The parents of slain WSJ reporter Daniel Pearl have an op-ed in today’s WSJ about how the U.N. has done nothing to help the three abducted Israeli soldiers at the center of the recent conflict:
Whatever success the U.N. Security Council would presume to claim, it cannot be said that Resolution 1701 has effectively addressed the direct cause of the fighting–the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser, 31, and Eldad Regev, 26, by Hezbollah, and the earlier abduction of Gilad Shalit, 19, by Hamas. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s call for the unconditional release of these soldiers has been ignored. Moreover, in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law, the terrorists have not only seized the soldiers as hostages for political blackmail, they have not allowed the Red Cross to visit them. Their families do not know their physical condition; they have no proof they are even alive.
And so now these families of Ehud, Eldad and Gilad are asking to meet with Kofi Annan. They wish to plead with the secretary-general to use the full weight of his moral authority to mobilize and intensify the efforts of the international community he leads–an influential body that has managed to compel two fierce armies to cease hostilities–to address this flagrant violation of humanitarian law. […]
Will he? It seems unlikely. Sadly, this is not the first time that concerned parents have turned to Mr. Annan in much the same circumstances. Six years ago, another delegation of distressed families came to the U.N. with a similar tragedy, following the abduction of three Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah from under the noses of Unifil and, by some accounts, with their help. The investigation that was subsequently conducted found that the U.N. had made “serious errors in judgment” by hiding information that “would have been helpful in an assessment of the condition of the three abducted soldiers.” At that time, the U.N.’s interest in appearing “neutral” overshadowed its commitment to the preservation of human lives. The world cannot afford a repeat of such inaction and poor judgment.
At least the Pearl’s aren’t harboring any illusions about whether Annan will actually try to intervene.
UPDATE: Via Greg Pollowitz: Kofi Annan, Media Blog reader!