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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| UN bombing not deliberate, Harper says |
| 2006-07-26 |
| CANADA'S Prime Minister Stephen Harper said today an Israeli attack on a UN outpost that killed four, including a Canadian, was a "terrible tragedy" but not likely deliberate. At the same time, he questioned why the UN had manned the outpost in Lebanon near the Israeli border as bombs exploded all around. "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," he said. Asked about UN head Kofi Annan's statement suggesting Israel had targeted the outpost, Mr Harper said: "I certainly doubt that to be the case". "The government of Israel has been cooperating 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," he said. Foreign Minister Peter MacKay said earlier that Israel had offered its regrets and condolences for the deaths of four UN observers, including a Canadian soldier assigned to the mission. While in Rome for emergency talks on the Lebanon crisis, Mr MacKay told broadcaster CTV the incident was a "tragic loss of life of four peacekeepers, including a Canadian". "I spoke this morning with the Israeli foreign minister (Tzipi Livni). She expressed her sincere condolences and regret for this incident. We are still awaiting further details as to what took place," he said. "There's conflicting reports." Israel and the UN have committed to investigate the incident, he said. The UN yesterday confirmed that the four soldiers killed were from Austria, Canada, China and Finland. In a statement Mr Harper identified the Canadian soldier as Major Paeta Derek Hess-von Kruedener. Mr Harper said he was "missing and presumed dead as a result of an incident yesterday" as UN workers continued to dig through the rubble of its United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation outpost for his body. "Our government fully intends to investigate the circumstances that led to this tragic incident. I have asked our military to investigate and work in conjunction with the government of Israel and the United Nations to determine what occurred." |
| Posted by:Oztralian |
| #2 I think the UN has an entire division solely devoted to fucking things up. This includes screwing their own troops...I don't think they will ever have a real fighting force for this very reason. How could anyone pledge allegiance to this ?I think the families of the deceased would probably concur. They need a change at the top. |
| Posted by: WITT 2006-07-26 23:53 |
| #1 There are now reports that the four UN peacekeepers contacted Israeli forces 10 times to check their fire, hours before they were killed. If true, someone, somewhere, fucked up. |
| Posted by: Celsius 2006-07-26 23:36 |