Obit: Sergio Vieira de Mello UN Envoy to Iraq

Subject: Obit: Sergio Vieira de Mello UN Envoy to Iraq
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 12:44 AM

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and UN special representative to Iraq, died today in a suicide bombing in Baghdad, in the deadliest attack on the UN in it's 58 year history. It is being reported that he survived the initial blast, but died after about three hours, while still buried in the rubble.

The BBC's obituary is here:

BBC Obituary

He was also UN special representative in East Timor and Bosnia, and his Middle East experience dates back to 1981, with UN troops assigned to Lebanon.

He was, prior to his death, widely expected to be the successor to Kofi Annan.

Subject: RE: Obit: Sergio Vieira de Mello UN Envoy to Iraq
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 02:50 AM

Iniquitous. Im beginning to feel that Iraq is not a cause worth pursuing any longer, as the ingratitude appears to outweigh the gratitude, by large amounts. It is no good saying that the UN is a hmanitarian organisation, and should not be attacked, these people who are doing this do not share the same value systems as we do. We are infidels, unbelievers, and occupiers, and the nuances of good christian/bad christian are lost on them. They will never see things as we do, and we should not waste our time trying to convert them to our viewpoint.
God rest his soul.
Giok

Subject: RE: Obit: Sergio Vieira de Mello UN Envoy to Iraq
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 02:59 AM

"The nuances of good Christian/bad Christian." Hmmm...wonder where that leaves me?

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Obit: Sergio Vieira de Mello UN Envoy to Iraq
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 04:03 AM

OK then! Good, non Moslem/Bad, non Moslem, just for you Mark.
Ceud mille Failte,
Giok

Subject: RE: Obit: Sergio Vieira de Mello UN Envoy to Iraq
From: Grab
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 05:26 AM

Giok, since when did Iraq have anything to do with religion?

More to the point is that the US/UK invasion has wiped out the prospects of a lot of rich, well-connected and thoroughly nasty people in the Hussein regime, so they're getting their own back. Meantime the "average" people have been stuck with unreliable (or non-existent) supplies of food, water and electricity for a long time and are understandably pissed off with the US and UK, so they won't help as much as they could.

Graham.

Subject: RE: Obit: Sergio Vieira de Mello UN Envoy to Iraq
From: MickT
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 05:54 AM

What's this got to do with MUDCAT?

Subject: RE: Obit: Sergio Vieira de Mello UN Envoy to Iraq
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 09:56 AM

Here is the NY Times official obituary link:

Vieira de Mello obit

He is survived by his wife, Annie; and their two sons, Adrien and Laurent.

Subject: RE: Obit: Sergio Vieira de Mello UN Envoy to Iraq
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 10:42 AM

And this is from the UN's Daily Briefing website:

SECRETARY-GENERAL MOURNS SERGIO VIEIRA DE MELLO

The Secretary-General said in a statement, "The loss of Sergio Vieira de Mello is a bitter blow for the United Nations, and for me personally."

"The death of any colleague is hard to bear, but I can think of no one we could less afford to spare, or who would be more acutely missed throughout the UN system, than Sergio," he said. "Throughout his career he has been an outstanding servant of humanity, dedicated to relieving the suffering of his fellow men and women, helping them to resolve their conflicts and rebuild their war-torn societies.

"In his work with the peoples of every continent – as an official of the High Commissioner for Refugees, as Emergency Relief Coordinator, as my Special Representative in Kosovo and East Timor, and (all too briefly) as High Commissioner for Human Rights – in all those positions he impressed everyone with his charm, his energy, and his ability to get things done – not by force but by diplomacy and persuasion."

The Secretary-General went on, "In Iraq, where he spent the last months of his life, he was working day and night to help the Iraqi people regain control of their own destiny and build a future of peace, justice and full independence. It is tragic that he has now given his life in that cause, along with others who, like him, were devoted and much-loved servants of the United Nations. Those who killed him have committed a crime, not only against the United Nations but against Iraq itself."

