Privacy Policy
Home | Money | Entertainment | Links | Advertise | Search | Cartoons | Contact | Shop February 12, 2012
Web
NewsMax.com
Powered by
 

From the NewsMax.com Staff
For the story behind the story...

Sunday, March 27, 2005 11:15 a.m. EST

Kofi Annan's Smoking Gun

As the second "installment" by chief investigator Paul Volcker on the scandal-ridden U.N.-Iraq Oil-for-Food program is prepared for release on Tuesday, speculation grows on the "survivability" of Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The second Volcker report is expected to severely criticize Annan's "management" style and the role of his son Kojo working for a U.N. contractor.

Story Continues Below

  Annan is expected to come under fire for the compensation his son received working for the Swiss firm Cotecna.

Sunday's New York Times reported the younger Annan received cash in excess of $400,000 for his services, more than triple the amount previously disclosed to investigators.

The Times also reported that Annan himself met Cotecna officials at least three times, none of which he had previously disclosed.

Cotecna was contracted to provide import services for Iraq.

It is alleged that the operation was compromised with widespread fraud.

Now NewsMax can report that another "time bomb" may be waiting to explode in Annan's face.

In August 2003, the U.N.'s Baghdad headquarters was destroyed by a suicide truck bomber. More than 150 were injured, 23 killed, including the U.N.'s Iraq rep, Sergio Viera de Mello.

It was the worst attack on a U.N. facility since the organization's founding in 1945.

NewsMax has learned that Annan's "management" style may have directly contributed to the Baghdad attack.

It has been revealed that between May and June 2003, then U.N. security chief Michael McCann sent his deputy, Bruno Henn (now head of U.N. New York City security), to Baghdad to engage in a "field" survey of the Canal Hotel.

The hotel had housed U.N. operations prior to the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003 and was evacuated when the invasion began.

Henn was sent to assess security at the hotel prior to the return of any U.N. personnel.

A report on the situation was forwarded to Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette, who headed an Annan Iraq action advisory group.

Annan has previously denied any direct involvement in such security matters, saying he had left that responsibility to Frechette.

The Annan deputy offered her resignation last year. It was refused.

Now it has been learned that Annan himself participated in at least two meetings of Frechette's action group prior to the August attack.

Henn's security "survey" expressed concern over the situation in Baghdad and raised serious questions about how safe the U.N. hotel could be made without costly improvements.

Frechette, with Annan's approval, opted to "delay" any action on the Henn survey and decided to "vet" the survey with other U.N. departments and seek their "comments" before deciding on what action, if any, should be taken.

It was during this period that the U.N. compound was destroyed.

It took the secretary-general, who was vacationing in Scandinavia, two days to react.

A formal letter of condolence to those who lost friends and relatives was issued almost six months later, only after two investigations had been concluded.

Now it appears that the attack might have been averted.

NewsMax has been told that transcripts of the Frechette group meetings with Annan have been kept "locked" up in a "secure" area at U.N. headquarters.

U.N. staff union officials tell NewsMax that if "transcripts" of the Annan-Frechette meetings are unearthed, the U.N. chief could face a "revolt" among the U.N. rank and file.

"If we can find those transcripts, I doubt that many of us would want to continue to work for him [Annan]," lamented a U.N. veteran.

Editor's note:

  • Check out the USS Ronald Reagan, USS Enterprise, USS Abraham Lincoln and many more Navy caps – Click Here Now
  • Tommy Franks’ best-selling book "American Soldier" – FREE OFFER – Click Here Now
  • Illegal immigration threatens our security and tears at the fiber of America – Click Here!

    Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
    United Nations

    Inside Cover Stories
    FBI Seeks 2 Mysterious Men on Ferry

    Publisher: Conservatives Do Read As Much As Liberals

    Romney Shrugs Off Mormon History Film

    Bob Grant to Return to Radio

    Carville Seeks Perfect '08 Bumper Sticker More Inside Cover Stories
     

  • Print Page Forward Page E-mail Us RSS Feed
     
    Home | Money | Entertainment | Links | Advertise | Search | Cartoons | Contact | Shop
    All Rights Reserved © 2012 NewsMax.Com

    103-104