Hold Your Breath: A Good Call By The UN

Things are looking up for UNIFIL, the UN's forces in Lebanon, thanks to what Israeli defense officials say is a brilliant appointment. Here's JPost:

The IDF on Sunday praised the United Nations' decision to appoint Italian Gen. Claudio Graziano [right, in Afghanistan] as the new head of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.

Graziano, whose appointment has yet to be officially announced, is scheduled to take up his new post by mid-February, when French Maj.-Gen. Alain Pellegrini steps down after three years in the post.

"He is a serious officer," IDF sources said of Graziano. "He takes his job seriously and we expect to see a continued crackdown on Hizbullah under his command."

Graziano rose through the ranks in Italy's Artillery Corps and commanded NATO's Kabul Multinational Brigade in the past. He has extensive experience in combating insurgency and terrorism, according to the IDF.

The same couldn't be said -- by a longshot -- for the French (natch) former head of UNIFIL. IDF officials said Pellegrini is pro-Hezbollah and had not done enough to prevent Islamists from building their forces and attacking Israel.

When you think of it, the appointment of a terror-fighter to head the UN in Lebanon should not leave an odd, confused feeling. But it does, doesn't it? If the UN's mission is to promote world peace, why hasn't it stood shoulder to shoulder with us to fight the greatest threat to world peace the world has faced since the Axis Powers?

Related Tags: War on terror, Israel, Lebanon, UN, UNIFIL