Wednesday, October 29, 2003
[posted by jaed at 6:48 PM]UN [in]security planning
Via Random Jottings, this report on UN security problems in Iraq - which may have made the bombing of the building more likely and more damaging:
The panel said the organization had failed to assess thoroughly security in Iraq or respond to warnings, including intelligence reports that said the headquarters could be a target of an attack.This is the sort of thing that tempts me to wax sarcastic about people who say we should turn Iraq over to the UN. This, plus the fact that after the bombing the UN turned tail and ran (and what consequences would that have had if they were running the country?), plus the larger and more important question of why anyone would suggest throwing Iraq to the wolves at this point... I am in danger of ranting.
United Nations officials, the panel said, also dismissed offers of protection from the United States coalition in Baghdad.
[...]
"The security awareness," the report said, "did not match the hostile environment."
(I must track down the original report and see whether it discusses the UN's incomprehensible practice of hiring Baathists as security guards. These people used to work for Saddam's Information Ministry, and therefore worked as minders with the UN, so they knew these people from the Baath days... but surely someone realized that hiring from this group might not be the brightest idea they'd ever had?)
