By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, November 21 -- This is the story of two statements: one made, and one not made. After the bombing of Iran's embassy in Beirut, Ahmad Jarba's Turkey-based "Syrian Coalition" today issued a statement that:
"The Syrian Coalition condemns the twin blasts near the Iranian embassy south of the Lebanese capital Beirut, which killed and injured scores of civilians on Tuesday, November 19th. On behalf of the Syrian people, the Syrian Coalition extends its condolences to the people of Iran and hopes the government of Iran acknowledges the Syrian people’s daily suffering and reconsiders its unlimited support of the Assad Regime."
Perhaps, just as France was bold to hold an event in September inside the UN and declare Jarba the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people, now Jarba is eschewing political correctness and hoping in a single sentence that the bomb attack will make Iran acknowledge something.
But what if this SNC statement's logic were applied to other attacks, like Nine Eleven or the Westgate Mall in Kenya? Then, the denunciation would be near-immediate. So where are the statements from Jarba's sponsors, in Paris, Riyadh, Washington and elsewhere?
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council never did issue a press statement on the killing of dozens of civilians in Libya by militias. On November 20 the New York Times published an editorial; but now the Security Council has gone on a retreat, sans Jordan. No statement. What statement does that make?
This stands in contrast to the Security Council's near-instant press statement when two French journalists were killed in Mali. What of dozens of civilians in Libya? What of the Responsibility to Protect, the theory cited to justify NATO air strikes?
But a journalist has been killed in Tripoli: Saleh Ayyad Hafyana of the Fassato News Agency. Will the UK, which holds the pen in the Council on Libya, call for a meeting? Apparently not.
Will the US, which drafted the Council's statement on the killing of two French journalists in Mali, draft one for the murdered journalist in Libya? The Free UN Coalition for Access is asking this question, for even-handed treatment of journalists.
By contrast, the UN's Censorship Alliance (a/k/a UN Correspondents Association) hosted Jarba for a faux UN briefing in July, and tried again since then. What does their board, which did the inviting, think of this new Jarba linkage? Watch this site.
