Inner City Press -- Investigative Reporting From the United Nations to Wall Street to the Inner City

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 9 -- Outside the G20 report back meeting in the UN Monday afternoon, Inner City Press asked a range of Ambassadors including Syria's about the idea of the UN of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon becoming a collector of chemical weapons on Syria.

  From the Syrian side the first question was why the US still hasn't destroyed its chemical weapons stockpiles.

  Also from that side was the sense that "Ban will say anything the Americans tell him to. He can change a comma or two, but that's it."

  Others asked how the UN could collect chemical weapons from a war zone, given its failures elsewhere. There was reference to UN Peacekeeping's Herve Ladsous, seen as operating for France, and Robert Mood who has returned to Norway where he tweets about programs for retired servicemembers. "It would be good to get him back involved," one said.

  There was a big picture theory that went like this: the US was wary of getting involved but Saudi and Qatar and Turkey "just kept trying," finally Turkey making the NATO pitch. "Weapons were given but none that could reach Israel." Then chemical weapons - that was the trigger. And here we are. Watch this site.

Footnote: And in the G20 report back, Inner City Press is informed, Syria did not come up at all. "Only economic," several Ambassadors told Inner City Press. And so it goes at the UN.