One month after terrorist attack, UN flag back at full mast in Baghdad

For the first time since the terrorist bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad exactly one month ago, the UN flag was raised to full staff today during a ceremony that paid tribute to the 22 people killed, including the top UN envoy in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

"Putting the flag mast in some ways indicates a return to normality. But we should be honest and admit that the pre-19 August normality is something that we can never return to," Kevin Kennedy, who is presently the officer in charge of UN operations in the country, said presiding over the event at the Canal Hotel.

"Our world has changed and whatever innocence or illusions that we may have harboured about the inviolability of the UN is now cast away forever," he added. "We mourn and will remember, as long as any of us are alive, the memories of those who lost their lives."

Both local and international staff attended the ceremony during which a UN security guard raised the flag just after 4:20 p.m. Baghdad time.