Unicef: no war is justified, ever

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Last updated on March 5th, 2018 at 01:40 pm

ABC host Emma Alberici finds common ground with UNICEF peace-at-all-coster Carol Bellamy:

EMMA ALBERICI: The Australian, British and US governments were willing to spend billions of dollars waging a war in Iraq after the death of 3,000 mainly Americans on September 11. A letter to the editor in one of our major newspapers this morning points out that now that 60,000 Asians have been killed, those same countries have only been prepared to spend millions to help.

CAROL BELLAMY: Well, frankly, we at UNICEF think that money spent on war is wasted money in the first place, wherever that war is; that war is not good for children in any forum at all. So those kinds of resources, wherever it is – whether it’s in the Middle East or whether it’s in Columbia or whether it’s in Sri Lanka itself – is money badly spent and ought to be spent on human development, not on war.

Pair of idiots. Meanwhile, Miranda Devine highlights a more entertaining conversation:

Listen to Neill Wright, the new UNHCR regional representative, speaking to Phillip Adams this month on Radio National: “Australia is particularly generous in offering what we call resettlement – that’s an opportunity to start again in a third country.”

Adams replies, sarcastically: “Well, I suppose you could describe it as generosity.”

He just did, Phillip.

Posted by Tim B. on 12/30/2004 at 01:38 PM
    1. …after the death of 3,000 mainly Americans on September 11

      The difference is, they were murdered. With the possibility of many times more people being murdered if no action was taken.

      Posted by Oktober on 2004 12 30 at 02:51 PM • permalink

 

    1. He forgot to throw Tubby a bagel first.

      Posted by Habib on 2004 12 30 at 03:01 PM • permalink

 

    1. Note the casual disregard for the tens of millions of Iraqis and Afghanis who were liberated in the course of “spend[ing] billions of dollars waging a war”. I guess they didn’t deserve to have any money spent on the betterment of their situation.

      Posted by PW on 2004 12 30 at 03:19 PM • permalink

 

    1. That “Columbia” Carol mentions: is that the one in Missouri?

      Posted by m on 2004 12 30 at 03:30 PM • permalink

 

    1. Liberated to death, many of them, PW.

      I just read that an estimated 1% of the population of Iraq has been killed since the commencement of hostilities. Since the Yanks have been studiously avoiding keeping count, it’s hard to know how accurate this is, but at around 250,000 people, it shows we can certainly outdo the odd earthquake when we put our minds to it.

      God alone knows how many of the poor buggers will be dead by the time America withdraws in inevitable defeat.

      (It should be noted that not all of the victims were killed by Americans. They are, nevertheless, quite dead, and would not be had the Americans stayed at home).

      Posted by Hubris on 2004 12 30 at 03:34 PM • permalink

 

    1. “They are, nevertheless, quite dead, and would not be had the Americans stayed at home.”
      So Saddam and his boys would have ended the practices of decades and stopped slaughtering their people? Put the cork back in the bottle, Hubris.

      Posted by slatts on 2004 12 30 at 03:41 PM • permalink

 

    1. Hubris, I can estimate that 12% of Australians think you’re a tosser.  Of course, I have no hard evidence because I haven’t been keeping count…

      I agree with you that innocent people dying because of the war is indeed extremely sad.  But innocent people also died in very big numbers under Saddam Hussein.  Remember him?  Personally, I think a greater good has been done by the removal of a disgusting, murderous tyrant.

      Posted by Elliott on 2004 12 30 at 03:46 PM • permalink

 

    1. “God alone knows how many of the poor buggers will be dead by the time America withdraws in inevitable defeat.”

      It did not have to be this way – Saddam could have walked, like the Shah, with a sense of THAT inevitability. The hubris-filled Islamofascists doing all the killing now could STOP.
      Commentators should realise that giving in to the forces which intend to try and reinstate the former caliphate first, then move on to a greater world stage later
      are not going to get chummy with us whether we trash Iraq or not. Just hope that the USA has the staying power to do the job, dont snipe from the sidelines – you will be determining your own future, and it will not be to your liking.

      Posted by blogstrop on 2004 12 30 at 03:56 PM • permalink

 

    1. Hubris – comes from the Greek hybris – excessive pride or presumption, arrogance, wanton violence

      Posted by Kenneth G on 2004 12 30 at 04:13 PM • permalink

 

    1. “I just read that an estimated 1% of the population of Iraq has been killed since the commencement of hostilities.”

