"UN becoming a terror target; Organization is at risk as Al Qaeda battles the West" by Colum Lynch, Washington Post | December 26, 2007
Oh, it's the CIA's PAPER, too, ha-ha!
UNITED NATIONS - The suicide bombings that ripped apart the UN headquarters building in Algiers on Dec. 11 and killed at least 37 people, including 17 UN employees, provided a bloody demonstration of the United Nations' emergence as a key target in Al Qaeda's global war against the West.
You mean, THIS "Al-CIA-Duh?"
Also see: "Al-CIA-Duhs" Catch-and-Release Program
This year, Al Qaeda and its affiliates have threatened or targeted UN officials and peacekeepers in conflict zones in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, and southern Lebanon, where six UN peacekeepers were killed in a bombing in June. Even before the Algiers attack, the United Nations was already investing millions of dollars in fortifying its facilities and convoys in response to threats in Afghanistan and Iraq.
But the Algiers attack, the deadliest for the United Nations since insurgents bombed its Baghdad headquarters in August 2003, provided a blunt reminder of how vulnerable the international organization is, even in relatively peaceful locales. It also raised concerns that more than a decade of efforts by the UN Security Council to check the influence of Al Qaeda and other radical Islamic movements has exposed UN humanitarian agencies to new dangers.
Richard Barrett, head of a UN team that monitors the effectiveness of UN sanctions against Al Qaeda and the Taliban:
"Al Qaeda certainly regards the United Nations as inimical to its own interests. The more the United States and other countries protect themselves, the more the battle goes to the softest target, and the UN is always going to be a softer target."
While the United Nations is often accused in Washington of being anti-American and anti- Israeli, its image in the Middle East - where it serves as the chief caregiver for Palestinian refugees - has also been tattered. UN sanctions against Islamic countries, including Iraq and Iran, and the agency's refusal to engage in talks with elected Hamas officials have played into the hands of those who say the global body is an agent of US and Israeli interests.
True!
Al Qaeda's Saudi-born leader, Osama bin Laden, has long harbored strong antipathy toward the United Nations, which he blames for a spree of alleged crimes against Islam, starting with the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state in the heart of the Arab world.
In the early 1990s, Al Qaeda affiliates planned attacks against UN headquarters, and bin Laden has put a price tag of 10,000 grams of gold - about $137,000 - on the lives of Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary general, and Lakhdar Brahimi, a former Algerian diplomat who led UN diplomatic efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq. More recently, bin Laden has urged his followers to fight UN-endorsed peacekeepers in Sudan and Somalia.
bin Laden said in a 2001 statement: "The United Nations is nothing but a tool of crime. We are being massacred every day while the United Nations continues to sit idly by."
Yeah, "bin Laden!"
For the record:
Asymmetrical Warfare Group
Operation Gladio
Operation Northwoods
Salvador Option
Special Police Commandos
Proactive, Preemptive Operations Group
Prop 201 tutorial
FRU
How much evidence you need, readers?
UN officials say the latest bloodshed underscores the need to shake that perception.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told staff members at a memorial for their lost colleagues in New York, after a trip to Algiers:
"We must do even better in explaining to the public and the media the role of the United Nations, wherever we operate."
We KNOW what the U.N. role is -- to EXTERMINATE 80% of us and institute GLOBAL GOVERNMENT!
And WE DON'T LIKE IT!
NO ONE DOES!!!!!!!!
Ban has pledged to review UN security procedures to ensure the safety of tens of thousands of workers in the field. But some UN officials say there is only so much the agency can do.
One senior UN official, referring to Washington's effort to reinforce its overseas embassies after Al Qaeda bombings of two US embassies in East Africa in 1998:
"Do you go to the US fortress model? I doubt the UN could ever do that."
In Afghanistan, the United Nations has begun pulling staff out of some provinces and is beefing up security after a top Taliban military commander, Mullah Dadullah, announced April 28 that the UN is a legitimate target because of its support for the US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai.
Dadullah, who was later killed in a US-led military operation:
"We certainly target all those who work for the UN, the US and Karzai."
Some UN officials say that the Al Qaeda threat, while real, has been overstated and that the deadliest threats in countries such as Iraq are from local insurgents who consider the United Nations a political arm of the United States.
Meanwhile, Al Qaeda affiliates including Fatah al-Islam have infiltrated Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, posing a new threat to UN operations there. The killing of six Colombian and Spanish peacekeepers in Lebanon raised concerns that the groups may be targeting the UN peacekeeping mission there.
Yup, except Fatah al-Islam are OUR GUYS!!!!!
"American, European, and Arab officials... told me that the Siniora government and its allies had allowed some aid to end up in the hands of emerging Sunni radical groups in northern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, and around Palestinian refugee camps in the south. These groups, though small, are seen as a buffer to Hezbollah; at the same time, their ideological ties are with Al Qaeda.
Alastair Crooke, who spent nearly thirty years in MI6, the British intelligence service, and now works for Conflicts Forum, a think tank in Beirut, told me, “The Lebanese government is opening space for these people to come in. It could be very dangerous.” Crooke said that one Sunni extremist group, Fatah al-Islam, had splintered from its pro-Syrian parent group, Fatah al-Intifada, in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, in northern Lebanon. Its membership at the time was less than two hundred. “I was told that within twenty-four hours they were being offered weapons and money by people presenting themselves as representatives of the Lebanese government’s interests—presumably to take on Hezbollah,” Crooke said...
In an interview in Beirut, a senior official in the Siniora government acknowledged that there were Sunni jihadists operating inside Lebanon. “We have a liberal attitude that allows Al Qaeda types to have a presence here,” he said."
And WE ALL KNOW WHO is responsible for the KILLINGS in Lebanon!
"October 24, 2006 -- A senior French DGSE -- Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure -- intelligence officer has told WMR that Lebanon's ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed in a car bombing arranged by Israel's Mossad. The revelation from French intelligence is significant as the French government of Jacques Chirac joined the Bush administration and the neo-con policy establishments in Washington and Israel in blaming Syria for the attack. According to the DGSE officer, Israel and its American backers wanted to blame Syria for the assassination of the popular Lebanese leader in order to blame Syria for the attack thus forcing the popular Lebanese revolt that saw the withdrawal of Syrian forces. That left Lebanon defenseless for the "Clean Break" attack launched by Israel, with US support, against Hezbollah and Lebanon's infrastructure. WMR was one of the first to report Israeli and American involvement in the assassination of Hariri, as well as those of Elie Hobeika, George Hawi, and other Lebanese politicians."
Also see: Israel's False-Flag Entebbe Operation
Anyway, back to the Zio-prop!
But some senior officials said attacking the United Nations was simply the easiest way for the group to generate international attention.
One senior UN official: "Nothing suggests they had any grudge against (the UN Development Program) as such. One of my concerns is that if there is less stuff in the newspaper about Iraq, they may be looking around for places to show they are still around and still a force to be reckoned with."
Pfffffft!!
Yeah, and WHO needs "Al-CIA-Duh" around, huh?
