UNIFIL won't go out at night

Here’s article from Arutz Sheva based on a German news story on UNIFIL in action or rather lack of:

Despite the 20,000 troops deployed in southern Lebanon, the United Nations admits that weapons smuggling from Syria continues unhindered. A German report finds UNIFIL does not patrol after dark.

Hizbullah terrorists are free to roam at night without fear of being identified by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), according to a report by the German paper Der Spiegel. UNIFIL commanders were interviewed by the paper, saying their function is to "observe changes in the behavior of the local population," with Spanish UNIFIL official Richard Ortax admitting that no patrols are carried out at night “because of the danger involved.”

One junior officer told Der Spiegel he was glad that his battalion only left their camp once. "It's absurd," he said. "We landed here and set up our tent city, but since then we've only left the camp to drive around and to make sure that we're seen." The report cites a long tradition of UNIFIL inaction, which it says allowed time for a Finnish contingent to construct a giant sauna and an Indian contingent to decorate its base with tradition Indian artwork.

The UNIFIL troops and the 14,000 Lebanese soldiers stationed in the region add up to a total of around 20,000 troops in the 18 by 31-mile region of southern Lebanon. 6,000 more troops are still expected to arrive. The United Nations itself has admitted that Syria was still successfully smuggling arms to the Hizbullah, which neither UNIFIL nor the Lebanese army plan to stop.

Israel has maintained overflights in the region in order to monitor and discourage the smuggling, yet UNIFIL officials condemn the continued Israeli maneuvers and the Lebanese army even attempted to shoot down Israeli fighter jets on Tuesday. France and the European Union have been accusing Israel of violating Resolution 1701 with its flights over Lebanon. The current state of affairs has led Israeli officials to speak about “rethinking the implementation of Israel’s commitments” made in the context of the UN-brokered cease-fire.

I remember meeting a man in the late seventies who at the time had this crackpot idea which was why I remember the man and the idea. The gist of his idea was that Canada should leave the UN. Here it is 2006 and the idea no longer seems so farfetched – at least to me.

I do not harbour any illusions that the majority of Canadians are ready to give up on the UN. I have no idea what it will take to convince my fellow compatriots that their quaint notions on the value of peacekeeping or the belief that multilateral actions are the only form of political legitimacy for a country to act on. And then ask yourself why these reports are so under reported in Canadian main stream media.