The UN HQ Bombing

From: "Hsing Lee"
The UN HQ Bombing

The UN HQ Bombing

I had something else in the pipeline but I’m putting it by the wayside to
address the UN Bombing in Iraq before the American spin machine convinces the
world that Iraqi Saddam sympathizers are to blame for the attack on the UN
Headquarters in Iraq.

Sergio Vieira de Mello, head of the UN mission in Iraq, was killed.

The American media is blaming this attack on Islamic groups. Bremer hinted that
it may have been Saddam loyalists.

Bullshit.

Mr. de Mello, aside from being the head of the Iraq mission, was the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights, elected by a Human Rights body which had no
American representative. In otherwords, the US had no control over Mr. de
Mello.

He was a key figure in getting elections in East Timor. In otherwords, he made
enemies of US Oil interests while doing his work in Indonesia.

He made a speech in Osaka recently which talked about the need for rule of law,
and of the need for NO ONE to be immune from the rule of law. He made a point
of stressing the need for the International Criminal Court. He made a point of
encouraging countries to sign on and ratify the Rome Statute.

www.hurights.or.jp/asia-pacific/no_31/03.htm

“First, I firmly believe that it is possible to take appropriate action in
response to terrorist acts, or to prevent them, while still respecting human
rights. No cause can ever justify a terrorist act. Indeed, terrorism seeks to
destroy human rights and States have the duty to protect those within their
territory from such acts. However, as the Secretary-General said at last year's
session of the Commission on Human Rights "… we cannot achieve security by
sacrificing human rights. To try to do so would land the terrorists a victory
beyond their dreams."

In fact, human rights standards already strike a fair balance between freedoms
and national security. After all, the standards were drafted by States
themselves, who had a keen awareness of their own security concerns…”

“…Sixth, international criminal justice is an essential part of a rule of law
and human rights approach to international security. Two weeks ago the General
Assembly elected the 18 judges of the new International Criminal Court. This is
a landmark in the creation of an interlocking system that will bring to justice
those responsible for crimes considered so heinous by the international
community, such as crimes against humanity and war crimes, that they should be
subject to international jurisdiction. I urge States to sign and ratify the Rome
Statute of the International Criminal Court, and thereby join this crucial
mechanism aimed at preserving security and guaranteeing justice in the
international system…”

Bush has made a point of insisting that no American will ever be tried for war
crimes. Bush has insisted that America will not recognize the ICC, or ratify
the Rome Statute.

If Mr. de Mello had returned to the UN as planned three months from now and
taken back his post as UN Human Rights commissioner, he would be doing so as one
who had observed American violations of the Geneva Convention in Iraq. He would
have been in a position to speak of what was really going on in Iraq. He would
have been in a position to speak about Iraqi prisoners receiving one and a half
cups of water a day in 40-degree heat. That speech, if he had planned to make
it, will never be heard.

With Mr. de Mello’s death, the US has avoided a fourth high profile UN voice
coming forward to join Denis Halliday, Hans von Sponeck, and Hans Blix in
calling America’s actions in Iraq illegal, immoral, and inhumane.

Mr. de Mello supported women’s rights. Last year, Bush killed a UN Resolution
which would have ensured that women the world over had rights.

Mr. de Mello supported free and fair elections the world over. Mr. Bush
promised free and fair elections in Iraq, then reneged on that promise almost as
soon as the dust in Iraq began to settle.

Mr. de Mello openly tackled the issues of racial profiling and vilifying of
Islam, both of which the Bush administration have been engaged in since 9/11.
Bush even legislated racial profiling in the so-called Patriot Act. Observe Mr.
de Mello’s own words on this issue.

“Fourth, I have been increasingly concerned about what appears to be growing
racism, xenophobia and intolerance, exacerbated by the events following 11
September 2001. The rise of the phenomenon of vilifying Islam is particularly
disturbing, as are practices such as racial profiling.”

Compare this to statements made by key Bush backers like Jerry Falwell and
Franklin Graham, who have both called Islam evil.

Mr. de Mello was considered a potential future Secretary General of the UN. One
not under American control. And now he’s gone.

It just doesn’t add up. People from within the UN have been some of the loudest
voices bringing awareness to Iraq’s plight for a dozen years. The Iraqi people
have nothing to gain and everything to lose from this attack, where America has
much to gain if they can convince the public that this was the action of Iraqis
and not an American plot.

Consider that the Iraqis just lost the only true heavyweight humanitarian
observer mission in Iraq. Consider that other observers will now think twice
before going to observe what the Americans are doing. Consider that the only
people who win from this attack are the neo-conservatives in the White House,
who can use this as a pretext to slaughter even more Muslims.

Consider that according to MSNBC, there was a UN Press Conference going on when
the bomb hit. But the camera footage they used was from a Japanese camera crew.

A JAPANESE crew?

As in no Americans were present?

At a UN Press conference?

Why wasn’t there any American media present?

Could it be because the UN’s mission and the US’s mission in Iraq are in fact
conflicting missions, and things that are being said at UN Press Conferences do
not jive with the Bush agenda, and thus don’t get on American TV?

And now the head of the UN Mission is dead, eliminating a serious threat to US
troops who may have been open to prosecution for war crimes.

When a capital crime is committed, one must always look for motive. I can see
no other group who would have a reasonable motive for this attack except for the
Bush administration and their corporate cronies.

Methinks Bush’s night of the long knives has begun.

No justice, no…

PEACE