Fox: Syrian Official Says Israeli Airstrike Hit Nuke Facility? (Nope)

[Flabbergasted]

Despite the fact that Fox was fully aware of the misquote they still gave this article a misleading headline. Fox even links to a UN document that does not contain the UN statement concerning the misquote. Would be interesting to know the interpreters history and allegiance.

Syrian Official Says Israeli Airstrike Hit Nuke Facility
Thursday, October 18, 2007

By James Rosen


DAMASCUS, Syria — A high-ranking Syrian official confirmed that Israel's airstrike last month in northern Syria hit a nuclear facility, according to a document obtained Wednesday by FOX News.

"Israel was the fourth-largest exporter of weapons of mass destruction and a violator of other nations' airspace, and it had taken action against nuclear facilities, including the 6 July attack in Syria," Syrian representative Bassam Darwish is quoted in the document as saying.

Diplomats familiar with the document cannot explain why July 6 was invoked, instead of Sept. 6, the date both countries say an incident occurred. A State Department source tells FOX News the best explanation is that Darwish misspoke.

A U.N. spokesman later said the document was incorrect and blamed the misquote on an interpreter's error. Darwish did not use the word 'nuclear,' the spokesman said.

Click here to view the document posted on the U.N. Web Site.

The document, released by the General Assembly's Department of Public Information, recounted Tuesday's proceedings at the annual gathering of the U.N.'s Disarmament and International Security Committee.

U.N. Nuclear Agency Seeks Details on Syria What is clear is that this is the first time Syria has acknowledged its nuclear efforts.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,303197,00.html

UN: Action to be taken against interpreter for false report that Syria has a nuclear facility
The Associated Press
Published: October 19, 2007

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations said an interpreter responsible for an erroneous report that Syria has a nuclear facility has been reprimanded and the world body has apologized to Syria's U.N. Mission.

Earlier this week, Syria denied that one of its representatives told the U.N. General Assembly's committee that deals with disarmament on Tuesday that Israel had attacked a Syrian nuclear facility. It said the representative was misquoted, demanded a correction, and insisted that "such facilities do not exist in Syria."

After more than seven hours of investigation Wednesday, U.N. officials agreed the Syrian delegate was misquoted. U.N. associate spokesman Farhan Haq said "There was no use of the word nuclear."

The unidentified Syrian representative spoke in Arabic and the interpreter who worked from Arabic into French was fairly accurate, but the problem occurred when an interpreter translated the statement into English from French, Haq said.

"Action will be taken against that freelance interpreter to the fullest extent of the U.N. rules and regulations," Haq said on Thursday, refusing to comment on what the action might be.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/20/news/UN-GEN-UN-Syria-Israel.php