Sergio Viera De Mello has died

[WilliamPitt]

UN Special Representative, killed in the blast. Now on CNN, 1:25pm ET.

[qanda]

1. So sad...

My heart goes out to his family.

[WilliamPitt]

2. He had three children, I believe n/t

[undergroundrailroad]

3. Oh MY GOD, NO! WHAT ARE THEY NOT TELLING US??

One foreigner with blood dripping from his forehead could be seen trying to organise the evacuation effort, as coughing and crying survivors were attempting to run for safety.

UN spokesman Fred Eckhard said in New York it was not clear how many of the 300 people employed at UN headquarters in Baghdad were in the building at the time of the attack.

"From what we see on TV, the damage is substantial. Human suffering is great," Eckhard said. He added that UN officials were in contact with Secretary General Kofi Annan (news - web sites), who was vacationing in Finland.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030819/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_un_blast&cid=1514&ncid=1478

[stopthegop]

6. he could be sipping water an hour ago

and still die...no deception needed...

[revcarol]

4. Rest in peace, Sergio.

Now it comes out that the people there were just trying to kill Americans, they were running late for the meeting,and the UN people were the casualties.

We ought to be thrown out of the UN.TOTAL ANGER AT THIS INCOMPETENT AND DESTRUCTIVE ADMINISTRATION.

[KoKo]

49. Thank you revcarol, you are expressing what I feel.....I'm taking this all

very hard, and worried that other DU'ers don't see how dreadful this bombing was and for those of us who were involved in the anti-Iraq Invasion protests...it's heartbreaking.........

We should never have gone in there.....never.......and we couldn't stop it .......no matter how hard we tried..

[stickdog]

61. Who?

Who did this?

"the people there"?

[cjbuchanan]

5. Awful news

The mention it at the top of this link. Not much information.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/08/19/sprj.irq.main/index.html

[Not a robought]

7. He would have been the conduit for ending occupation

in Iraq. Who would have wanted him dead?

[cjbuchanan]

9. I don't think he was the one they were after

It seems that members of the US Congress were scheduled to be in or near the building at that time.

[Fridays Child]

12. That doesn't seem to be the case.

"The congressional delegation was more than 10 miles away, meeting with the U. S. administrator of Iraq, Paul Bremer, when the explosion occurred, said Ford's chief of staff Mark Schuermann."

http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/america_at_war/article/0,1426,MCA_945_2192989,00.html

[cjbuchanan]

21. This is the article I was basing my statement on

http://www.komotv.com/stories/26708.htm

But it really doesn't matter because a great man has just been lost.

Thanks for you link.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

42. cjbuchanan yes de Mello was the target...the bomb went off directly under

de Mello's windows that happen to be in the rear of the canal hotel building......despite eralier US news reports that the truck drove into the main entrance!

[stickdog]

62. Where are you getting this (dis)info?

Were we really going to give our own Congressional delegation the sort of ever wary, highly professional military security we gave the UN delegation?

[termo]

52. who was doing security for this UN building ?

there should have been security forces outside the building.
then some security guys should be among the 16 casualties.

does UN have special troops or was security done by US ?

has somebody the detail for the 16 casualties ?

[stickdog]

63. The UN was relying on the US military to provide security,

Our idea, of course.

[Kellanved]

8. Link

This is grim news.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030819/wl_mideast_afp/iraq_un_blast&cid=1514&ncid=1478

[Fridays Child]

10. His photograph

[ElsewheresDaughter]

11. dear God!! the world just got darker and bush did it!

RIP Sergio deMello

[Fridays Child]

15. The stakes just went way up.

I hope that Kofi Annan will not be quiet about this.

[markses]

13. Blessed are the peacemakers

for they shall be called the children of God...


(and I'm a freakin' atheist! A good man died today.)

[diamond14]

14. and UN just announce that KOFI is cutting short his vacation

and returning to NY ASAP (on C-span press conference)...while shrub continues to play golf...

[lebkuchen]

26. Bush is has a 3 year old mind.

He can't grasp the seriousness of the issue.

Let him play. The world is better off without him in the mix. It's not like he has anything of value to contribute.

[TankLV]

60. Oh, in his limited way, he understands. He just announced he's perfectly

willing to send more of other folks kids/parents - his "live" toy solders - to die for his poll ratings.

I hope Kharma will find him swiftly before he can inflict more pain and suffering to our once beautiful world.

