|
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
Security Follies at U.N. Summit
A year in the planning. Billed as the biggest summit of world leaders ever. Thousands of hours of preparation. And apparently, it all collapsed in a simple photo. Last Wednesday, over 160 heads of state/government gathered for the traditional summit group photo.
Story Continues Below The U.N.'s Economic and Social Committee chamber was converted to host the picture. Hours before the gathering, U.N. and U.S. security agents fanned out, searching offices and halls surrounding the conference chamber. Windows were closed, doors bolted shut, armed security officers stood at the ready. Then came Kofi Annan, George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Ariel Sharon and Vladimir Putin, to name just a few. For about 15 minutes, the U.N. hall played host to the most powerful men in the world.
The group got their picture taken and the VIPs departed, looking like a fraternity party just concluded. Meanwhile, the U.N.'s photo department snapped into action to get the souvenir "portrait" to all the movers and shakers. Well-informed sources tell NewsMax that as U.N. photographers were preparing the portrait's caption they noticed a figure in the photo they "could not identify." Who was the mysterious person? The list of those in the portrait was checked and checked and checked - nobody could identify the mysterious face.
It appeared that the summit photo was in fact crashed by an unknown prankster. This embarrassment was a replay of the 2000 U.N. Millennium Summit when a jokester crashed the group photo. "This is incredible [that] this could happen," confessed a veteran 2000 U.N. security officer. The 2000 U.N. Summit's public relations department now had a problem. About 100 photos were already released to VIPs that the U.N. had to scramble to "recover." "They are looking for some photos and airbrushing out the (mysterious) face from others, explained a U.N. official. The unretouched photo has now become an instant collector's item. If that wasn't enough, NewsMax's Stewart Stogel learned of several instances of confrontations between U.N. and U.S. security officers. One senior U.N. security officer who did not have his photo ID or badge visible was confronted by an intrepid U.S. security officer. U.N. officials say the two "exchanged words" and the U.S. officer "threatened to arrest the U.N. official,"
The U.N. official summoned his forces to "escort" the U.S. personnel from the compound, and as the "humbled" agents left, one was heard mumbling "it will be long time 'til we come back here." " Editor's note:
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Inside Cover Stories
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Print Page 
Forward Page 
|
| All Rights Reserved © 2012 NewsMax.Com |