Araud
Says Ban Told
France Last
Night Syria
Report Monday-
&
Finger Assad?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 12
-- After
French foreign
minister
Laurent Fabius
said earlier
today that the
UN report on
chemical
weapons in
Syria
will be
released on
Monday, and
will implicate
Bashar al
Assad, the
question
arose: how did
he know?
Outside
the
UN Security
Council at 10
am on
Thursday,
Inner City
Press asked
French
Ambassador
Gerard Araud,
how did
minister
Fabius know?
Araud
replied, we
were told last
night.
Inner
City Press
followed up,
If you don't
mind, by whom?
Araud
paused. By the
Secretary
General, he
said.
While
appreciative
of any answer,
it raised more
questions. Did
Ban Ki-moon
tell only the
French or "P3"
including the
US and UK? Who
in turn
transferred
the
information or
spin to their
favorite
pass-throughs?
More
troublingly,
did Ban
actually tell
France and
others that
the report
will allow the
assignment of
responsibility,
specifically
to Assad?
Because that's
what the
leakees, and
then Fabius,
said.
The
UN Secretariat
should
immediately
clarify this.
At its noon
briefing
on Thursday,
it appears the
whole space
will be taken
up the Herve
Ladsous, the
former French
diplomat who
now heads UN
Peacekeeping.
Watch this
site.
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