Canadian, a UN official said.

UN chief Kofi Annan said Israel appeared to have struck the site deliberately.

The dead included observers from Canada, Austria, China and Finland, a senior Lebanese military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information to the media.

<snip>
Rescue workers were trying to clear the rubble but Israeli firing "continued even during the rescue operation," Struger said.


Also from Canada:

Killed UN Observers from Austria, China, Canada, Finland
<irony>
The Israeli bombs struck a United Nations observation post in Southern Lebanon, where Israel wants to control an area until international forces are deployed.

From China:
President Hu condoles over death of Chinese UN observer


BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao on Wednesday expressed his "deep condolences" over the death of a Chinese UN observer killed in an Israeli air raid on a UN post in south Lebanon, according to a statement from Chinese Foreign Ministry.

President Hu "demanded the Chinese departments concerned properly handle the aftermath of the incident and take every measure necessary to ensure the safety of Chinese nationals in Lebanon," said the statement.

The air raid on early Wednesday killed four UN observers, including one from China. The other three were from Finland, Austria and Canada, UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) sources confirmed.
<snip>
"China will work with the international community, further diplomatic efforts and push the Middle East situation back to peace and stability at an early date," Liu said.
ambitious, (mine)

From Germany:

Annan Furious at 'Apparently Deliberate' Attack

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has accused Israel of deliberately targeting a UN observation post in an air raid which killed four UN observers on Tuesday night ahead of an international conference on the crisis in Rome on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has vowed to mount rocket attacks deeper into Israel.

<snip>
Annan said the post had been there for a long time, was marked clearly, and was hit despite assurances from Olmert that UN positions would not be attacked. "I call on the government of Israel to conduct a full investigation into this very disturbing incident and demand that any further attack on UN positions and personnel must stop," he said.

Israel's UN ambassador Dan Gillerman described Annan's comments as "premature and erroneous".

<snip>
Citing Lebanese security sources, CNN also reported that Rice suggested more than 10,000 Turkish and Egyptian soldiers be used and be placed under NATO or UN command after a cease-fire. In a second phase, the contingent would be expanded to 30,000. Rice had discussed the plan with the Israeli government but it was not clear whether Egypt and Turkey had agreed, the report said.


Reuters

Finland wants Israeli probe of attack on U.N. post

HELSINKI, July 26 (Reuters) - Finland's president called on Wednesday for a full investigation by Israel after one of its countrymen and three other United Nations observers were killed in an air strike in southern Lebanon.

<snip>
"The longer this (crisis) continues, the more probable that there will be more of these type of casualties," he said.

"These so called precision attacks seem to be hitting everyone except Hizbollah, there have been hundreds of civilians, international workers and others killed already and it does not seem that by these means a military solution could be achieved," he said.

Yahoo

Report: U.N. observers' calls unheeded

JERUSALEM - U.N. observers in Lebanon telephoned the Israeli military 10 times in six hours to ask it to stop shelling near their position before an attack killed four observers and sparked international anger with Israel, U.N. officials said Wednesday.

The U.N. observation post near Khiam came under close Israeli fire 21 times Tuesday — including 12 hits within 100 yards and five direct hits from 1:20 p.m. until the peacekeepers' post was destroyed at 7:30 p.m., Jane Lute, assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping, told the U.N. Security Council in New York

<snip>
Officials in the outpost called the Israeli army 10 times during those six hours, and each time an army official promised to have the bombing stopped, according to a preliminary U.N. report on the incident, which was shown to an Associated Press reporter on Wednesday.

Once it became clear those pleas were being ignored, the force's commander sought the involvement of top officials in New York, a senior U.N. official in New York said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation of the incident was not yet complete.

So there you have it, was the Israeli bombing deliberate? Or was it an accident? Will only NATO troops will be capable of going into Lebanon without Isreal attacking them?

[Taverner]

1. WTF??? Is Israel on a suicide mission here or something

Bombing innocent civilians
Using chem weapons
Now attacking the UN

It's as if Israel wants to be a small hole where a country once stood.

[CuteNFuzzy]

3. Not quite

What they want is:

to bomb innocent civilians
use chemical weapons
kill UN peacekeepers

etc etc

[jdlh8894]

2. The UN

Why are they just observing !!! They wre formed to make PEACE throughout the world!!

[tocqueville]

4. Asia Times

"This coordinated artillery and aerial attack on a long-established and clearly marked UN post at Khiyam occurred despite personal assurances given to me by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that UN positions would be spared Israeli fire. Furthermore, General Alain Pellegrino, the UN force commander in south Lebanon, had been in repeated contact with Israeli officers throughout the day on Tuesday, stressing the need to protect that particular UN position from attack."

So to accept that it was yet another accident presupposes a level of incompetence or insubordination in the Israeli army that should see some serious courts-martial, but never does.

So what could be the motive? It is clear that there are many in the IDF with a profound contempt for the UN and all it stands for, and who would not shed many tears at such an accident. It may also rankle that the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has, in the dearth of Western reporters from much of south Lebanon, provided independent corroboration of many incidents of IDF attacks on civilians. One only has to think of the fate of the USS Liberty in 1967 <1> for being in a position to observe what the IDF was up to.

And, most sinister of all, there are many Israelis - including the government only a few days ago - who do not want an international force between them and their targets in Lebanon, who would have no great scruples about bombing a UN compound "accidentally on purpose".

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HG27Ak02.html

[Lindacooks]

6. That is an EXCELLENT point.

"So to accept that it was yet another accident presupposes a level of incompetence or insubordination in the Israeli army that should see some serious courts-martial, but never does."

The simple fact that the UN was in contact with Israeli commanders telling them that their bombing was getting too close, only to be reassured that it would stop, and then more bombs came in, means that Israel deliberately targeted the observers.

Yet another war crime, adding to cluster bombs, disproportionate response, and, in all probability, chemical weapons.

[tnlefty]

5. I thought that I read somewhere that UN peacekeepers would go in AFTER

a ceasefire was declared, and since the Princess of Death squelched that. NATO troops? Don't know. I saw a thread earlier that mentioned Dimson** is thinking about sending 20K - 30K US troops in.

Yee haw!!!! Crank it up. Apparently this is an acceptable foreign policy.

[rhiannon55]

7. Americans really live in an alternate universe

don't we? The American MSM act as if Israel is the victim and not the aggressor, a brave David to Hezbollah's monstrous Goliath. The rest of the world knows that it's the other way around. Over and over we hear the faux pundits and politicians go on about "Israel having a right to defend herself." They don't like to talk about the fact that Israel has killed 10 times as many civilians as has Hezbollah, and is blatantly committing war crimes.

[DemonFighterLives]

8. sick fu*kers have no respect for international law

and no respect for human life.
:argh:

[chimpymustgo]

9. What you said.

I'm just drained. Outrage, disbelief, dismay.

[malaise]

10. Meanwhile over in Gaza

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5215608.stm

Somebody, anybody stop these murderous fuckers.

[rhiannon55]

11. Hezbollah is NOT Lebanon

Hezbollah is a resistance movement that operates WITHIN Lebanon. Hezbollah fighters are NOT children, but children are being blown apart or burned to death all the same.

I cannot get my head around the fact that ANYONE can justify what Israel is doing.

[malaise]

14. I no longer care

I have to live with me and I will not condone it.

[DemonFighterLives]

13. More sickness

dubby is snickering.
:puke:

[ecstatic]

12. did someone fall asleep at the switch?

I was wondering if all the firing ended once the UN workers were killed, but now I see that the the military continued to fire upon the area even during the rescue operation. How many billions is it costing to just fire away indiscriminantly and carelessly the way they are doing?