Professor Ake Sellstrom, (click here) the man leading a team of UN inspectors in Syria, is not the first Swede to be given the job of investigating the use chemical weapons in the Middle East.
Following in the footsteps of Hans Blix – who searched for
Saddam Hussein’s ultimately non-existent weapons of mass destruction in
2003 – Professor Sellstrom has been sent on a “fact-finding” mission to
three locations in Syria. In one of them, the village of Khan-al-Assal
near Aleppo, it is alleged that chemical weapons were used in March,
killing 26 people.
Professor Sellstrom, who has held several high-profile roles within the UN, was the chief inspector of Unscom (click here), the special commission set up after the Gulf War in the early 1990s to determine whether chemical weapons were used during that conflict.
Several Western states, including France and Germany, have demanded that Professor Sellstrom be given access to Ghouta, near Damascus, where it is alleged by opposition groups that hundreds, perhaps thousands, were killed by chemical weapons on Wednesday.
Professor Sellstrom said: “It sounds like something that should be looked into. It will depend on whether any UN member state goes to the Secretary-General and says we should look at this event. We are in place to do so.”
It would seem as though the United Nations does not hold the view of President Obama. At all !!!!!!!
29 August 2013
...Earlier today, (click here) Mr. Ban said he spoke by phone with United States President Barack Obama about how the United Nations, the US and the world can work together, as well as “how we can expedite the process of the investigation.”
Mr. Ban said he expressed his wish that the investigation team should be allowed to continue their work as mandated by the Member States to probe the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Government at Khan al-Asal and other claims.
“I told him that we will surely share the information and the analysis of samples and evidence with Members of the Security Council and UN members in general,” Mr. Ban said.
Also today, Mr. Ban discussed the investigation and the overall situation in Syria with Austrian President Heinz Fischer and Chancellor Werner Faymann.
“We are of the opinion that the situation should be resolved in a peaceful way through dialogue,” he told journalists after the meetings....
Professor Sellstrom, who has held several high-profile roles within the UN, was the chief inspector of Unscom (click here), the special commission set up after the Gulf War in the early 1990s to determine whether chemical weapons were used during that conflict.
Several Western states, including France and Germany, have demanded that Professor Sellstrom be given access to Ghouta, near Damascus, where it is alleged by opposition groups that hundreds, perhaps thousands, were killed by chemical weapons on Wednesday.
Professor Sellstrom said: “It sounds like something that should be looked into. It will depend on whether any UN member state goes to the Secretary-General and says we should look at this event. We are in place to do so.”
It would seem as though the United Nations does not hold the view of President Obama. At all !!!!!!!
29 August 2013
...Earlier today, (click here) Mr. Ban said he spoke by phone with United States President Barack Obama about how the United Nations, the US and the world can work together, as well as “how we can expedite the process of the investigation.”
Mr. Ban said he expressed his wish that the investigation team should be allowed to continue their work as mandated by the Member States to probe the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Government at Khan al-Asal and other claims.
“I told him that we will surely share the information and the analysis of samples and evidence with Members of the Security Council and UN members in general,” Mr. Ban said.
Also today, Mr. Ban discussed the investigation and the overall situation in Syria with Austrian President Heinz Fischer and Chancellor Werner Faymann.
“We are of the opinion that the situation should be resolved in a peaceful way through dialogue,” he told journalists after the meetings....