How I hate that "man-boy".

It just gets worse every single day, doesn't it.

Never in my worst nitemares about the selection did I think it would be this bad. Never.

[Merlin]

16. Hmmmm.

It's a sad commentary on the reprehensible nature of this neocon regime that the first instinct of some of us is to wonder how much of an incentive to sabotage the UN is created by the money Halliburton and other WH cronies would lose were we to give up sufficient control to induce others to join us in reconstruction.

Maybe if we can drive out all the journalists and all the UN reps, nobody will know how much of a failure this "nation building" exercise has become.

:tinfoilhat:

[Judi Lynn]

17. He'd been at this position only a year.

From July 23, 2002:

(snip) A senior United Nations official from Brazil has been named as the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Sergio Vieira de Mello was named as Mary Robinson's successor by the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan.

Mr Vieira de Mello was recently the UN's chief representative in East Timor and has previously served in Kosovo.

Fifty-four-year-old Mr Vieira de Mello is likely to receive official approval as the world's top human rights advocate when the UN General Assembly meets on Tuesday in New York. (snip/...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2145703.stm

His predecessor was loathed by this administration, as you may remember:

(snip) Geneva: Mary Robinson ends her term as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights reiterating her condemnation of the policies that the United States implemented after the 11 September terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

Robinson noted that following the suicide attacks against the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, numerous countries had introduced reforms in their legislation and legal procedures that were not in line with the basic international standards for human rights.

The US has the duty to establish higher standards because other nations use the loopholes in US legislation to justify their own rights abuses, she said on 10 September, her second-last day as the UN's chief human rights official.

