Kerry
Says Syria Use
of Chemicals
UNdeniable -
So Why's UN
Team There?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 26 --
US Secretary
of State John
Kerry declared
Monday
afternoon that
Syria's use of
chemical
weapons is
"undeniable."
State Department
text here.
One wonders
then, what the
UN inspectors
are
doing there.
Kerry quoted
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon that
the
UN team will
only make
findings
whether
chemical
weapons were
used,
not by whom.
Kerry says the
use is already
clear. So,
again, what are
the UN
inspectors
doing there?
Inner
City Press
asked Ban's
associate
spokesperson
Farhan Haq if
Ban would
ask to be
notified
before any US
cruise
missile, since
there are UN
staff in the
country. Haq
called it
speculative --
but is it?
After
Kerry's
statement
Monday?
Haq
said the UN
will not
engage in
speculative
comment. But
it's not
speculative.
UK foreign
minister William
Hague, for
example, that
morning said
on the radio
that military
action on
Syria without
UN Security
Council
approval
"would be
legal, I would
argue."
Hague did not
specify under
what legal
theory:
self-defense
under UN
Charter
Article 51?
Retaliation or
retribution?
Haq
said the UN is
still trying
to put
together the
Geneva Two
talks. But
that no longer
seems to be
the US'
interest.
Inner City
Press'
question of
whether Ban
would at least
seek
notification
before a
missile
strike, since
there are UN
staff members
inside Syria,
went
unanswered.
On a
second round,
Inner City
Press asked
Haq whether Ake
Sellstrom has
any mandate to
say WHO used
chemical
weapons,
and how his
findings will
be conveyed.
Haq first
confirmed that
"responsibility"
is
not in
Sellstrom's
mandate.
But
then, after a
pause, Haq
added
something, an
If-Asked,
about the team
constructing
"an evidenced
based
narrative."
Every story
has a plot.
Watch this
video of the
Q&A.
Watch this
site.
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