On
Assad, Kerry
Says "We Have
to Negotiate
in the End" -
But Not
Directly?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
15 -- By the
time CBS's
"Face the
Nation" went
on the air in
New York
City at
10:30 am on the
ides of March,
quotes by US
Secretary of
State John Kerry
and negotiating
with Syria's
Bashar al
Assad had
already gone
around the world.
Still, Face
the Nation
pushed the
Syria segment
into its
second half
hour, and even
then only
showed a
snipped.
Margaret Brennan
asked about
negotiating
with Assad.
Kerry said,
"We have to
negotiate in
the end" -
then it was
cut off.
The State
Department
quickly
tweeted that
"John Kerry
repeated
long-standing
policy that we
need
negotiated
process with regime
at table - did
not say we
would
negotiate
directly with
Assad."
But
as edited and
shown, in
response to a
question if he
negotiate with
Assad, Kerry
said, "We have
to negotiate
in the end."
Here's the transcript,
as put out by
the State
Department:
QUESTION
[Margaret
Brennan]: And
you’d be
willing to
negotiate with
him?
SECRETARY
KERRY: Well,
we have to
negotiate in
the end.
MR. SCHIEFFER:
So there you
hear the
Secretary of
State saying
we may have to
negotiate with
Assad.
The previous
week was full
of selfies
asking, of
Syria,
#WhatDoesIt
Take? Kerry's
statement
could be seen
an answer -
that was
parceled out
and circulated,
partial denied
and spun.
At the UN, two
months after
the Syrian
government
sponsored a
photo
exhibition
that the
opposition
Syrian
National
Coalition
unsuccessfully
asked the UN
to cancel, on
March 10 a
counter-exhibition
of photos
depicting
torture in
Syrian prisons
had its
opening.
US Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Michele Sison,
previously US
Ambassador to
Sri Lanka, moderated
the
proceedings,
noting that US
Ambassador at
Large for War
Crimes Charles
Rapp had come
up from
Washington.
One
wondered what
the two of
them, and
other of the
sponsors,
thought of the
UN
giving an at
least six
month deferral
to Sri Lanka
for war crimes
in 2009.
Turkey's
Ambassador
called the
Syrian
National
Coalition the
real
representatives
of the Syrian
people; the SNC's
Najib Ghadbian
said that
Assad forces
killed some
32,000 in
2014, 75%
civilians,
while ISIS or
Da'esh in 2014
in Syria
killed some
3000, 85% of
whom were
military, he
said.
Did US
Ambassador
Sison wince at
the statement?
It seemed that
way. By the
time the
microphone
portion of the
event was
over, no one
had disagreed.
Rapp took up a
position for
the camera of
Saudi
television;
others
wondered at
the
distinction
between
co-hosts and
co-sponsors.
Inner City
Press learned
that the
organizers
wanted the
exhibit in a
"better"
location
further down
the hall but
were given the
same spot the
Syrian
government
got. The idea
of a Warning
was theirs.
On the evening
before the
opening, Inner
City Press
visited the
site to find
a Warning: The
Following
Images Are
Disturbing.
Another sign
said "The
content of
this
exhibition is
solely the
responsibility
of the
sponsoring and
supporting
member states,
any queries
should be
directed to
them."
An invitation
to the Press
said that "The
Permanent
Missions of
France, Qatar,
Saudi Arabia,
Turkey, the
United Kingdom
and the United
States and the
co-sponsors
the Permanent
Missions of
Belgium,
Denmark,
Germany,
Kuwait,
Lithuania,
Luxembourg,
Norway, Sweden
and the United
Arab Emirates
cordially
invite you to
attend the
opening of the
exhibit
“Caesar
Photos: Inside
Syrian
Authorities’
Prisons” on
Tuesday, 10
March 2015,
6-7pm, at the
South Wall of
the United
Nations
Conference
Building."
A
separate
invitation
came from the
Syrian
National
Coalition,
which had
tried to get
the previous
exhibition
canceled:
Co-Hosts:
Permanent
Missions of
France, the
State of
Qatar, the
Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia,
Turkey, the
United
Kingdom, the
United States
Co-Sponsored
by: Co-Hosts
and the
Permanent
Missions of
the Belgium,
Denmark,
Germany,
Italy, the
State of
Kuwait,
Lithuania,
Luxembourg,
Norway,
Sweden, United
Arab Emirates
In
Coordination
with:
Coalition for
a Democratic
Syria (CDS)
and Syrian
National
Coalition
“Caesar
Photos: Inside
Syrian
Authorities’
Prisons"
exhibit
displays
photos of
detainees from
the prisons
run by Syrian
authorities
that were
taken by a
defector from
the Syrian
army who is
known by the
pseudonym
Caesar.
Back on
January 7, a
day when
officials
around the
world and at
the UN after
the attack on
Charlie Hebdo
in Paris spoke
about the
right to
freedom of
expression and
to display
unpopular
views, the UN
received a
protest to a
photo exhibit
about Syria
set to begin
the next day,
January 8.
The
Syrian
National
Coalition --
the moderate
opposition, in
Washingtonese
-- wrote to UN
Management
official Yukio
Takasu:
"It
has come to my
attention that
on 8 – 16
January 2015
the United
Nations
Secretariat
Building will
host an
exhibit for
the Syrian
Arab Republic
Mission
featuring the
photographs of
Syrian regime
propagandist
Hagop
Vanesian, in
an event
entitled 'My
Homeland.' The
UN cannot in
good
conscience
host an
exhibit that
callously
promotes a
regime that is
responsible
for immense
death and
unprecedented
destruction.
By doing so,
the UN
condones the
atrocities
committed by
Syrian forces,
and serves as
a mouthpiece
for Assad’s
heinous war
crimes."
As set forth
below, UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon in a
contradictory
way, in a
private event
in the
clubhouse of a
group that has
itself engaged
in censorship,
spoke on
January 7
about the need
for freedom of
expression.
(Whether he's
raised this in
his native
South Korea,
where a
newspaper
editor faces
criminal
charges for
insulting the
president, is
not known; the
issue was not
included in
Ban's long
read-out of
his New Years
call to South
Korean
president
Park.)
Perhaps Ban's
Secretariat
won't act on
the SNC
complaint,
which we're
linking to here, because it
came one day
before the
exhibition.
Will its
response be
about "freedom
of
expression"?
There are
certainly
distinctions
to be made
between
Charlie Hebdo,
the Syrian
government and
this
photographer,
and we're open
to hearing
all. But what
does freedom
of expression
mean?
, 
