Kofi Annan Probed Over Machine Gun-Toting Bodyguards

NewsMax.com ^ | 6/23/02 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[kattracks]

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is investigating United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan over reports that his bodyguards carry illegal submachine guns to protect the number one diplomat.

"Sources in the U.N. Security and Safety Service say that members of Annan's personal protective detail have been using the German-made MP5 submachine guns since 1998," reports the National Rifle Association's "America's 1st Freedom" Magazine.

While U.N. officials say the extraordinarily lethal firearms have been cleared with U.S. law enforcement, a spokesman for the BATF's parent agency, the Treasury Department, told the Washington Times earlier this year that Annan's machine gunners have been under investigation since February.

The State Department also has a problem with the illegal Annan arsenal, with a spokesman telling Times that the U.N. is not a law enforcement agency and therefore its employees are prohibited from packing such high-powered heat.

The U.N. first approached the State Department four years ago hoping to get clearance for the plan to arm Annan's security detail to the teeth - but they were turned down.

But that didn't stop Kofi and Co., who reportedly went ahead and acquired the illegal assault weapons anyway.

"Just how Annan's security detail obtained the guns is the focus of the U.S. government probe," the NRA said.

New York City, where Annan is based, supposedly has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Guns/Gun Control
United Nations

[CaptRon]

Right. FR. Most hateful site on the 'net /sarcasm.

Why don't you check out DU. It's all sweetness and light, or did you already come from there.

[Dick Bachert]

Gee, I wonder if Kofi will have some of those weapons in the yard sale?

[RichInOC]

Hope they intend to file down the front sights first.

[henbane]

The U.N. first approached the State Department four years ago hoping to get clearance for the plan to arm Annan's security detail to the teeth - but they were turned down.

But that didn't stop Kofi and Co., who reportedly went ahead and acquired the illegal assault weapons anyway.

Kofi figures: "Why should I worry about the American laws? It's just a matter of time before that capitalist legal system is totally irrelevant--replaced by the World Court and a pile of law-books written by and for my suffering Third World countries."

[LibTeeth]

Re:A submachine gun is really nothing more than a large pistol.

Ditto that. The MP-5 is a good subgun, mainly because its closed breech mode of fire doesn't disturb the sight picture on semi-auto shots. But as the police/SWAT units found out several years back during the North Hollywood robbery, even pistol ammo out of a longer SMG is pretty anemic compared to a centerfire rifle round. Good thing there were some civilain AR-15s nearby to be appropriated.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is investigating United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan over reports that his bodyguards carry illegal submachine guns to protect the number one diplomat.TERRORIST

What do they expect hes the [Puke] hes a number one...../sarcasm left on because he deserves it ..../ I was hoping this would have said he was probed WITH a submachine gun but alas another dream shattered

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

bump

[The KG9 Kid]

Well of course Kofi Annan needs mercenaries with machineguns following him around.

He's the Bonny Prince of Africa, you know!

[in the Arena]

What a dope...

"The proliferation of small arms, and munitions and explosives has also aggravated the violence associated with terrorism and organized crime. Even in societies not beset by civil war, the easy availability of small arms has in many cases contributed to violence and political instability. These, in turn, have damaged development prospects and imperiled human security in every way." --Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General

[piasa]

Does this mean the BATF and HRT will surround the UN Compound (it is even called a compund) and brurn it to the ground.

I wish. A tank with a large American flag flying on it would look wonderful parked atop their asinine knotted gun sculpture.

[FLcitizen]

Hmmm.... I recall that the UN issued a report in the last year or so regarding gun running. I don't recall them identifying themselves as one of the guilty organizations. Maybe it's time they revise their study. Naaahhh

[Bob Mc]

"Somehow I do not think that even if Koffi's boys had tanks and artillery they would be raided after all the BATFAGS do not really wish to risk harming non-citizens."

The BATF are afraid to try and take away Kofi's thugs sub-machine guns! It's easier to pick on American sheeple.

[Redbob]

I think Kofi Annan certainly should be probed, and I think there are some U.S. Customs inspectors who'd know just how to do it...

[LibKill]

People that want to destroy the US carry and transport LOTS of STUFF in the DIPLOMATIC POUCH.

It gets worse. A large shipping container can be classified as a "diplomatic pouch."

We need to get out of the UN. But more than that we need to get the UN out of the U.S.A.

Send the UN to France!

[nygoose]

Maybe Congressman Barr should connect the dots and ask the NYC Police Commissioner about the policy of allowing Kofi Annan to be protected by illegal weapons and not allowing U.S. citizens to protect themselves with legal weapons.

NYPD Police Chief nixes idea of armed Jewish patrols in Brooklyn
Jerusalem Post | 6/11/02

Posted on 6/11/02 3:41 PM Eastern by pabianice



NEW YORK - New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the use of armed patrols to protect Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn was simply out of the question.
"The department will not tolerate anyone brandishing weapons under the guise of protecting others," Kelly said in a statement Monday. "Anyone attempting to patrol the streets armed with weapons will be arrested."

Kelly's statement came in response to a proposal made Sunday by Rabbi Yakove Lloyd, president of the right-wing Jewish Defense Group, that citizens armed with shotguns patrol the heavily Jewish Borough Park and southern Flatbush neighborhoods of Brooklyn because of comments a suspected terrorist made about targeting them.

Lloyd had said the patrols of 50 to 200 people would carry shotguns in bags, along with people licensed to own and carry other types of firearms. Others would carry bats, pipes, cell phones and walkie-talkies. The patrols were to start on June 16.

"Any move in this direction is counterproductive," Kelly later added at a press conference in Queens. "The tenor of this is wrong. We don't need this."

Lloyd did not immediately return a call for comment on Monday.

Several other leaders in the Jewish community have lined up to criticize the plan. Assemblyman Dov Hikind, whose district includes Borough Park, called the idea outrageous. "Don't think of coming into our neighborhoods to stir up trouble," he said "We don't want you and we don't need you."

"We don't believe in vigilantism," Daniel Botnick, director of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council said Monday. "It's not only shortsighted, it's irresponsible."

Botnick said the heavily Jewish areas of Crown Heights have a civilian patrol, but they are unarmed. Lloyd's idea was in response to the comments that Abdul Rahman Yasin made during an interview on CBS television's "60 Minutes" on June 2.

Yasin, who is sought by the FBI in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, said in the interview from a compound in Iraq that he and his accomplices originally targeted heavily Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn. They later decided to attack the twin towers because they believed most of their occupants were Jewish, Yasin said. Six people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured in the bombing.

The Jewish Defense Group was founded by Lloyd in Queens in 1985, and follows the principles of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the right-wing Jewish Defense League.