He concluded, "I share the grief of Sergio's family. We shall all miss him sorely, as a colleague and as a friend. Let us also strive to be worthy of him, and to complete the work that he began, so that his death will not have been in vain."

Asked about Sergio Vieira de Mello, the Spokesman noted his long list of successes at the United Nations, saying that he had "distinguished himself as an active, capable doer." Of the attack, the Spokesman said, "Anything as dramatic as this is a setback."

He said it was too soon to think about a successor to Vieira de Mello, although the Secretary-General had been thinking of a replacement once his four-month term as Special Representative was set to expire.

Asked about other senior officials who had died in UN history, he noted the assassination of Count Folke Bernadotte in the late 1940s.

Subject: RE: Obit: Sergio Vieira de Mello UN Envoy to Iraq
From: GUEST,Reiver 2
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 12:18 PM

Very sad. He was a good man (no religion specified). Another victim of an unnecessary and illegal war of aggression perpetrated by the Bush administration (along with his poodle) for reasons that have no connection with terrorism except that which we unleashed on an already devastated country. (The "war" was the equivalent of a game between the Superbowl champions and a small town High School team.) De Mello's motto could well have been the same as mine quoting Thomas Paine, "My country is the world. My religion is to do good." He lived it far better than I've been able to.

Reiver 2

Subject: RE: Obit: Sergio Vieira de Mello UN Envoy to Iraq
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Aug 03 - 08:15 PM

Kofi Annan pointed out today that the UN has been working in Iraq for 12 years, and none of their workers has ever been attacked, until yesterday.

And it was the US forces' responsibility to guard the UN headquarters.

Subject: RE: Obit: Sergio Vieira de Mello UN Envoy to Iraq
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Aug 03 - 09:15 AM

And today it is announced that the UN is pulling out a substantial number of it's workers from Iraq for the obvious security reasons (as in there isn't any). This followed the announcement that the World Bank and the IMF is leaving Iraq, due to security concerns.

And Secretary of State Colin Powell is due to meet with Kofi Annan when he returns to New York, to discuss "the security situation" in Iraq, and a possible new UN resolution authorizing UN military assistance and support (ie UN troops) for the US/UK coalition forces. It appears the Bush administration's hand is being forced by the latest terrorist bombings in the Middle East that have, once again, plunged the region into violent chaos.

Subject: RE: Obit: Sergio Vieira de Mello UN Envoy to Iraq
From: Peter T.
Date: 21 Aug 03 - 09:42 AM

This -- as some people said -- is how empires get rolling. You create new enemies, and have to protect yourself, and reach further out, creating new enemies, and so on. Eventually you have to divide the world into satrapies (5 zones), have armed forces in 137 countries, who need to be protected, and on and on. It is all nicely worked out in Gibbon.

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: Obit: Sergio Vieira de Mello UN Envoy to Iraq
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Aug 03 - 11:08 AM

And towards those ends (of creating the zones PeterT mentions above), we have the Attorney General's current barnstorming tour of the US, to shore up support for the Patriot Act, and pave the way for introduction of the Victory Act this fall, when Congress reconvenes.

The Victory Act, which is an expansion of powers granted to the government under the Patriot Act, attempts to link drug "terrorism" to Islamic fundamentalist terrorism, effectively creating zone 2, Latin America. Zone 1 is, of course, the Middle East.

The Victory Act will apparently be the Bush administration's replacement for last year's Patriot Act II, which failed to garner any real support in Congress, except among the deeply committed fundamentalist GOP crusaders.

Article about the Victory Act can be found here, in today's Washington Post:

"GOP Bill Would Add Anti-Terror Powers"

Subject: RE: Obit: Sergio Vieira de Mello UN Envoy to Iraq
From: Ebbie
Date: 21 Aug 03 - 01:21 PM

Other than western ambitions for the future, what would stop the U.S. from handing over the problems, lock, stock and barrel, to the U.N.? With so many nations represented and involved in peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts in Iraq, surely the incentive to blow everybody would lessen?

