Thursday, September 27, 2007

Kidnapped Israeli Soldier's Wife Asked Wrong Question at UN

The United Nations: A force for peace, sort of.

At least, they can usually control a news conference.

When President Ahmadinejad on Iran was at the UN, earlier this week, the wife of someone who was captured in Iran and then dropped out of sight had an opportunity to ask a question in the august body's headquarters.

She asked the Iranian leader to explain why Iran refused to give any information about her husband: whether he was dead or alive.

Her tone was earnest, but her demeanor was composed.

President Ahmadinejad was literally speechless. With a 'what is this' gesture, he started grinning.

The wife of the missing prisoner was speechless pretty soon after that. Her microphone was cut off, and she was "escorted" out of the UN chamber.

I can understand the United Nation's actions. The Iranian president was clearly at a loss as to how to answer this embarrassing question, and, if I caught the detail correctly, her husband is (or was) an Israeli.

I walked in on a televised reply of this this little incident, and didn't catch details. Something this dramatic usually hits the news somewhere, but so far I found only one probable reference to it.

If reference to "the wife of kidnapped Israel soldier Udi Goldwasser," in an op-ed piece in "Inner City Press," is the embarras President Ahmadinejad suffered.

Apparently the entire question-and-answer session was mishandled: an unusual situation in the UN. For example, earlier that day, the French mission wanted UN officials to keep non-French journalists out of a press conference: except for approved foreigners, of course.

Given how dramatic the situation, if not the woman's demeanor, was, I'm impressed that this seems to be a non-incident that never happened, at least as far as most news outlets are concerned.

Of course, there's a lot going on right now.

You might find other details in the ICP's op-ed piece "Amid US' Nick Burns' Tough Talk on Iran, Ahmadinejad Laughs At UN Press Conference" interesting.

Related posts, on Individuals and the War on Terror.

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