      That’s amazing. Stupid, but amazing.

      The highest count, by an organzation trying to count verifiable deaths, was about 10,000.

      Then there was a “study” that used a small number of deaths in Falluja…and tried to generalize that to Iraq as a whole (ignoring the fact that Falluja has been more violent than just about any other part of the entire nation), coming up with 100,000 dead. (Literally, their error bars returned something between 8,000 and 200,000, so they split the difference and claimed 100,000.)

      Now you say 250,000.

      Do you also believe that Elvis is alive and living in Alice Springs?

      Posted by steveH on 2004 12 30 at 04:30 PM • permalink

 

    1. Of course in Aussiespeak talking “hubris” means talking bullshit

      Posted by Kenneth G on 2004 12 30 at 04:33 PM • permalink

 

    1. But Iraq isn’t about terrorism, it’s all about oil.  No?

      Ah, the shifting sands of lefty-ground.

      Anyway, Emma might want to do her sums and feeble clucking a little later on, not just days after the event. Besides, by her reasoning the European Community should currently have the taps wide open. Where are their billions? Where’s the EC 3rd Disaster Relief Division?

      Where?

      Posted by Crispytoast on 2004 12 30 at 04:50 PM • permalink

 

    1. I just read that an estimated 1% of the population of Iraq has been killed since the commencement of hostilities.

      Presumably the point in time you’re talking about is the rise to power by the Baath party in the 1960s?

      Posted by PW on 2004 12 30 at 04:58 PM • permalink

 

    1. Heck, as a unreconstructed lefty, I disagree with lots of stuff on this blog (I only read it to keep my blood pressure high!).  But even I did a double take when I saw that snippet on the 7:30 report last night.

      Reading this blog can’t be changing the way I think.  Can it?  Can it?

      Heh, heh, heh.

      Posted by deebee on 2004 12 30 at 05:13 PM • permalink

 

    1. Carol Bellamy has just confirmd UN policy on Rwanda/Darfur etc.  They should be sued for damages, they didnt keep the peace.

      Posted by rog on 2004 12 30 at 05:16 PM • permalink

 

    1. The process has commenced, deebee!

      Posted by tim on 2004 12 30 at 05:17 PM • permalink

 

    1. Ahhh, dear Hurbis, do me a favor.  There is a simple little book I want you to read- “the Gulag Archipelago”.  Then I want you to watch a little film- “The Killing Fields”.
      There is somthing worse than war- unchecked tyranny.

      Posted by Mr. Blue on 2004 12 30 at 05:27 PM • permalink

 

    1. We let Phil stay don’t we? That’s going a bridge too far!

      Posted by crash on 2004 12 30 at 06:18 PM • permalink

 

    1. Ah yes, Emma Alberici. She did that story a while back about the Killer Goalposts!

      Posted by TimT on 2004 12 30 at 09:44 PM • permalink

 

    1. Hubris seems to be doing what many left-wing arsehats are doing, either denying the large mass graves Iraq or conveniently forgetting about them. I think Hubris might want to go make such idiotic statements to someone in the Kurdish north.

      Posted by Andrew Ian Dodge on 2004 12 31 at 01:26 AM • permalink

 

    1. Carol Bellamy, UNICEF Bureaucrat said:

      war is not good for children in any forum at all

      Yes, let the little bastards rot in jail where they belong, right Carol?

      Posted by Zoe Brain on 2004 12 31 at 01:27 AM • permalink

 

    1. Hubris:

      I just read that an estimated 1% of the population of Iraq has been killed since the commencement of hostilities.

      Well, I just read that the Moon Landings were a hoax, and that the bombings at Jakarta, Bali and Madrid were actually mini-nukes set by Zionists.Yes, MSM is full of the mass graves being dug every day. Even such Republican Party Organs as the NYT and LA Times are just full of the stories, with loads of pictures. Al Jazeera too.

      Oh wait, that’s mass graves being discovered, not dug.

      Even the Ba’athists (who have stories about the tens of thousands of US soldiers secretly buried by dropping the body bags into lakes) don’t claim casualty figures like that. I mean, you’d have to be terribly, tragically hard-of-thinking to believe something like this with all the evidence against it.

