By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 24 --
With the beheading
of US
journalists
James Foley
as the
trigger, talk
was turned to
a wider
campaign
against ISIL,
not only in Iraq
but now in
Syria.
Opportunistically,
the Syrian Coalition
from Turkey is
saying "James
Foley was
Victim of the
Failure to
Empower Syrian
Rebels" (see
below).
Meanwhile on
CNN's Sunday
morning talk
show State of
the Union,
host Candy
Crowley
badgered UK
Ambassador to
the UN Peter
Westmacott, when
will the UK
use its
planes? When
will they arm
the "Free
Syrian Army"
as Francois
Hollande has
bragged France
has already
done?
Westmacott
said that Iraq
and the KRG
haven't yet asked
the UK for
airstrikes; he
said the UK
will NOT
provide lethal
aid to the
FSA, in light
of ISIL's
recapture of
others'
weapons.
Did France not
consider this?
And doesn't
Hollande
bragging about
providing
weapons to
rebels in
Syria undercut
his legal argument
about arms
going into
Ukraine?
Here
is what the
Syrian
Coalition put
out:
"Mohammed
Qaddah, vice
president of
the Syrian
Coalition,
said that the
terrorist
attack on the
United States
did not begin
with the
murder of
journalist
James Foley,
as was stated
by deputy
national
security
advisor to the
White House
Ben Rhodes.
“Rather, the
terrorist
attack against
not only the
United States
but against
all humanity
began with the
Assad regime’s
murder of the
Syrian people
amid an
unprecedented
silence by the
international
community. The
United States
bears much of
the
responsibility
for this
horrible crime
when it did
not react to
the Assad
regime’s
repeated
crossing of
the red lines
it had drawn
and warned
against
crossing."
How will Obama
react?
Footnote:
Agence France
Presse, purporting
an
info-graphic
of journalists
killed last
year, listed
four as killed
"in Gaza."
Since all
other listed
jurisdiction
are full UN
member states,
some surmised
AFP's
nomenclature
let off the
hook the
killer of
those
journalists.
Despite
calling it
social media,
days later AFP
has not
responded.
, 
