Canadian PM wants to know why UN post was manned (blame the UN)

[Harper_is_Bush]

Harper doesn't think UN post was targeted

"We want to find out why this United Nations post was attacked and also why it remained manned during what is now, more or less, a war during obvious danger to these individuals," said Harper.

"I think this event is obviously a terrible tragedy," he said. "But that doesn't change the right of a country to defend itself against terrorists and violent attacks."

Harper said he didn't think the post was shelling on purpose.

"I certainly doubt that to be the case, given that the government of Israel has been co-operating with us in our evacuation efforts, in our efforts to move Canadian citizens out of Lebanon and also trying to keep our own troops that are on the ground, involved in the evacuation, out of harm's way,"
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060726/harper_soldier_death_060727/20060727?hub=TopStories

Soooooooo. Use the opportunity of yet another Canadian death to make the point YET AGAIN that the Israeli steamrolling of Lebanon is self-defense.
Also blame the UN.
And throw out the air-tight logic that since the Israelis co-operated with Canada's evacuation efforts ergo they would not have deliberately targetted the UN post.

Israel HATES the UN Steve, they love your new rightwing terrorist-behind-every-bush Canada.

[malaise]

1. One more moron doing Buscho's

bidding. Kick him out Canucks.

[LynnTheDem]

2. "UN Observers Made Many Calls Before Strike"

"The U.N. observers killed when an Israeli bomb hit their bunker in Lebanon Tuesday called an Israeli military liaison about 10 times in the six hours before they died to warn that aerial attacks were getting close to their position..."

Nope, no way were Israel's multi-billion dollar "precision" missiles targeting that UN base of civilians on purpose.

Uh uh.

Never no how.

:sarcasm:

[Spazito]

3. harper should have talked to this former observer before opening

his big yap:

Harry Bloom, eastern vice-president of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry Association, spent a year in the early 1970s patrolling the exact terrain where Hess-von Kruedener served.

Bloom, now retired at 66, said he wasn't surprised by news that an Israeli bomb had hit the post - and he doesn't believe it was an accident.

"I agree with (UN Secretary General) Kofi Annan's comment that it seemed to be an intentional hit. It would have to be. The outposts are so well-identified with blue and white paint and flags. A pilot cannot mistake that outpost for anything else."

Bloom described repeated "altercations" with Israeli forces when he was stationed there.

more

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=7eb2c665-888b-4025-8975-f405d1237e0e&k=7216&p=2

[panzerfaust]

5. USS Liberty: GTR-5

IDF has made similar 'mistakes' before.

Undisputed facts: On June 8, 1967 – during the Six Days War – Israeli warplanes and torpedo warcraft attacked the USS Liberty (an essentially unarmed electronic information – spy – ship) in international waters. The attack involved several waves, and was sustained for more than an hour. Thirtyfour USN sailors were killed, onehundred-seventyfour wounded.

One view (quite possibly the majority) is that the attack was deliberately made knowing that this was a US Naval vessel:
http://www.ussliberty.org

The reason for such an attack is speculative.

Another is that the ship was confused with an Egyptian horse carrying ship:
http://www.adl.org/Israel/uss.asp

In the current instance, there was a day long attack on an apparently well-marked UN position. In the USS Liberty attack IDF claimed that the vessel flew no flag. I was serving in the US Navy at the time – as I did for years in both the Atlantic and Pacific commands. I have NEVER seen a commissioned US Naval vessel without the ensign (“the flag”) being flown: And I doubt that anyone else has either.

At anchor, or moored, the ensign is flown from the stern. Underway, it flies from the mainmast. “Now shift the Colors” is the command as I recall.

Why would Israel attack the UN position? Clearly, I do not know: A plausible explanation is that they plan on doing 'something' in that area that they do not wish the world to know about. Though, if true, that seems to have been counterproductive.

Still – might it not have been simply a mistake?

Possibly, but, as with the attack on the Liberty, such an explanation seems unlikely to me. In the one case we have a US Naval vessel confused with an Egyptian horse carrier, in another, a large blue and white building with “UN” painted on the sides and roof. In each case the official IDF explanation of sustained attack is “Oops. We just didn't know”.

Really

[Rosemary2205]

4. Point of order

I have no idea whether Israel deliberately targeted UN posts or not. But saying "we called 6 times" doesn't mean the information got to the actual person who could stop the shelling. Here it's a battle royale just so the state police and local police can talk to each other in an emergency. I can't imagine how difficult it might be for a message from completely outside the system to be translated accurately to the person with the trigger.

[Harper_is_Bush]

6. "message from completely outside the system"

They spoke with the IDF each time. Not "6 times", 9 times.

Each time they were assured the attacks would stop.

I personally think it was deliberate. By that I mean a group or individual in the IDF decided to deliberately attack the post.

The outrage expressed by Stephen Harper/the US/the Israelis over the comment by Kofi that it was "apparently deliberate" is lacking honesty since they assume Kofi means it was a policy decision by IDF leadership and gear their outrage towards that (we would NEVER target the UN!! FOR SHAME!).
If they stopped treating everything like a political game they would admit that yes, it DOES apparently look deliberate and pledge to find out if it was or not.

[Telly Savalas]

7. Ya take what you can get.

With Harper it was either gonna be this sort of bullshit or a proposal to give all members of Hezbollah Canadian citizenship for the purposes of granting them a $12/month Non-Violence Tax Credit to promote peace in the region.

[BuyingThyme]

8. Hurray Canada! You picked a real winner, just like us!

[BuyingThyme]

9. Hurray Canada! You picked a real winner, just like us!