Insurance Company Scares UN

[Lincoln]

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraq said that five of eight helicopters used by United Nations weapons inspectors left the country Sunday after a Western insurance company suspended coverage for the aircraft as the threat of war looms in the region.

The U.N. spokesman in Baghdad, Hiro Ueki, could not immediately be reached for comment, and no reason was given for the insurance company's action.

But the suspension of the coverage was seen as a possible indication that war could be imminent as President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spain's Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar prepared to hold an emergency summit on Sunday in the Azores.

The three-way summit in Portugal's Azores island chain was billed as the final push for a diplomatic solution to disarming Saddam.

U.N. inspectors have used the eight helicopters since January to travel across Iraq to visit sites suspected of involvement in the manufacture of weapons of mass destruction.

The five that pulled out are U.S-made Bell-212s and the three that remain are Russian-made M-8s, which are insured by another company. They flew to Syria en route to Cyprus.

The three M-8 aircraft would continue to be used in the inspections, according to a statement by the National Monitoring Directorate, the Iraqi state agency that acts as a liaison with the inspectors.

(source:FoxNews website)


==============================

Talk about no teeth. Is this organization really claiming to be the legitimate voice of the international community? What a joke. No wonder civilized nations ignore the silly antics of of the UN. The idea of France holding the world hostage because of their economic interests in Iraq and their fued with the US. And now this. What a joke.

[Jaakko]

I don't get it. Are you arguing that we should ignore the UN and support an attack on Iraq because an insurance company is getting jittery about a possible war in Iraq?

[RGBVideo]

(source:FoxNews website)

/note to self : Ignore this thread.

[Lincoln]

No, we should ingore the UN because it is a joke. The whole structure of the UN is designed to protect a few powerful nations that hold veto authority. It turns it's tail and runs in the face of danger.

[Jaakko]

So what does an insurance company have to do with that?

[Lincoln]

Well if an insurance company scares them what will a real conflict do? Isn't it rather absurd for an insurance company to have that much influence on world policy?

[Jaakko]

Yes, beancounters are ignored everywhere.

[Urban Ranger]

Why did you bother with so obvious a troll?

[Jaakko]

Consider me the fish that was too big to handle.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Re: Insurance Company Scares UN

Originally posted by Lincoln
Talk about no teeth. Is this organization really claiming to be the legitimate voice of the international community? What a joke. No wonder civilized nations ignore the silly antics of of the UN.

The UN, like most other organizations from the US government down, can't operate without funds. When the US government loses a multimillion dollar aircraft over Iraq, who do you think pays for it? Is it free? The US can "afford" to squander billions, even tens of billions or a hundred billion or more, because the US will either run a long-term deficit and issue treasury bonds, or take that money out of the pockets of the taxpayer.

The UN has no authority to issue bonds, and no authority to tax anyone. It is only funded by dues paid by member nations, and can't really afford to piss away multi-million dollar assets.

The idea of France holding the world hostage because of their economic interests in Iraq and their fued with the US. And now this. What a joke.

The joke is "the world being held hostage?" This is just more mindless tripe from the far right - good talk show fodder, but total lack of substance or logic. Bush couldn't even get nine votes out of the UNSC, and believe it or not, most of the world doesn't support the US policy. Perhaps the world is just supposed to surrender to the "leadership" of Bush, and simply ask what the US expects of it?

God forbid that the French actually act in their own perceived self-interest. The US, great saviour of the world and champion of the oppressed, would never stoop to following it's perceived self-interests, and certainly would never use it's veto power in the UNSC. That veto power was only a feel-good measure, never intended to actually be used.

[Jaakko]

All hail MtG, the saviour of troll victims everywhere!