US Condemns UN Expert for 9/11 Statements
A UN expert on Palestinian human rights who suggested there was a cover-up over the September 11 attacks should be fired, US Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said on Tuesday.
US academic Richard Falk wrote in a blog this month that there had been an “apparent cover-up” by US authorities over the September 11, 2001 attacks, in which hijackers flew airliners into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon near Washington, killing more than 3,000 people.
“In my view, Mr. Falk’s latest commentary is so noxious that it should finally be plain to all that he should no longer continue in his position on behalf of the UN,” Rice said in a statement.
“I would note that US and many other diplomats walked out in protest in September 2010 when Iranian President Ahmadinejad made similarly slanderous remarks before the U.N. General Assembly,” she said, adding that Falk’s comments were “despicable and deeply offensive.”
Falk, the UN Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, wrote in his blog that mainstream media had refused to accept “well-evidenced doubts about the official version of the events: an al Qaeda operation with no foreknowledge by government officials.”
In a letter to Ban last Thursday, UN Watch, a Geneva-based advocacy group affiliated with the American Jewish Committee, called on the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to “strongly condemn Mr. Falk’s offensive remarks — and … immediately remove him from his post.”
UN Watch frequently criticizes the human rights council, saying it often berates Israel while ignoring rights violations by developing countries. It has targeted Falk in the past.
Ban’s chief of staff Vijay Nambiar said on Monday that the secretary-general condemned the remarks but said it was not up to Ban to fire Falk, since he was appointed by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council, a 47-nation body created by the UN General Assembly in 2006.
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Related:
Why the Fuss? The Call to Arms against UN Rapporteur Richard Falk for Alluding to Gaps in the 9/11 Official Story
by Elizabeth Woodworth
January 28, 2011
http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2011/01/28/why-the-fuss-the-call-to-arms-against-un-rapporteur-richard-falk-for-alluding-to-gaps-in-the-911-official-story/
A former Princeton international law professor has been condemned by the UN Secretary General and the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations for alluding to “an apparent cover-up” of the events of September 11th, 2001.
U.N. rapporteur on Palestinians denies accusing U.S. of 9/11 complicity
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/01/30/2742768/falk-denies-accusing-us-of-9-11-complicity
“I wish to be absolutely clear,” Falk said in a statement released Jan. 26. “I do not endorse the theory that the U.S. government orchestrated the 9/11 attacks.”
He blamed U.N. Watch, an advocacy group affiliated with the American Jewish Committee, saying it “created this mess, deliberately distorted comments I made, in my personal capacity, on my blog,” Falk said.
This is so typical. Anyone who argues for a new investigation is accused of arguing for US complicity. It’s an easy way to punish people for stepping out of line.