The United Nations, Poor Beleaguered Body of Good Intent
It was but a protest. But what a protest. And who would not protest the deaths of innocent women and children? In a quiet little unassuming town. No one, no one in this world we inhabit could conceivably think it just that innocent people should die as a result of hostilities between two warring factions. No one could possibly take joy from the deaths of so many young children. And these are children who have lived with fear. Fear of the concussions they heard all around them as bombs fell from the skies. Fear of the fear they could see on the faces of their mothers, their fathers, desperately anxious to protect their children. That their parents' worst fears were realized is the ultimate horror story.War itself, the conditions which war brings upon humanity is not just. It claims many victims. And too often those victims are the innocent, the young, the children. Yet we wage war. Yet there are groups of insanely determined "defenders", "protectors" who bring war into intimate contact with the innocent, the young, the children. And claim that this is the fault of the attacker. That attacker who defends his own soil from an enemy who has seen fit to declare war, and against whom, in defence, he launches air strikes.
In Beirut grieving and angry protesters smashed the windows and ransacked the offices of the headquarters of the United Nations. This very same United Nations whose purpose and calling is the protection of innocents, of civilian life, of children. This United Nations whose officials have called time and again for a cessation to hostilities, admittedly doing so once the horse has bolted the barn, and not at an earlier, opportune time that would have circumvented the inevitable.
Ah, but the protesters wave Hezbollah flags and chant "Death to America! Death to Israel!". "Down with the UN who allow this Israeli murder," shouted one man. "This is Israeli murder, plain and simple. They are killing us the Lebanese people, taking our lives and homes. We will all fight them," said another whose family comes from Qana, the Hezbollah-protected town where the deaths of too many children occurred as a result of Israeli aerial bombing. A bombing mission brought about by the constant launching of rockets against Israeli targets.
Anti-Israeli patriotic Lebanese voices were raised in desperate anger and burning hatred against the Jewish State. Demonstrators smashed their way into the United Nations headquarters, wrecking offices and equipment. A fire was quickly contained, and no UN staffers were injured. As respect for the efforts of the United Nations has plumetted, Hezbollah continues to gain enormous popular support.
How predictable: not one shred of blame or responsibility levelled against Hezbollah, a triumphant Hezbollah which has garnered much in public relations as a result of this latest "atrocity" which they themselves so skilfully engineered.
posted by Pieface @ Monday, July 31, 2006
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