(Reuters) ---- Syria's UN Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari has been appearing in public today
to defend his government against what he says are false allegations
from the Obama administration about the Syrian authorities having
attacked civilians with chemical weapons on Aug. 21. You may have seen
him interviewed by CNN's Christiane Amanpour earlier today. Afterwords
he spoke to reporters at the United Nations. At the U.N., he repeatedly
denied that Assad's government has used chemical weapons.
Speaking to a U.N. press gaggle, Ja'afari had sharp words for the U.S. administration after a closed-door meeting between U.N. disarmament chief Angela Kane and the 37 U.N. member states that asked Ban to investigate the Aug. 21 poison gas attack. Here's some of what he said (essentially verbatim with a few parenthetical additions and deletions to make it all clearer):
"Who appointed the American administration to anticipate ... the outcome and the final findings of the (U.N.) mission of investigation? How could the United States of America act unilaterally speaking from outside the context of the United Nations? Who asked Mr. Obama to be the bully of the world? Why not waiting until the investigative team, headed by Dr. (Ake) Sellstrom, has finalized and completed its mission?" (NOTE: Kerry said last week that the U.N. chemical investigators can't tell the U.S. anything it doesn't already know.)
Ja'afari also raised media reports suggesting rebels launched the Aug. 21 chemical attack with the aid of Saudi Arabia. He urged the media to be objective and unbiased and not to allow itself to become a "new type of weapon of mass destruction."
Ja'afari said any U.S attack "will kill innocent civilians the way they did it in Iraq in 1991 when they shelled the al-Amariyah civilian shelter and killed 500 kids and women."
Ja'afari said more on the topic of the impact of any U.S. strikes on Syria: "President Obama speaks about not changing the regime. He said that it will not be Afghanistan. It will not be Iraq. Who guarantees the day after? Who guarantees what will happen the day after? And what does it mean sending a couple hundred cruise missiles and Tomahawk (missiles) over the heads of the Syrian people? Would Obama save or revenge the fate of dozens of Syrian kids by killing thousand of them? It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense, neither politically nor militarily."
Speaking to a U.N. press gaggle, Ja'afari had sharp words for the U.S. administration after a closed-door meeting between U.N. disarmament chief Angela Kane and the 37 U.N. member states that asked Ban to investigate the Aug. 21 poison gas attack. Here's some of what he said (essentially verbatim with a few parenthetical additions and deletions to make it all clearer):
"Who appointed the American administration to anticipate ... the outcome and the final findings of the (U.N.) mission of investigation? How could the United States of America act unilaterally speaking from outside the context of the United Nations? Who asked Mr. Obama to be the bully of the world? Why not waiting until the investigative team, headed by Dr. (Ake) Sellstrom, has finalized and completed its mission?" (NOTE: Kerry said last week that the U.N. chemical investigators can't tell the U.S. anything it doesn't already know.)
Ja'afari also raised media reports suggesting rebels launched the Aug. 21 chemical attack with the aid of Saudi Arabia. He urged the media to be objective and unbiased and not to allow itself to become a "new type of weapon of mass destruction."
Ja'afari said any U.S attack "will kill innocent civilians the way they did it in Iraq in 1991 when they shelled the al-Amariyah civilian shelter and killed 500 kids and women."
Ja'afari said more on the topic of the impact of any U.S. strikes on Syria: "President Obama speaks about not changing the regime. He said that it will not be Afghanistan. It will not be Iraq. Who guarantees the day after? Who guarantees what will happen the day after? And what does it mean sending a couple hundred cruise missiles and Tomahawk (missiles) over the heads of the Syrian people? Would Obama save or revenge the fate of dozens of Syrian kids by killing thousand of them? It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense, neither politically nor militarily."
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