Desperate
for Guests on
Terror, CNN
Has Omar Jamal
No Mention of
Role at UN
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 28 --
How desperate
is CNN for
guests? What
checking do
they do? On
August 28,
2014, trying
to cover
recruits from
Minnesota in
the US to
Islamic
extremists,
CNN's Don
Lemon at 10 pm
put on Omar
Jamal.
But no mention
was mad that
he was in 2012
the Somali
Mission to the
UN's First
Secretary, media
savvy for
sure. Inner
City Press
knows and even
likes him. But
to say he is
an expert on
ISIS?
Shouldn't CNN
have done the
most cursory
of Googling?
Shouldn't they
have checked
with their
Richard Roth
at the UN?
This shows a
real weakness
at UN.
Back
in April 2012,
Omar
Jamal,
previously of
Minneapolis,
has held press
conferences
two days in a
row now in
the UN
auditorium. In
a sparsely
attended
session on
April 3, Inner
City Press asked
Jamal about
human rights,
the firing of
UN Deputy in
Somalia
Christian
Manahl, and
his
government's
use of
mercenaries. Jamal
said that
drone strikes
against Al
Shabab leaders
are
understandable,
even welcome.
On
April 4 Jamal
appeared
again, this
time with a
larger
audience. In
the interim a
suicide bomber
had killed ten
people in the
refurbished
national
theater, the
day after the
New York Times
reported that
things were
getting better
in Mogadishu.
Most questions
Jamal faced
were about the
attack, of
which he said
he knew
little; he
speculated
that the
bomber may
have had
"inside
information"
that the Times
piece was
coming out and
killed to try
to counteract
it.
Inner
City Press
asked Jamal to
be more
specific about
drones: to
which
governments or
entities has
the
Transitional
Federal
Government
given approval
for drone
strikes, is
the TFG
informed of
targets in
advance?
Jamal's answer
mentioned the
US, UK and
NATO; then he
refused to say
more.
Other
diplomats have
remarked to
Inner City
Press that its
rare for a
"First
Secretary" --
at most, a
Mission's
Number Three
-- to hold
press
conferences,
particularly
two days in a
row.
"Well, Omar
Jamal is media
savvy," said
one diplomat.
"His foreign
minister isn't
here?" asked
another
diplomat. "Why
is he doing
it? Is he
trying to take
over?"
The
Somali mission
has seen this
before, as
Inner City
Press reported
involving
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Idd Bidl
"Mogadishu in
Manhattan"
Mohamed. Some
wonder, do we
now have
"Minneapolis
in Manhattan"?
Watch this
site.
, 
