By R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. on 7.27.06 @ 12:08AM
At least it was civilized, compared to today's "international community."
WASHINGTON -- The other day in Rome, Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice held her ground. Bravo Condi. Her counterparts in
the "international community" wanted to prevail upon her to join
with them in an agreement calling upon Israel to desist from trying
to extirpate from southern Lebanon Hezbollah launch sites used for
the missiles that have been raining down on Northern Israel --
unprovoked. On July 12 Hezbollah crossed into Israel, attacked
Israeli soldiers, and carried two back into Lebanon. Presumably the
"international community" would see to it that Hezbollah's land and
aerial assaults would end. Or would it?
The "international community" through the instrumentality of the
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has done nothing
to disarm Hezbollah, though according to UN Resolution 1559 it was
supposed to. Instead Hezbollah has been free to militarize southern
Lebanon beyond even the imagination of Israeli intelligence
agencies. It is difficult to believe that Hezbollah bunkers,
tunnels, and missile sites could have been established without the
knowledge of UNIFIL forces stationed nearby. So now Israel is to
end its defensive attacks on Hezbollah, according to the desire of
the "international community." Israel is undoing the mischief that
the United Nations allowed, but now Israel is to desist.
The "international community" has no conscience. If it has a
memory, the memory goes unused. Israel withdrew from today's
contested regions in Lebanon and Gaza with the hope and the promise
that those areas would become peaceful. Now they are being used as
launching sites for killing Israelis -- and the "international
community" wants Israel to cease fire and forbear. What would it
have Hezbollah do? Hezbollah has already thwarted the demands of
the United Nations.
In the race to absurdity a new world record is being set. Israel
is being diabolized by governments that have year after year,
atrocity after atrocity, become inured to the growing barbarism of
the terrorists' notion of war. The terrorists wear no uniforms and
are governed by no nation of laws, yet they expect to be treated as
soldiers. They, as a matter of policy, attack defenseless civilians
and employ suicide bombers to kill by ambuscade yet expect to be
covered by the Geneva Accords. They act like madmen yet demand to
be treated as though they were rational and reasonable. The
"international community" goes along with all these nihilistic
expectations and demands. Those who oppose this drift into
barbarism are treated as the aggressors. Frankly by comparison with
the international community of appeasers in the 1930s today's
appeasers are more cowardly and corrupt.
When it comes to corruption the United Nations -- the citadel of
the international community -- takes all cakes. Its peacekeeping
forces are known for rape and pillage. The best of them are
ineffective. The worst are like an invading force of barbarians.
Within United Nations offices all over the world both financial
corruption and sexual harassment are ongoing problems. "What is
surprising about that?" a U.S. Justice Department official asks me.
"UN officials come from countries rife with sexism and corruption.
Why would you expect them to act any better when they are ensconced
in Geneva or out at a UN facility in Africa?"
The UN's "Oil for Food" scandal is the most expensive scandal of
modern times. Almost nothing has been done about it. The United
States has been rendered controversial for trying to do something
about it, and Ambassador John Bolton has been assailed as rude for
insisting on reform.
Now we see the spectacle of these same grafters and frauds
trying to impose themselves on Israel. Says Secretary-General Kofi
Annan, Israel is using "excessive force." Presumably the proper
force is that which UNIFIL applied in southern Lebanon. What was
UNIFIL doing while Hezbollah was fortifying southern Lebanon? I
suggest we send over the FBI to inquire as to how many Lebanese
were raped by the UN peacekeepers and how much boodle they brought
in. In the 1930s the officers of the League of Nations would never
have dreamed of such squalor being carried on by members of an
international body of law.
topics:
Law, Israel, United Nations, Africa, Oil
