UN Snafu in Iraq
Thursday, March 22nd, 2007
Our newspaper, The Star covered a piece of reporting by Reuters on U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s first visit to Iraq. Here’s what happened.
During the joint press conference with the Prime Minister of Iraq, after commending PM al-Maliki on his "good leadership", he announces that "As we see the improved situation on the ground, I am considering to increase the presence of the United Nations." (the UN pulled out of Iraq in Aug 2003 because of a truck bombing on its Baghdad HQ that killed its envoy) Just right after he said "This is one of the subjects which I have discussed and I will consider on the basis of my assessment for this visit," (I presume this was following from the statement on bringing UN back into Iraq) a Katyusha rocket landed ~50m from the building where the press conference was held.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reacts to the noise from a loud explosion during a news conference with Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Baghdad in this March 22, 2007 image taken from video footage. REUTERS/Iraqi TV
Judging from his instant reaction to the rocket attack (in the Green Zone, mind you), I’d say the assessment is no longer as optimistic. I guess the insurgents still want the UN out. Had they not made the meeting a secret (another irony, VIPs scoot into Iraq to visit, not arrive pompously), the insurgents might have more time to target their rocket more accurately or we might be seeing a more grim coincidence.
Want to watch the video? Here you go. I must say that I admire the Iraqis, since their reaction is rather minimal (by conditioning) when compared to our UN Secretary General (unfortunately, that made him look like a coward).
You gotta admit that this is a wonderful piece of irony.