      Hmmm. Interested in buying a Harbour Bridge? In the meantime, I suggest you go visit Joe Vialls for the Real Truth. Or at least, the version you’d be most comfortable believing.

      Don’t forget your tinfoil helmet.

      Posted by Zoe Brain on 2004 12 31 at 01:40 AM • permalink

 

    1. “Then there was a “study” that used a small number of deaths in Falluja…and tried to generalize that to Iraq as a whole”

      Steve, you are quite wrong there, they actually left the figures from Fallujah out of the final calculation. Initially we were told it was because they considered Fallujah so violent that it would contaminate the sample. But it turned out that by using their method of extrapolation, the combined amount of casualties (dead and wounded) would have been more than the entire population of the city!
      So I guess you can understand them leaving it out eh.

      Posted by Michael42 on 2004 12 31 at 01:50 AM • permalink

 

    1. Emma Alberici is a hornbag.

      I know that’s shallow and sexist.

      Posted by Pedro the Ignorant on 2004 12 31 at 01:53 AM • permalink

 

    1. The new UNICEF motto:  “Because babies in a mass grave don’t need our help…</i>

      Posted by richard mcenroe on 2004 12 31 at 03:29 AM • permalink

 

    1. I just read that an estimated 1% of the population of Iraq has been killed since the commencement of hostilities. Since the Yanks have been studiously avoiding keeping count, it’s hard to know how accurate this is, but at around 250,000 people, it shows we can certainly outdo the odd earthquake when we put our minds to it.That you can repeat that number with a straight face more or less tells us all we need to know about you.

      Posted by Aaron – Free Will on 2004 12 31 at 03:31 AM • permalink

 

    1. Wow, it’s gone from 100,000 to 250,000 already? Jeez, do you think that opponents of the war are trying to make their pre-war estimates of 500,000 come true just by sheer repetition?

      Posted by Dave S. on 2004 12 31 at 04:34 AM • permalink

 

    1. I’m not an Aussie, obviously, but couldn’t Mr. Adams help out by sponsoring a refugee family to live with him in his spacious home?  A smallish one, some 8 or 9 people?  Doing his bit, you know.  And when does he publish his donations to worth causes like the tsunami victims?  Also, how much do the officials of UNICEF make, and couldn’t we reduce that by, say, 10% and spend the savings on children in Darfur?  Just wondering.

      Posted by JorgXMcKie on 2004 12 31 at 06:15 AM • permalink

 

    1. Leigh Sales from the ABC continues with her ungenerous definition of “generous”

      Posted by rog on 2004 12 31 at 08:40 AM • permalink

 

    1. Jonah Golberg puts the aid argument into perspective

      Posted by rog on 2004 12 31 at 08:49 AM • permalink

 

    1. Phil has his own RANCH guys- how many homeless could he accommodate?

      Posted by crash on 2004 12 31 at 11:14 AM • permalink

 

    1. In 2003 40% of all international aid was provided by the United States. 60% of all food aid in 2003 came from the United States. The United States is the largest donor to UNICEF, the ICRC and the UNHCR! The United States ironically, is also the biggest donor the U.N. Relief Co-ordinator’s Office, the head of which, Jan Egeland, is the fool who started this whole beat-up!
      The U.N., yet again, is much more of a hindrance than a help.
      The malicious and misleading ABC as late as today, the 31/12/04, was still quoting the U.S.’s initial pledge of 19 millions dollars. They fail to mention however the 3 million Euros initially offered by the E.U.
      If you want to talk about the waste of money used to fight wars, why not mention the billions it took for Pakistan and India to develop nuclear weapons at the expense of feeding and educating their OWN people, and the money used by Iran to develop nuclear weapons while the victims of last year’s Bam earthquake relied on the generosity of their enemy, the United States!
      Don’t expect to hear any of these facts on “everyone’s ABC”, they’re having too much fun with their obscene orgy of American vilification and hatred!

      Posted by Brian on 2004 12 31 at 04:21 PM • permalink

 

  1. Actually considering that Carol Bellamy is a professional care bear, not someone who has actual power or responsibility, I thought her comments were reasonable. Of course the woeld would be a lovely place if only we all gave each other group hugs and agreed to be nice to each other.

    Posted by Pauly on 2004 12 31 at 06:23 PM • permalink