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After
Beirut Bombs,
SNC Urges
Iranian Change
of Heart,
Jarba's
Sponsors Silent
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 21 --
This is the
story of two
statements:
one
made, and one
not made.
After the
bombing of
Iran's embassy
in
Beirut, Ahmad
Jarba's
Turkey-based
"Syrian
Coalition"
today
issued a
statement
that:
"The
Syrian
Coalition
condemns the
twin blasts
near the
Iranian
embassy
south of the
Lebanese
capital
Beirut, which
killed and
injured scores
of civilians
on Tuesday,
November 19th.
On behalf of
the Syrian
people, the
Syrian
Coalition
extends its
condolences to
the people of
Iran and hopes
the government
of Iran
acknowledges
the Syrian
people’s daily
suffering and
reconsiders
its unlimited
support of
the Assad
Regime."
Perhaps,
just
as France was
bold to hold
an event in
September
inside the UN
and declare
Jarba the sole
legitimate
representative
of the Syrian
people, now
Jarba is
eschewing
political
correctness
and hoping in
a
single
sentence that
the bomb
attack will
make Iran
acknowledge
something.
But
what if this
SNC
statement's
logic were
applied to
other attacks,
like Nine
Eleven or the
Westgate Mall
in Kenya?
Then, the
denunciation
would be
near-immediate.
So where are
the statements
from Jarba's
sponsors, in
Paris, Riyadh,
Washington and
elsewhere?
Meanwhile,
the
UN Security
Council never
did
issue a press
statement on
the
killing of
dozens of
civilians in
Libya by
militias. On
November 20
the New York
Times
published an
editorial; but
now the
Security
Council has
gone on a
retreat, sans
Jordan. No
statement.
What
statement does
that make?
This stands in
contrast to
the Security
Council's
near-instant
press
statement when
two French
journalists
were killed in
Mali. What
of dozens of
civilians in
Libya? What of
the
Responsibility
to Protect,
the theory
cited to
justify NATO
air strikes?
But a
journalist has
been killed in
Tripoli: Saleh
Ayyad Hafyana
of the Fassato
News Agency.
Will the UK,
which holds
the pen in the
Council on
Libya, call
for a
meeting?
Apparently
not.
Will
the US, which
drafted the
Council's
statement on
the killing of
two French
journalists in
Mali, draft
one for the
murdered
journalist in
Libya? The Free UN Coalition for Access is asking this
question, for
even-handed
treatment of
journalists.
By contrast,
the UN's
Censorship
Alliance (a/k/a
UN
Correspondents
Association) hosted Jarba
for a faux UN
briefing in
July, and
tried again
since then.
What does
their board,
which did the
inviting,
think of this
new Jarba
linkage? Watch
this site.
* * *
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