SERGIO VIERIA DE MELLO: 1948-2003
It was a bloody Tuesday yesterday. I'm not sure if yesterday was actually more bloody than a normal day, only that the attacks causing that blood were more high profile. Public perception of a tragedy depends in large part on where it occurs more so than how many people died or how viciously they were murdered. For every two people killed in the 9/11 attacks, five people were slaughtered in Srebenica in 1995. The main difference is that one took place in a remote eastern town in eastern Bosnia and the others in the economic and political capitals of the world's most powerful country.

The first attack took place in Baghdad, except not against American or British troops. A truck bomb destroyed the United Nations' complex in the Iraqi capital killed 16, including the mission chief Sergio Vieria de Mello. Vieria de Mello was a highly respected diplomat from Brazil who'd served as UN Human Rights Commissioner, led another successful UN mission that helped East Timor's transition to independence and had spent much of his career in with the UN High Commission for Refugees.

The blast represents the "worst attack the UN has ever suffered," according to the BBC. It is a blow against the organization, which was involved in such "controversial" tasks as food distribution and rehabilitating sewage pumping stations; the UN also plays no part in the formation of the future Iraqi government, a process which is run by the Americo-British coalition.

Then there was another suicide bombing in Israel, Jerusalem specifically. The Script* was dutifully followed by the Israelis and then the Palestinians. There were the usual Israeli condemnations of the Palestinian Authority. The PA condemnations of the Israeli occupation. Finger-pointing galore. Same old stuff. People keep dying and suffering. The Holy Land has rarely seemed less holy.


*-The Script is a copyrighted phrase of Brian referring to the standard text followed by Israeli and Palestinian leaders whenever and wherever there's a problem; the actual problem is of little relevance to the content of The Script, as the actors merely change a noun here and a date there. There, I finally copyrighted a common everyday phrase. Hopefully, Fox News (sic) hasn't beaten me to the punch.