Feds Pressure Annan To Dump Machine Guns
UNITED NATIONS -- Under pressure from the Bush administration, the United Nations security department has decided to move a stache of controversial firearms out of the world body's New York City headquarters.
The MP-5 sub-machine guns, para-military assault rifles made by Heckler and Koch of Germany, are to be moved to U.N. peace keeping operations overseas, according to State Dept. sources.
As first reported in The Washington Times (February 2002), the UN originally purchased the highly restricted weapons for the personal protection of Secretary-General Kofi Annan in his travels around the New York-Metropolitan area.
The guns were often plainly visible in the support van of Annan's motorcade as it moved throughout the concrete canyons of Gotham.
It was unclear why the Annan bodyguards needed such high powered weapons, say sources within the State Dept's. Diplomatic Security Service (DSS).
Under a U.S. agreement with the United Nations, DSS bears the ultimate responsibility for Annan's protection within the borders of the United States.
The MP-5 is a strictly regulated firearm and currently can only be purchased by law enforcement bodies. It is popular among specialized police units such as SWAT and CAT (counter-assault) squads. It can easily be modified from a sub-machine to a full machine gun says its manufacturer, Heckler and Koch. Its use is also restricted to U.S. citizens, says the State Dept.
The U.N.'s security force does not have "law enforcement status," explained a source at the U.S./U.N. mission in New York.
According to DSS sources, if security concerns warrant, the U.S. is always prepared to increase the protection around Annan, which it has done on numerous occasions in the past.
No such concerns were known to have existed when the UN made the request to purchase the weapons in the late 1990's, says the State Dept.
The decision to obtain the controversial assault rifles was made by U.N. security chief Michael McCann in 1998, according to U.S. government sources.
About a half dozen were purchased by the world body.
McCann, a retired official from the New York City Police Dept., who has been at the U.N. in various posts since his arrival in the early 1990's, refused to respond to repeated inquiries on the subject.
ATF Denies:
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) which regulates the sale and purchase of the MP-5's, originally decided to deny the U.N. purchase permission.
There were several reasons for the denial according to State Dept. sources:
A key factor was the U.N. security department's lack of law enforcement status.
Another was the possibility of non-U.S. citizens being given access to the weapons.
Through political pressure coming from senior Clinton administration officials, the U.N. eventually got ATF to discreetly reverse its denial.
In February 2002, the Bush administration decided to review the purchase permit given to the United Nations. That review was prompted after a meeting between a member of Annan's security detail and a U.S. government official in New York.
The office of ATF's chief legal counsel then launched a detailed re-examination of the situation, according to bureau sources who spoke on background.
Shortly after the 2002 ATF examination, U.N. security officials tell NewsMax, the MP-5's were removed from Annan's security detail. The guns were subsequently suspended from active service and then secured in a locked facility inside U.N. headquarters.
The have remained there for over a year, say members of the U.N. security department.
Accommodation:
State Dept. sources tell NewsMax that ATF and the U.N. never reached an accommodation which would have allowed the rifles back on the streets of New York. In fact, the sources explained that ATF told the U.N. should the guns venture outside its mid-town Manhattan headquarters, it ran the risk of having them seized.
Firearms are not covered under the provisions of diplomatic immunity, says the State Dept.
Faced with a ban on the use of the firearms outside the U.N. and the possibility of an embarrassing confrontation, the world body and the U.S. agreed on a transfer of the rifles outside the country.
Where the guns are headed is a question neither ATF nor the United Nations would comment on.
"We were told that the guns are headed to U.N. peace keeping operations," so claimed one U.S. diplomat. The diplomat explained he had no idea which peace keeping operations, just that they were outside the United States.
The issue of when the arms transfer will take place is now a subject of debate.
Both State Dept. and ATF officials were led to believe the weapons had already left NYC. U.N. security officers tell NewsMax that as of last Friday the guns had not been moved. The officers added that there are no indications the weapons are planning to be relocated anytime in the near future.
An ATF source, speaking on background, still wondered why the guns were even bought to begin with:
"If someone really wanted to attack the U.N. (chief), they could easily use an RPG (rocket propelled grenade, as U.S. forces have seen in Iraq).
"When something like that happens, an MP-5 is not going to make any difference," he explained.
~Stewart Stogel of NewsMax.com
Monday, Aug. 11, 2003
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