She explained in a press conference delivered in French that it is necessary to criticise Washington's policies first and foremost, because when she censures other countries for their human rights records, 'they say, look at what is happening in the United States.'
(snip/...)

~~~~ link ~~~~

[dave29]

18. A short bio

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/08/19/sprj.irq.demello.ap/index.html

He was able to make a phone call from the rubble before he died.

[aquart]

36. Which means he knew he was dying.

Damn.

[stickdog]

67. Which means nothing of the sort.

Who did he call?

What did he say in that phone call?

[BeHereNow]

19. So Sad...

It's this type of news that makes me
wonder, "How much longer before I go
stark raving mad?"

I really want to move to Ireland,
live on a farm, have no phone or news
reception, and enjoy what is left of living.

BHN

[tameszu]

20. He was also UN High Commisioner for Human Rights

Incredibly sad.

[lebkuchen]

33. Is that the commission the US got kicked off of?

I don't recall.

[Judi Lynn]

38. They lost it in 2001

not too long after Bush had revealed all his anti-environment position, his pro-nuclear bombs position, and his refusal to allow anything which could put US soldiers in an international criminal court.

By shoving and threatening members, they finally got their way back onto the Human Rights Commission last year.

(snip) US Loses Seat on UN Human Right Commission

The United States lost a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Commission in a vote conducted May 3, 2001. The action was seen by some as a reaction to Bush administration policies on global warming, AIDS treatment in third world countries, and its intent to scrap the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

In a contest for one of three commission seats reserved for Western nations, the U.S. came in fourth behind France, Austria, and Sweden. Other nations elected to the commission included the Sudan and Pakistan, whose human rights records are suspect. (snip/...)

http://www.policyalmanac.org/world/news/UN-hrc-2001.shtml

(You might remember the racket they set up bitching about the countries which were allowed on the HRC whom they look down upon.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(snip) UNITED NATIONS, April 29, 2002

(AP / CBS)


"Human rights is a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy. We have spoken, and we continue to speak on the issue, whether we are on the commission or not."
U.S. Ambassador Sichan Siv



(AP) The United States on Monday regained the seat it lost last year on the U.N. Human Rights Commission.

The 54-member U.N. Economic and Social Council approved an uncontested slate of candidates from Western nations that included the United States.

The United States suffered a humiliating defeat last May when it lost the seat it had held since the commission was established in 1947. The ouster exacerbated U.S.-U.N. relations, caused an outcry in Washington, and led to intensive behind-the-scenes lobbying by the Bush administration to get back on the Geneva-based panel.

In March, Italy and Spain pulled out of the running for seats on the commission. That cleared the way for the United States to announce its candidacy for a seat on the top U.N. human rights body as part of an uncontested slate.

The U.S. return to the commission was then virtually assured.

"We are very pleased that we are back on the Commission on Human Rights," U.S. Ambassador Sichan Siv said immediately after the results were announced. (snip/...)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/04/29/world/main507508.shtml

[lebkuchen]

74. Good info

Thanks for going to the trouble. The LA Times says De Mello and the US govt. saw eye to eye on many issues. Do you think he's one person * is actually going to miss? Perhaps this tragedy has permanently removed the word "confident" from *'s vocabulary?

[mjb4]

22. just appointed on Aug 13th

this might be a US hit...you never know with bushco...

[Judi Lynn]

23. Very tiny article, yet odd.......

(snip) 19/08/2003 18:29:29

US envoy dies after bomb blast

The United Nations' special envoy to Iraq, Brazilian Sergio Vieira de Mello, has died after today's horrific bomb blast.

The blast was centred close to Mr de Mello's office. (snip/...)

http://www.irishnews.com/access/breakingnews/story.asp?j=77878860&p=77879566&n=77879620&x=

Close to his office?

[Fridays Child]

24. CNN is also reporting this. And they interviewed a man who was in the...

...building. They asked him if he thought it was a car bomb out front. He said no, the blast came from the back of the hotel (paraphrased).

[TeeYiYi]

28. I wonder how quickly they'll demolish the building now . . .

. . . to get rid of that pesky hole in the back. Betcha it happens ASAP. Look how fast they moved with the house Uday and Qusay were in.

TYY

[Fridays Child]

32. And this...

In his last interview published before his death, Vieira de Mello sympathized with Iraqi resentment at having foreign troops on their soil.

"It is traumatic. It must be one of the most humiliating periods in their history. Who would like to see their country occupied? I would not like to see foreign tanks in Copacabana," he told the Brazilian newspaper Estado de Sao Paulo in an interview published Monday.

Throughout his tenure in Baghdad, he took pains to remind everybody that the United Nations would be in the country long after U.S. forces leave and insisted that the world body — not the U.S.-led coalition — should control the spending of Iraqi oil revenues.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-08-19-sergio-profile_x.htm

[lebkuchen]

35. Then Bremmer comes in and says, "The bomb was right under his window"

What's that supposed to mean? It kinda a sorta sounds like a warning to Sergio Vieira de Mello's replacement. De Mello was scheduled to leave his post soon.

It's all very strange.

If I were de Mello's wife, I wouldn't appreciate Bremmer's premature quarterbacking as to the method, venue, or reason behind the bombing.

[Fridays Child]

37. Is it a coincidence that a UN official who so publicly challenged...

