At
UN,
Ban's Al Qaeda
in Syria Quote
Was Not
Planned,
Gaffes Covered
Up
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 27 -- Amid
the focus on
and use the
Syria issue of
statements by
the UN and its
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon,
mostly
unreported is
just how
slap-dash and
un-thought out
many of Ban's
statements
are.
Ban's
famous or
infamous May
recent
statement that
"a few days
ago there was
a
huge, serious,
massive
terrorist
attack. I
believe that
there must be
al Qaeda
behind it" was
made in
response to a
student's
question
at a Model UN
event in the
General
Assembly Hall.
But
in the same
session, as
Inner City
Press reported,
Ban also
referred to
the
Syrian city of
Hamas as
"Hamas," a
glitch which
the UN
edited out of
its transcript
of Ban's
remarks
without even
noting it
was brackets.
See Inner City
Press' May
17 story, here.
Subsequent
reporting
by Inner City
Press had
found that
people close
to Ban were
embarrassed by
these and
other Ban's
statements,
and that the
"Al
Qaeda"
reference was
not in any
prepared
speech,
remarks or
talking
points. "He
just said it,"
a source close
to Ban
told Inner
City Press.
And now that
Ban gaffe is
impacting and
delaying
Security
Council
response to,
for example,
the deaths on
Houla.
But
most of the
wire services
covering the
UN do not
report on
Ban's many
glitches.
They seem to
want to take
him seriously,
because it
makes their
jobs
seem more
serious. They
also do not
cover Ban
speeches like
that at
his May 24
"Town Hall"
event with
staff.
Staff
expressed
outrage to
Inner City
Press that,
for example,
Ban's first
answer was
about AIDS to
a question
about the UN
not recognized
the domestic
partnerships
of homosexual
staff members
if their home
countries do
not.
Others
were
offended when
Ban's response
to being
questioned
about his lack of
follow up with
the government
of Afghanistan
to the killing
of UN
Security
Officer Louis
Maxwell by
Afghan
National
forces was
to say
he has asked
"Hollywood" to
make a movie
about Maxwell.
Inner
City Press
reported
on this,
then at the May
25 UN noon
briefing put a
series of
questions to
Ban's lead
spokesman
Martin Nesirky,
about Ban's
answers
on Maxwell
(and
Hollywood),
gay rights
(and AIDS), on
and, perhaps
relatedly,
about media
rights.
Nesirky
responded
on each that
"I am not
going to go
into the
details of
what was
discussed at a
staff meeting"
and "there are
complications,
because of
national
legislation in
some cases.."
Then
Inner City
Press asked
about " a
complaint was
filed with the
Media and
Accreditation…
Media
Accreditation
and Liaison
Unit (MALU)
by"
Louis
Charbonneau,
the UN bureau
chief of
Reuters which
used without
any credit
Inner City
Press' exclusive
story that US
official
Jeffrey
Feltman will
come work by
Ban. (Foreign
Policy's The
Cable did
credit
Inner City
Press, here.)
Nesirky
said of
Charbonneau's
complaint to
MALU that
"correspondence
between
individuals is
between
individuals,
first thing."
Inner
City Press
asked as a
matter of due
press "whether
journalists at
the UN
have a right
to see
whatever files
or complaints
are maintained
about
them."
Nesirky
said, "I
think what we
have here is
something that
I am fully
aware involves
you, and I
think that it
would be
better to be
discussed
offline, not
on camera in
the briefing."
Inner
City
Press followed
up "to know
what the
procedures
are, because
I have very
little
confidence in
the off-camera
due process."
Nesirky
ended
the
questioning
and the
briefing by
saying
"we’ll deal
with it
separately.
Thanks very
much, and have
a good
weekend."
Then he
went just
outside the
Dag
Hammarskjold
Auditorium and
conferred to
Charbonneau,
who used to be
his colleague
at Reuters.
Four hours
later Inner
City Press received
written notice
of May 29
session
seeking to
name a "board
of
examination"
to expel
it.
In
this
case, the
Emperor has no
clothes -- and
those
including in
the
media who
insist that he
does will
apparently do
anything to
keep the
nakedness
under wraps.
Watch this
site.
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