By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, September 16 -- The UN's belated release of its Syria chemical weapons report was as much amateur spin as Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's moves that preceded it.
Ban called the report "overwhelming" before he saw it; he flashed its first page for publication on UN Photo then had the photo taken down.
On Monday rather than put it directly online as they'd said, the UN handed out hard copies of portions of the report, seeming surprised there was a lot of demand. Finally it went online - after the French Mission to the UN put up a one-page Ghouta for Dummies.
Ban says his team was "unable to... verify the total number of causalities." So the 1,400 figure can keep being used, or ABC's "hundredS of thousands."
The air was taken out of the report by the US cutting a deal with Russia in Geneva. Now there will be calls for referrals to the ICC, which it seems would trigger a veto.
The UN undermined the report not only by Ban jumping the gun, but also by his previous bogus reporting exonerating the UN for bringing cholera to Haiti.
If the UN was willing to mis-represent that, even after the initial reporters walked away from the conclusion, how can this report be given weight?
To the US, Ban and the UN are like the cowbell in a rock band -- accompaniment. And amateurish at that. Watch this site.