...the coalition's right to exclusive control of the Development Fund for Iraq is now dead?

See this thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=72642

And here's the text of the executive order:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/05/20030522-15.html

[Minstrel Boy]

45. not bloody likely a coincidence

The truck turned to the rear of the building and blew up beneath his office. It was a hit.

Here's a bit of recent news from the Philippines that's flown under the radar in North America, that deserves some attention, I think, as background:

Last month, a group of junior army officers staged a mutiny in the Philippines. Their accusation: that senior military officials and the Arroyo government were conspiring with the United States in something called “Operation Greenbase”, which involves staging recent bombings on the island of Mindanao in order to justify the imposition of martial law and an increased US presence in the country. One of the mutineers said “We mean no harm. They are putting a death warrant on us. They want to suppress what we know.” The rebels are currently standing trial.

Adding to the mystery is the story of Michael Meiring. Meiring, a shadowy, well-connected figure and alleged to be a CIA operative, nearly died last year when high tech explosives accidentally detonated in his hotel room in Davao City, Mindanao. He claimed, while screaming in pain, that a grenade had been lobbed through his window, but the evidence pointed to the explosion having originated in a metal box in his possession.

Despite arrest warrants and hold departure orders and the affront to Phillipine sovereignty, the FBI swooped in and whisked Meiring out of hospital and back to the safety of the United States. Why ever would they do that?

More on Meiring:
http://www.mindanews.com/2003/05/30nws-meiring01.html

More on the mutiny, by Naomi Klein:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030901&s=klein

As for the Baghdad bombing, a tinfoil hat isn't necessary to believe Washington complicity. Anyone who thinks assassination and proxy terrorism is beneath the Bush Administration, and that it plays clean in dirty wars of its own making, is unpardonably gullible.

[Fridays Child]

48. The Klein article was posted over in the FA forum but it sank fast.

Why don't you repost it in GD?

And thanks for the insight.

[Fridays Child]

39. In an interview with the website Electronic Iraq, [Vieira de Mello]...

...explained the UN's role as "to help convey a clear message to the coalition, their aspiration that the council would assume strong executive prerogative; and number two, that the United Nations would play a central role in the political and in the constitutional transition."

With members of Iraq's new governing council ultimately selected by and answerable to the coalition, the UN's aims were desperately hampered. Today they have been crushed into dust.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1021870,00.html

[ElsewheresDaughter]

57. TeeYiYi bulldozers are there now carting away the eviedence,,ahem rubble

5pm ET

[TeeYiYi]

73. They didn't waste any time did they? . . . Thanks ElsewheresDaughter. n/t

TYY :hi:

[TAH6988]

77. You don't suppose

they might be clearing some of the rubble away looking for surviors, do you? Nah, of course not.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

25. i heard it was right under his office window...but....

isn't his office windows in the rear of the building?....i heard that the truck pulled up to the the main entrance of the Canal Hotel....hmmm? can some shed some light on this contridiction?

[Judi Lynn]

30. CBS says a truck bombing

If you look at this picture, it sure looks like the BACK of a building. Not too scenic!



(snip) Blast Kills U.N. Iraq Chief

Aug. 19, 2003

(CBS/AP) A truck bombing at the hotel that serves as United Nations headquarters in Baghdad on Tuesday killed at least 20 people, including the head of the U.N. mission to Iraq. More than 100 people were wounded.

The bomb exploded just below Sergio Vieira de Mello's office. He was trapped inside the blast wreckage before he died. He was a few days away from ending his four-month tenure in Iraq. (snip/...)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/24/iraq/main541815.shtml

[Judi Lynn]

27. Looks as if someone has admitted it: De Mello was the target. (?)

(snip) Bomb kills 14 at U.N. Baghdad HQ 18:23, Aug 19 2003

By Michael Georgy and Luke Baker

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A massive truck bomb has devastated the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, killing at least 14 people and wounding scores, U.N. officials say.

It may have been a suicide attack, a top U.S. official said.

Among many badly hurt and still trapped under the rubble when darkness fell hours later was Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special representative to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

A U.N. official said his wrecked office appeared to have been the target of the unidentified bombers.
(snip/...)

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/24by7panews/page.cfm?objectid=13311226&method=full&siteid=50143

[flamingyouth]

29. A horrible tragedy

In a never-ceasing cavalcade of tragedies over there.

[Nashyra]

31. I wonder if the congressional delegation

from the US were scheduled to meet with him at sometime today. This is a direct result of * misguided and crimminal administration. This resident should be tried as a war crimminal.

[stickdog]

68. I wonder when

y'all will get tired of spreading this obvious disinfo.

[Junkdrawer]

34. Here's a must read link....

About 3 hours befor the bombing...

UN claims broad role in Iraq, chides U.S. on safety
( 2003-07-19 10:24)

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan spelled out on Friday a broad and ambitious plan for a U.N. role in Iraq and prodded Britain and the United States to quickly establish order and let Iraqis control their future.

...

But he said Iraqis were lining up to tell the U.N. special representative in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, that quickly creating an interim government was their "central concern."

