The interview was recorded at Beirut, Lebanon , on March 18, 1998 . The Interviewer was Jean Krasno. Lieutenant-Colonel Aldo Guaccio began his career in 1971 as an army aviation pilot and became the commanding officer of several battalions of tanks and helicopters. In 1995, he was assigned to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). In this role he served as the commanding officer of Italair, the Italian squadron working for UNIFIL. After serving in this capacity for one year, Lieutenant-Colonel Guaccio was appointed as a senior UNIFIL representative in Beirut. In this role he represented UNIFIL in Beirut and served as a liaison officer with all United Nations agencies in Beirut, the Lebanese government and the Lebanese army. Serving as the senior UNIFIL representative in Beirut at the time of this interview, on 18 March 1998, Lieutenant-Colonel Guaccio discussed the operations of UNIFIL. He shared his observations of the Mission's contributions to the Lebanese community, the idea of self-defence and how that related to UNIFIL's peacekeeping, and of UNIFIL's overall success thus far.