Oops. Israel Bombs Peacekeepers

Did you know there were U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon?

Who knew?

I would never have known, but during lunch I was reading an editorial in the Wall Street Journal today about how maybe, somehow, the best thing to do is hand Lebanon back over to the Syrians and solemnly demand that president-for-life Bashar al-Assad finally put an end to Hezbollah. At one point in the article the writer mentioned UNFIL. I paused mid-sandwich and noted the irony that the U.N. (a group that some people claim should be sent in now to resolve the situation) is, in fact, already there, and they've been there for quite a while.

Then tonight I saw the news that the IDF, in an act that was apparently entirely deliberate, bombed four of these UNFIL peacekeepers into pink mist, saving them from the indignity their next performance review ... which, to be honest, probably wouldn't involve metrics related to actually keeping peace, knowing the U.N.

Now seriously, the Israelis usually don't do things like that by accident, and I expect they had previously identified this particular U.N. outpost on a map. In all of the handwringing over the tragedy, has anybody bothered to ask why they thought this was necessary?