Ban Ki-moon Okay After Rocket Lands Near Green Zone
UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon had a scare while visiting Iraq today:
A rocket landed near the prime minister’s office Thursday during the first visit to Iraq by the head of the United Nations in nearly a year and a half, sending Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon ducking unharmed behind a podium at a news conference.
The attack came as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government said it had been negotiating with Sunni insurgents for months, and the U.S. military said that it had released a senior aide to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on al-Maliki’s request.
The rocket caused no injuries but rattled the building in the heavily guarded Green Zone, sent small chips of debris floating from the ceiling, and left a one-metre-wide crater about 45 metres away outside.
I saw the video on the news and it did appear Ban was quite rattled. You can tell Maliki has gotten used to rockets attacks because he seemed to be quite composed and tried to continue the news conference before ending it on Ban’s request. It is amazing the strategic consequences one rocket can have. That one rocket attack is now being broadcast around the world, which is great propaganda for the terrorists. That is why they continue to radomly fire rockets hoping they can get lucky and get great propaganda news coverage. Notice none of the stories you will read about this attack will mention anything about the random rocket and mortar attacks that by far kill more civilians than any military target.Â
One of the most ingrained memories I have of television is getting off the bus as an elementary school student and turning on the cartoons only to see footage of Sadat getting killed.
I can't remember if I saw it live or the tape – but when I turned on the TV it was showing the military parade with the reviewing stand.
Then some guys in military uniforms jumped out the back of one and starting running a rather long way toward the stand. I thought it was part of the ceremony, and I guess the others did to, because it looked like nobody reacted, until the guys unslung their machine guns and started mowing people down.
But the image that stuck in my mind was of the aftermath as bodies were laying everywhere and one man was in the middle trying to help people up with one arm, because his other shoulder was spurting blood and hanging there.
I could have some of that wrong, it was a long time ago, and I was a kid, but the images I have of it in memory are clear. It was fascinating…..(I also caught Reagan getting shot the same way…)
What comes to my mind is "apocalypse now" the scene where Kilgore (Duvall) is walking along the beach with bombs going off around him and he doesn't even flinch when everyone else is ducking and covering. That's the Iraqi next to Ban.