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UN's
Syria Report
Comes Out,
Pre-Spun, Ban
as Cowbell in
Kerry's Band
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 16
-- The UN's
belated
release of its
Syria
chemical
weapons report
was as much
amateur spin
as Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon's
moves that
preceded it.
Ban
called
the report
"overwhelming"
before he saw
it; he
flashed
its first page
for
publication on
UN Photo
then had the
photo
taken down.
On
Monday rather
than put it
directly
online as
they'd said,
the UN
handed
out hard
copies of
portions of
the report,
seeming
surprised
there was a
lot of demand.
Finally it
went online -
after the
French
Mission to the
UN put up a
one-page
Ghouta for
Dummies.
Ban
says
his team was
"unable to...
verify the
total number
of
causalities."
So the 1,400
figure can
keep being
used, or ABC's
"hundredS of
thousands."
The
air was taken
out of the
report by the
US cutting a
deal with
Russia
in Geneva. Now
there will be
calls for
referrals to
the ICC, which
it seems would
trigger a
veto.
The
UN undermined
the report not
only by Ban
jumping the
gun, but also
by
his previous
bogus
reporting
exonerating
the UN for bringing
cholera
to Haiti.
If the UN was
willing to
mis-represent
that, even
after the
initial
reporters
walked away
from the
conclusion,
how can this
report be
given weight?
To
the US, Ban
and the UN are
like the
cowbell in a
rock band --
accompaniment.
And amateurish
at that. Watch
this site.
* * *
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