Finnish sappers clear Khiam post in Lebanon

[Englander]

11.5.2007 at 12:59

Finnish sappers serving as part of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) have finished a wide-scale clearing operation at the UN observation post destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in July 2006.

Four unarmed military observers died in the strike, including Lieutenant Jarno Mäkinen, 29, from Finland.

"In the clearing operation it became apparent that dozens of heavy 155-millimetre artillery projectiles and several 500-kilogramme aerial bombs had hit the immediate vicinity of the UN post," said Mika Niemi, the commander of the Finnish company of engineers serving in Lebanon.

"The dramatic force and precision of the strike is illustrated for example by the fact that at the time it happened, an all-terrain vehicle had been parked outside the building and only small pieces of it remained."

Once the area is cleaned up of debris, a monument is to be erected.

Link;
NewsRoom Finland

[peacetalksforall]

1. So Israel targeted a UN outlook. Finnish observers died.. My, how humane of them.

What is the term for attacking and killing innocents?
What is the name for abandoning peace?
What is the name for perpetual war?

I don't think I can take the news this morning.

I really need a vacation from vile minded perpetual war mongering on both sides of the Atlantic.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Violet_Crumble]

5. Great to see support for the slaughter of unarmed peacekeepers. Keep up the good work!

I was of the understanding that Israel claimed the killing of the observers was an accident, but now you've informed everyone here that not only was it deliberate, but totally justifiable, I know the Israeli govt must have been wrong in apologising to the UN and saying it was an accident ;)

[oberliner]

6. No one is claiming support for "the slaughter of unarmed peacekeepers"

That is a ridiculous conclusion to draw for the statement of the person to whom you are responding.

The claim being made is that Hezbollah deliberately attacked Israel from positions near UN outposts.

Do you dispute the veracity of that statement?

According to the Israeli report, this particular incident was the result of an incorrectly labeled map and a communications failure.

The poster seems to be suggesting that the proximity of Hezbollah locations to UN outposts is what makes a tragic accident like this possible.

[breakaleg]

7. In other words, it wasn't Israel's fault. What a surprise. nt

[Violet_Crumble]

8. Now, that's a ridiculous conclusion to draw from msmghee's post...

If you bothered to follow the thread, you'd have noticed that msmghee was responding to a poster pointing out that Israel killed those peacekeepers by replying with a post that justified Israel bombing the UN outpost. Or was all that justification just part of my imagination?

Nothing justifies Israel's bombing of that Israeli outpost, or are you going to dispute that too?

[GliderGuider]

2. sappers are the finest kind of soldier

They do their damnedest to undo the work of bastards, no matter the theatre.
Of course, I am somewhat biased.

One of my great-grandmother's brothers was a sapper in The Great War. Not all of him came home; he left an arm behind.
Of the three brothers who served in WWI, only he came home.
So it goes.

But that managed to convince the youngest of the four boys not to join up. The definition of small mercies.

[Stockholm]

3. Rock, Spektrolit and Parliament Bricks

That is the material Matti Peltokangas used to honour killed Finnish UN soldiers at Sandudds Cemetery.