The Goldstone Report filing by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has been asked about for days at the UN. When it became available on the evening of February 4, it was a let down and, some say, a lie.
The letdown part is easier to describe. Ban’s submission is a mere 11 paragraphs, mostly boilerplate recitations, of which Ban’s "Observations" comprise only four paragraphs. It is not even a cover letter, one involved source told Inner City Press. It is more like a fax cover sheet.
The word "lie," when raised to Inner City Press, was directed at paragraph 9, which in full reads:
"9. I believe that, as a matter of principle, international humanitarian law needs to be fully respected and civilians must be protected in all situations and circumstances. Accordingly, on several occasions, I have called upon all of the parties to carry out credible domestic investigations into the conduct of the Gaza conflict. I hope that such steps will be taken wherever there are credible allegations of human rights abuses."
Despite this claim of belief that "civilians must be protected in all situations and circumstances," during the bloodier Sri Lanka conflict in 2009, when tens of thousands were killed by air assault by the Sri Lankan government, Ban has not similarly called for credible investigations.
Most recently, when the UN’s own Special Rapporteur on Summary Executions Philip Alston called on Ban to order an investigation of executions in Sri Lanka, Ban and his spokespeople went out of their way to say they have nothing to do with Alston.
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