Subject: RE: Obit: Sergio Vieira de Mello UN Envoy to Iraq
From: Ebbie
Date: 21 Aug 03 - 01:22 PM

Insert "up". *G*

Subject: RE: Obit: Sergio Vieira de Mello UN Envoy to Iraq
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 21 Aug 03 - 01:31 PM

The real priority is to hand the country over to the people of Iraq. And channel help and support through the United Nations.

I imagine that the thing that will determine what happens is going to be the likely impact on Bush's "re"election plans, and on the profits of the people who will be bankrolling him in his bid to stay in the White House.

It could be that getting the hell out of Iraq and handing over the responsibility to other people might become his best bet if things go on this way.

Subject: RE: Obit: Sergio Vieira de Mello UN Envoy to Iraq
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Aug 03 - 02:31 PM

If the IMF and World Bank don't get back into Iraq pretty damn fast, Bush is screwed. They are his and his cronies' credit card and bank rollers in Iraq. If Bush can't get the security situation under control by October or November of this year, his ability to win re-election in the US will be badly impaired, regardless of whatever "economic boost" the administration cooks up with Congressional Republicans to ease them into the primary season beginning in January. The Republicans don't give a damn about humanitarian assistance in Iraq. They want money to bankroll the infrastructure that will benefit the US/UK coalition/empire. The money is already there in Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt, and other small oil oligarchy nations. The Republicans need money for Iraq/Iran/Afghanistan and the Caspian region. Look at a map, find the commodity reserves on it (not just oil and natural gas, but the other raw materials used to fuel the global economy too, including exploitable work forces), and it should be pretty apparent who the Bush administration needs to succeed, and who they don't.

They don't need the UN. They don't need humanitarian assistance. They need the money men at IMF and the World Bank, and the engineers at Bechtel and Halliburton.

When you hear US pundits talk nowadays about there being "a limited amount of time" to get Iraq's security situation under control, that is what they are talking about. The timing issue for the US elections. If Bush doesn't win re-election, the imerial reach strategy will change, and the vested interests of the global oligarchies will be on the defensive, rather than the offensive side.

Since Bush still doesn't need the UN, the current strategy in the wake of the UN HQ bombing will be to get a rubber stamp resolution from the UN. The Bush administration is talking about bringing in NATO forces, not UN peacekeepers. There is a very big distinction to be made between the two politically, as far as the Bushite right wing and global oligarchy sees it ideologically. NATO good, UN bad in their world. So expect the push this fall to be Powell trying to get a UN resolution that keeps UN troops out, but gives cover to NATO to go in, under US command.

Subject: RE: Obit: Sergio Vieira de Mello UN Envoy to Iraq
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Aug 03 - 07:38 PM

The U.N. leadership turned down the offer of the U. S. providing security for that particular building. That has been widely reported.

DougR

Subject: RE: Obit: Sergio Vieira de Mello UN Envoy to Iraq
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Aug 03 - 09:10 PM

No, DougR. You are, as usual, claiming what you want to believe as fact. In today's UN Daily Briefing, when Kofi Annan was asked that very question (ie, had the UN staff on the ground in Iraq refused to accept the coalition force's security measures), he stated that was absolutely not the case. He stated that under the UN resolution approving the US/UK coalition as an occupying force in Iraq, that the coalition forces were fully responsible for all security in the country. He said that no UN staff in Iraq had authority to refuse security from the coalition forces. When pressed further on the point, Annan said that in the unlikely event that UN staff refused protection for UN headquarters, an investigation would take place immediately upon such information coming to the attention of UN staff.

So DougR, again, you are wrong. I'm sure you would like to believe that the UN refused to cooperate with coalition security forces, because it feeds the delusions of reactionary right about the evil of the UN. But that story is utter bullshit. Pure propaganda.

Subject: RE: Obit: Sergio Vieira de Mello UN Envoy to Iraq
From: Reiver 2
Date: 22 Aug 03 - 03:30 PM

Hey, GUEST, keep it up! Your comments are right on!

Reiver 2