Vieira de Mello, who is also the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, had informed the military government that Iraqis must quickly be given tangible power, Annan said. "There is a pressing need to set out a clear and specific sequence of events leading to the end of military occupation."

More...

UN claims broad role in Iraq, chides US on safety

[Nancy Waterman]

41. Bush has created the perfect place for al Qaeda in Iraq

to push their terror war againt the US and the West. They don't really want the US out so much as to continue and aggrevate the festering anger that is already there with the occupation. If the UN really were to get into the picture and the US role were to decrease, there would no longer be such an ideal theater for al Qaeda. They have every reason to create all kinds of chaos. Already the UN has made the statement that the US was in charge of security. So this horrific event makes the US look bad, adds to the chaos, and decreases any orderly progress. I think it is clearly from al Qaeda.

[Junkdrawer]

43. I don't believe the neocons in the administration wanted...

the UN to press for an expanded role. Funny how neocon and al Qaeda goals keep lining up, eh.

[dansolo]

65. al Qaeda would have attacked a coalition target

I don't believe it for a minute that al Qaeda was responsible.

[stickdog]

69. Yeah. It's as clear as the fact that war is peace & freedom is slavery.

*

[ElsewheresDaughter]

40. Sergio de Mello was the man that could have brought an end to...

Iraq's occupation.....and bush/bremer knew it!!!!
mission accomplished!

[pfitz59]

44. Ratcheting up the stakes.........

Iraqi people obviously want NO foreign imntervention, US, UN or otherwise!

[stickdog]

70. Far more likely: US wants NO international intervention into their

oil grab and PNAC wet dream.

[silverchair]

46. what a

tragedy. this is sad indeed.

[KoKo]

51. I'm one of the "tinfoilhat" DU'ers, but I don't think this is assassinatio

I think they drove the car or truck where they could do it easily. I don't think even the BFEE would stoop this low. I think it was a signal for everyone to get out of Iraq. Remember, the UN did imposed sanctions for years on Iraq. So they aren't always seen by the Iraqi citizens as good guys.

The fallout from this may do more to hurt the US/Britain than the UN. But, that's my wishful thinking. I want world attention to focus on what Bush/Blair have done. The blood on their hands is undeniable. None of this needed to happen and I hope this wakes up people who have power to stop this......to the legacy of PNAC....to us and to the world.

[stickdog]

71. OK, So you think the Iraqis' most successful and coordinated

attack of this whole military campaign was targeted against the UN instead of the hated US?

You really think that they would use their most sophisticated, explosive and deadly strike -- their secret weeapon, if you will -- on the head of the UN who was in Iraq to wrest control of Iraqi's reconstruction and oil industry from the hated Americans.

Damn, I wish I was just that gullible.

[revcarol]

47. It was an assassination...

all those LIHOP things that I never believed are coming back to haunt me.

May God forgive us.

[Barrett808]

50. This is the M.O. of the INA

Iirc, the INA (exiled Iraqi generals) arranged a few car bombings in Iraq in the 90s, to demonstrate they had more pull than the INC. Milan Rai discusses this in War Plan Iraq (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1859845010/qid=1061325083/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-3793218-3417409?v=glance&s=books).

[kskiska]

53. I heard John Gibson on Faux

ask his guest, "Why is this so important (then he added, "aside from the fact that a man lost his life,)? Who is he, and why does this matter?" I couldn't believe my ears.

This was like asking, "Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?"

[wabeewoman]

54. News here in Washington state

is that Maria Cantwell was supposed to be meeting with him but was running late. I don't know if she was the only one or if the entire delegation was going to be there. Seems like they would be a more likely target. I saw Cantwell and a democrat congresswoman from Texas were in the delegation. I googled but couldn't find who else was there. Anyone got a link to names of delegates?
on edit: there is another thread with names at DU http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=72954

[Merlin]

55. That adds a whole new twist to it. n/t

.

[stickdog]

72. Got a link for this urban legend?

Excuse me if I am less than impressed with this obvious spin.

Were we really going to give our own Congressional delegation the wonderful level of impenetrable security we gave the UN?

[stickdog]

75. The REAL story here minus the obvious disinfo.

http://www.komotv.com/stories/26708.htm

Cantwell, D-Wash., had been scheduled to meet Tuesday with the official, Sergio Vieira de Mello. The meeting was to have taken place a few hours before the bomb exploded at about 4:30 p.m. local time, Cantwell said.

The session was scrapped because the plane she and other lawmakers were traveling on was delayed on a flight from Jordan. The meeting was to have been at the military headquarters used by the U.S.-led forces in Iraq, about 5 miles from the U.N. site, Cantwell said.

After landing in Baghdad in mid-afternoon, Cantwell and the envoy tentatively set up a telephone call for about 6 p.m. local time. The call never took place.

At a teleconference Tuesday night from Kuwait, where she and other lawmakers were flown for their own safety, Cantwell speculated that Vieira de Mello might not have been killed if the meeting had taken place as scheduled. "It's hard to say," she said, adding that the envoy may have stayed at the military headquarters long enough to have avoided the attack.

[0007]

56. It appears to be a hit

something like what the mafia would do in the old days in instill fear.

[KoKo]

58. Kick.........for those who don't know yet......It's Important!

:kick:

[FreeperSlayer]

59. Vayo con dios, amigo

eom

[markses]

64. May want to try that in Portugese

He was Brazilian, after all. ;-)

[semass]

66. "Vai com Deus, amigo"

[alaine]

76. Kick.