On US
Raid in Libya,
ICP Asks UN,
It Says Up to
US,
"Sensitivity
of State"
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 7 --
After a
weekend in
which the US
conducted
raids
in Somalia and
Libya,
including what
Libya's
Prime
Minister Ali
Zeidan has
called the
"kidnapping"
of Anas
al-Liby, Inner
City Press on
Monday at noon
asked UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
to comment on
the
raids,
including
under
international
law. Video
here from
Minute 13:43.
But
Nesirky said
the UN had no
comment, "at
this point, I
don't have any
independent
information on
that."
It's
one thing for
the US, as it
did at the
State
Department's
briefing an
hour later, to
deny it
violated
international
law. But,
Inner City
Press asked
(including via
Twitter, here
and then here),
how could the
UN have no
comment?
Especially
but not only
because the US
has
peacekeeping
missions in
both
countries.
Would the UN have
no comment if,
for example,
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo were
raided in this
way? It seems
very doubtful.
Then
this came in:
Subject:
Your
question on
the incidents
in Libya and
Somalia
From: UN
Spokesperson -
Do Not Reply
[at] un.org
Date: Mon, Oct
7, 2013 at
2:09 PM
To:
Matthew.Lee[at]
innercitypress.com
In
response to
your question
at the noon
briefing, the
Spokesperson
has
the following
to say:
We
have seen the
news reports
about US
counterterrorism
actions over
the
weekend in
both Libya and
Somalia. We do
not have
direct
information
about them.
Where
the respective
governments
may be seeking
clarification,
it is for
the US
authorities to
provide this,
given the
sensitivity of
such
matters for
any sovereign
state.
When
the UN cites
the
"sensitivity
of such
matters for
any sovereign
state" do they
mean the US'
sensitivity,
as raider? Or
that of
Libya? Because
Libya's prime
minister is
calling it a
kidnapping.
In
other cases of
cross-border
moves, the UN
does not wait
for the
permission of
the state
moved on in
order to
comment. Nor
does the UN
say it won't
comment due to
sensitivities.
In Somalia,
now apparently covered
up by the UN
and its
scribes, the
UN was viewed
as having
taken sides
when David Bax
of its UN Mine
Action Service
took a role in
passing
genetic and
biometric information
to US agencies.
As the whitewashing,
ever more
detailed,
continues we
have pending
questions in
on this. Watch
this site.
, 
