Turks
Broke UN
Officer's Ribs
But UN Guards
Suspended,
"Sold
Out" by Ban
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 26,
updated -- The
fight on
September 23
between UN
Security and
the Turkish
delegation, on
which Inner
City Press
exclusively
reported that
afternoon
including the
hospitalization
of
a UN Security
officer with
broken ribs,
has now
resulted in
the
suspension of
nine UN
Security
officers.
They
feel they
were not to
blame, that
too many ID
passes were
given to the
Turkish
delegation,
and that
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon did
not back them
up.
Ban
met with the
Turks, and
with UN
Security at
7:15 am on
Saturday. Nine
officers
were
suspended, and
all were told
not to talk
with the
press. Some
analogize it
to the UN's
cover up of
the killing of
UN Security
officer Louis
Maxwell in
Afghanistan by
Afghan
National
Forces,
for
which no one
has ever been
held
accountable.
"We're
just
pawns to Ban
Ki-moon," one
officer
complained to
Inner City
Press. "He
sells us out.
Ban will do
anything to
avoid a
confrontation
with the
Turks, even
after they
broke
[officer] Matt
Sullivan's
ribs, and beat
up that
Jamaican
officer."
Greg Starr and
Ban Ki-moon,
Nambiar and
dust-up not
shown
On
September 23
alongside
publishing its
exclusive
story, Inner
City Press
asked
Ban's Office
of the
Spokesperson
for a comment
and was told
that a
"line" was
forthcoming.
More than
sixty hours
later nothing
has been said,
although the
Ban
Administration
through
channels
indicates a
statement is
forthcoming.
Watch this
site.
Update
of 10:27 am --
outside the
Security
Council
(further
outside than
usual as the
press is
banned from
the regular
stakeout) a
Permanent Five
member
diplomat told
Inner City
Press that the
incident,
learned about
from Inner
City Press'
Friday report,
was causing
ripples: "We
need to beef
up the
capabilities
of UN
Security." Or
of the S-G?
As several
Security
officers
complained to
Inner City
Press, they
are now not
allowed to use
or even carry
their
non-lethal
security
equipment.
"We've been
defanged by
Ban," one
said. Echoes
of Southern
Kordofan, even
of Rwanda,
another said.
This not be
seriousness
but structure:
UN Secretariat
leaving
peacekeepers
or security
officers
immobile due
to politics.
* * *
Dust-Up
of
UN Security
With Turkish
Delegation
Leads to
Hospitalization
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
September 23,
updated
-- While
Mahmoud Abbas
and Benyamin
Netanyahu
traded
speeches about
Palestinian
statehood on
Friday, a
diplomatic
incident
occurred on
the fourth
floor of the
General
Assembly Hall.
Sources
tell
Inner City
Press that the
Turkish
delegation
literally had
a run-in with
security in
the UN, in
which the
Turkish prime
minister
Erdogan was
touched. Then,
a male
security
official was
injured and
taken to the
hospital, another
officer also
assaulted and
injured. Several
sources spoke
of a door
broken in the
UN earlier in
the week,
attributing it
to Turkey.
Inner
City Press
observed
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
chief of staff
Vijay Nambiar
break in to a
rare run,
accompanied by
UN Safety and
Security chief
Gregory Starr,
out of the
North Lawn
building and
on to First
Avenue in the
rain, crossing
it toward
Turkey's
Mission to the
UN.
Later
a senior UN
official told
Inner City
Press bitterly
that "Turkey
is throwing
its weight
around,"
linking the
incident to
Turkey's
anger,
including at
the UN, about
the Palmer
(and Uribe)
report about
the Gaza
flotilla
incident in
which eight
Turkish
citizens were
killed.
The source
asked, "A new
muscular
foreign policy
-- even inside
the UN
building?"
By
the same
token, why lay
hands even
inadvertently
on a country's
prime
minister?
After multiple
Inner City
Press sources
told it about
the incident
early Friday
afternoon,
Inner City
Press
asked
the Office of
the
Spokesperson
for the
Secretary
General for
its version
and was told
they were
waiting for
their "line"
on it.
Update:
Inner City
Press, having
Friday
afternoon
published far
and away the
first story
about the
incident, was
told that it
would be given
the UN "line"
as soon as it
was available
- but even
sixty hours
later has
received
nothing from
the UN
spokespeople
or senior
spinning
officials.
Watch this
site.
, 
