Whose Troops?
| 07:05 UK time, Wednesday, 16 August 2006
Where are the troops coming from to back the Lebanese Army in southern Lebanon?
We were invited to interview the Brazilian foreign minister, Celso Amorim, early this morning.
We were given the impression by his press officer that Brazil, with nine million citizens of Lebanese origin, intended to make a big commitment to helping Lebanon now.
But one commitment was missing.
I asked Minister Amorim if Brazil would make a troop commitment to the international force.
It wasn't meant to be a trick question - we had assumed some kind of announcement was why the interview had been offered.
But instead he said: "Oh, we have not made any troop commitment. Brazil, of course, is very interested and concerned with the situation in Lebanon and the Middle East more generally.
"But we are not considering at this stage any troop commitment."
I wouldn't presume to offer any opinion on the deployment of Brazil's armed forces. They are contributing to UN missions in Haiti and East Timor.
Brazil is making efforts to assist with relief work in Lebanon.
Forty-five countries attended initial technical meetings for potential troop contributors. The U.N. says it is hoping that there will be announcements of troop commitments at a meeting on Thursday this week.
But it looks like the extra deployment could still take months.
Comments
The so-called free world of today displays a rather disconcerting propensity for cowardice.
For example, just ponder the numerous rounds of G8 talks on assistance for the plight of poverty in the Third World that have come to little more than hot air and pretentious posturing.
Now, when the most recent tragedy of tyrannical terror and destruction barely have come to a tenuous end in Lebanon, yet again the free world for all its huff and puff over the matter, seems incapable of commitment.
The price of peace is inevitably a willingness to sacrifice. It takes courage and selflessness. Bringing peace and justice instead of destruction and hatred will require a willingness to stand in the line of fire, to pay the ultimate price.
The UN can pack it bags and set sail for sunset unless the members set foot on a new path towards peace.