UN
Retreat
to Syria Hotel
Rooms, 10
Hours After
Exposed by
ICP,
Confirmed
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Follow up on
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
June
16,updated
11:55 am --
Friday night
before 10 pm
New York times
Inner
City Press exclusively
reported that
the UN mission
in Syria had
"moved to a
posture of
presence in
all Team Sites
and in
Damascus
headquarters,
limiting
mobile
activities."
Having
confirmed
the veracity
of the
memo with
Security
Council
diplomats,
Inner City
Press opined
"to some, this
seems like the
beginning of
the
end."
At
that time,
Inner City
Press put
online an
exclusive-must-credit
attachment,
here, Ban
Ki-moon's
"Note on the
Operations of
the United
Nations
Supervision
Mission in
Syria"
submitted to
the Security
Council"on
behalf of the
Department of
Peacekeeping
Operations,"
with its
fourth French
leader in a
row, Herve
Ladsous.
Inner
City Press
tweeted
its exclusive,
and to
be sure
sent
notifications
to the chiefs
of two large
wire services:
Matthew
Winkler of Bloomberg
News, and
at Reuters,
Stephen J.
Adler plus
three. Beyond
previously uncredited
use by
both
organizations
of Inner City
Press
exclusives
about for
example the US State
Department
and the UN,
there is
another,
after-arising
reason: their
UN
correspondents
are trying to
get Inner City
Press kicked
out of the UN,
click
here.
Eight
hours after
publishing the
memo, Inner
City Press wrote
to Kofi
Annan's
spokesman
Ahmad Fawzi,
who since May
23 has not
responded to
any of Inner
City
Press'
questions,
which he used
to
"seeking
your
comment, on
the record,
for a follow
up, also
exclusive
(meaning,
please respond
first to this
InnerCityPress
request on
this, which I
see nowhere
else online or
in Google
News, which
we've
previously
discussed. How
would you
describe what
does this
means,
to the JSE's
mission? What
do the JSE
want to happen
now? How it is
related to
General Mood's
upcoming
in-person
briefing?"
Having
no
response from
Fawzi, Inner
City Press
submitted
essentially
the same
questions
(requesting
the response
of Ban Ki-moon
and his Herve
Ladsous, not
of Kofi Annan)
to five UN
spokespeople.
Still, no
response from
any of them.
Then
Fawzi
replied to
Inner City
Press, thusly:
From:
Ahmad
Fawzi
<fawzi@un.org>
Date: Sat, Jun
16, 2012 at
7:54
AM
Subject: Re:
Hi, Press Q re
Syria Note of
UNSMIS
"limiting
mobile
activities"
for (2d)
exclusive,
thanks
To: "Matthew
Russell Lee
[at]
InnerCityPress.com
You
have
already sent
these
questions to
Martin
Nesirky;
Farhan Haq;
Eduardo Del
Buey; and
Vannina
Maestracci. I
am also aware
that the
UNSMIS
Spokesperson
will issue a
statement
today.
Thanks. AF
Fourteen
minutes
after Fawzi's
belated
response to
Inner City
Press'
questions and
ten-hour old
exclusive, the
following was
sent out to
"undisclosed
recipients"
Statement
attributable
to the Head of
the UN
Supervision
Mission in
Syria,
General Robert
Mood
In
this
high risk
situation,
UNSMIS is
suspending its
activities. UN
observers will
not be
conducting
patrols and
will stay in
their
locations
until further
notice.
Engagement
with the
Parties will
be
restricted.
This
suspension
will be
reviewed on a
daily basis.
Operations
will resume
when we see
the situation
fit for us to
carry out our
mandated
activities.
Sausan
Ghosheh,
Spokesperson
and Chief
Public
Information
Office UNSMIS
Why
did the UN,
General Mood
and DPKO think
they could
turn in such a
notice to all
Security
Council
members and it
would not be
reported for
so long?
Why
didn't Fawzi
simply answer
the questions,
rather than
hide behind
the excuse
Inner City
Press'
understandable
re-submission
of the
questions to
spokespeople
who
have, however
unwillingly,
given the
Press answers
since May 23?
Instead, there
was a belated
(especially
given the time
difference)
rush to make
the contents
of the notice
public to
"undisclosed
recipients"? (Fawzi
for some
reason
re-resent this
out at 11:50
am).
We have noted
that Fawzi
stopped
answering
Inner City
Press
questions, as
did Herve
Ladsous,
simultaneous
with the move
to expel Inner
City Press
initiated by five big
media
(including
Agence France
Presse,
Al-Arabiya and
Voice of
America, using
US tax
dollars) and
thir UN
Correspondents
Association
President,
Giampaolo
Pioli of
Poligrafici
Editoriale who
rented
his apartment
to a senior UN
official
turned Sri
Lanka
Ambassador,
and gave
campaign
contributions
to US
politicians
he ostensibly
objectively
covers, while
theatening to
sue ICP.
The UN
itself has
reneged on
extending
Inner City
Press' accreditation,
now charging
Inner City
Press with "misconduct"
for signing in
as a guest the
Yemeni Nobel
Prize winner
Tawakkol
Karman.
An
influential
Twitter
follower of
Inner City
Press -- one
who has accused
Inner
City Press of
"drinking
Ja'afari juice"
referring to
Syrian
Ambassador to
the UN Bashar
Ja'afari --
tweeted:
I
hate it when
you tweet
endlessly
about how you
broke
something
first
but I'll grant
you this:
You
got Mood's
letter a good
half-day
before the
rest. :-)
Watch
this site.
Update
of 11:50 am
June 16
-- so despite
the 10:48 pm
notice to
Stephen J.
Adler of
Reuters, his
company wrote
after Mood's
statement
without
credit,
re-tweeted by
UN
correspondent
Louis
Charbonneau: http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE85F09C20120616?irpc=932
At
Bloomberg
News, despite
the 10:44 pm
notice of
scoop to
Matthew
Winkler, his
company ran
the story off
Mood's
statement,
too, no
credit.
So
too did Voice
of America: no
credit 9:09 am
tweet by
Margareet
Besheer,
followed by a
VOA "blog," no
credit. US
taxpayer
dollars at
"work."
, 
