As
US
Gives Jarba's
Syria
Coalition
"Foreign
Mission"
Status,
Murky UN
Echoes
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
May 5 -- With
Ahmad Jarba's
Syria
Coalition
coming to
Washington for
the next nine
days, today
the US
announced it
is
upgrading the
Coalition to
"foreign
mission"
status. But
what does it
mean? Jarba is
sure to say
much about it.
Does
it mean that
at the UN, the
US will now
try to switch
Syria's
credential
from Assad to
Jarba's
Coalition? It
was done
during the
ouster of
Laurent Gbagbo
in Cote
d'Ivoire. But
then, French
troops
were "on the
ground" in
Abidjan,
hunting
Gbabgo. In the
case of Syria,
many say Assad
is regaining
strength.
Jarba's
jaunts
to the UN to
date have
included a faux
UN briefing in
the room the
UN gives to
the board of
the UN
Correspondents
Association,
and another
event
sponsored by
France
after which Laurent
Fabius
rebuffed a
critical
questioner by
saying,
let's find a
real
journalist.
Outgoing
French
ambassador Gerard
Araud
pulled this
same move on
April 15;
this morning,
his slated
replacement
Jacques
Audibert met
with the US
State
Department's
William Burns.
Ryan
Crocker,
now on Voice
of America's
Broadcasting
Board of
Governors
amid pending
legislation to
confirm VOA's
role as US
propaganda,
has
been quoted
about the need
for Alawites
in Syria to be
given
assurance of
their place if
Assad were
ousted. What
kind of
outreach
is Jarba's
Coalition
doing, from
Turkey?
The
Coalition told
the Press on
May 2, "Ahmad
Jarba,
President of
the
Syrian
Opposition
Coalition,
will be making
an official
visit to
Washington,
D.C. from May
7-14. He will
be accompanied
by a
delegation of
senior
officials from
the Coalition.
President
Jarba
and the
delegation
will meet with
White House
and
administration
officials,
members of
Congress, and
foreign policy
experts to
brief
them on the
situation in
Syria and to
discuss the
long term
strategic
partnership
with the
United
States."
We'll
see. Inner
City Press on May 3
reported on
the irony of
envoy Lakhdar
Brahimi
possibly being
replaced by
Tunisia's
Kamel Morjane,
previously a
crony of Ben
Ali. What
would the US
then Jarba
think of
that? Watch
this site.
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