Two organizations representing more than 60,000 United Nations staff members urged Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Wednesday to pull all U.N. staff out of Iraq because of the "unprecedented" risk to their safety and security.
In a joint letter to Annan, the staff organizations cited a dramatic escalation in attacks in Iraq and said the United Nations regrettably "has become a direct target, one that is particularly prone to attacks by ruthless extremist terrorist factions."
"Just one staff member is one staff member too many in Iraq," they said. "We ... appeal to your good judgment to ensure that no further staff members be sent to Iraq and that those already deployed be instructed to leave as soon as possible."
Annan pulled all U.N. international staff out of Iraq a year ago, following two bombings at U.N. headquarters in Baghdad and a spate of attacks on humanitarian workers. The first bombing, on Aug. 22, 2003, killed the top U.N. envoy, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and 21 others.
In August, the secretary-general allowed a small U.N. contingent to return to Baghdad and imposed a ceiling of 35 international staffers, but he has been under pressure to increase the number to help Iraq prepare for elections in January.
This has been the consistent result of UN leadership over the past decade and more. Under the auspices of the UN, Saddam was allowed to defy resolution after resolution and repeatedly violate the terms of the Safwan cease-fire without any consequences. Indeed, the UN even created a vast program designed to feed his people and allowed the recalcitrant tyrant to steal $10 billion from it without challenge. In Srebrenica, Kosovo, Rwanda, and other places under the UN's so-called protection, as soon as hostilities broke out, blue-helmeted "peacekeepers" ran to the nearest barracks to wait out the violence.
The UN has built a consistent track record of cowardice and corruption. If John Kerry feels that such an organization should have the final say on the legitimacy of American security policy we are in serious trouble.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041006/ap_on_re_mi_ea/un_iraq_security
In a joint letter to Annan, the staff organizations cited a dramatic escalation in attacks in Iraq and said the United Nations regrettably "has become a direct target, one that is particularly prone to attacks by ruthless extremist terrorist factions."
"Just one staff member is one staff member too many in Iraq," they said. "We ... appeal to your good judgment to ensure that no further staff members be sent to Iraq and that those already deployed be instructed to leave as soon as possible."
Annan pulled all U.N. international staff out of Iraq a year ago, following two bombings at U.N. headquarters in Baghdad and a spate of attacks on humanitarian workers. The first bombing, on Aug. 22, 2003, killed the top U.N. envoy, Sergio Vieira de Mello, and 21 others.
In August, the secretary-general allowed a small U.N. contingent to return to Baghdad and imposed a ceiling of 35 international staffers, but he has been under pressure to increase the number to help Iraq prepare for elections in January.
This has been the consistent result of UN leadership over the past decade and more. Under the auspices of the UN, Saddam was allowed to defy resolution after resolution and repeatedly violate the terms of the Safwan cease-fire without any consequences. Indeed, the UN even created a vast program designed to feed his people and allowed the recalcitrant tyrant to steal $10 billion from it without challenge. In Srebrenica, Kosovo, Rwanda, and other places under the UN's so-called protection, as soon as hostilities broke out, blue-helmeted "peacekeepers" ran to the nearest barracks to wait out the violence.
The UN has built a consistent track record of cowardice and corruption. If John Kerry feels that such an organization should have the final say on the legitimacy of American security policy we are in serious trouble.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041006/ap_on_re_mi_ea/un_iraq_security
