UN Reeling From Nastygrams By Jeffrey Benner

2:20 p.m. July 10, 2001 PDT

Americans concerned that the United Nations is conspiring to deprive them of their constitutional right to pack heat are firing hundreds of heated e-mails at a UN conference on small arms trafficking.

Officials at the conference, which hopes to create an international system for tracking small arms sales, are so unnerved by the hundreds of angry e-mails that they are forwarding some of the nastygrams to the UN internal security department for "risk assessment."

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They did not know exactly how many of the roughly 400 messages received had been sent to security, but one official said "a lot" had been passed on.

Remarks about the messages from UN conference officials -- who spoke on condition of anonymity -- were vague and contradictory. The e-mails contained no specific threats, but only threatening messages would be forwarded to security; conference officials weren't determining what is a threat, but they were deciding which messages to forward on.

"We keep receiving lots of e-mail," a UN official said. "Most are expressing political views on small arms, referring to the Second Amendment of the Constitution. But some of the e-mails are more threatening, expressing hatred toward the UN"

Although the volume of messages was unusual, alerting security of concerns was standard procedure, the official said.

"We use common sense," he said. "If it says they'll march into the UN on a certain date to protest the conference, if there is any inference to bloodshed or personal attacks, then this raises security concerns. Anything that raises security concerns is sent to security."

It's unclear what will happen after the messages are assessed for risk.

The Office of the Secretary General would provide no details about UN internal security procedures, saying only that New York City police and federal officials would be notified in case any of the e-mails were determined to constitute a threat.

According to an FBI spokeswoman, suspect letters or e-mails generally need to contain very specific threats in order to merit further investigation. "We investigate threats to blow up buildings or cause bodily harm, that sort of thing," she said.

But none of the messages the UN had received contained such specific threats, UN officials said.

Another conference official, who also did not want his name used, said some e-mails had mentioned that a protest against the conference was to be held on Saturday. Security had instructed the department to forward any e-mails that concerned UN property or personnel. Although he didn't know exactly how many, he said "a lot" of messages had been passed on.

No protests of any kind are allowed on the UN campus, which lies between 42nd and 48th streets, First Avenue and the East River in Manhattan. The campus is not part of the United States. It is international territory and handles its own internal security. Political demonstrations generally take place across First Avenue in U.N. Plaza, on U.S. soil.

With a regular flow of dignitaries and world leaders, security at the campus is a big job. "For the annual heads-of-state meeting, they have a heroic security operation," John Pike, an international security expert, said.

The National Rifle Association and its supporters have been raising a stink about the conference for months. With an ally in the White House, they've found a new foil to replace Clinton in UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

As quoted in conservative newswire Newsmax, NRA president Wayne Lapierre said: "A United Nations conference has set its sights on global disarmament -– disarming citizens worldwide -– including you and me."

The Bush administration announced on Monday its opposition to the draft proposal before the conference, saying it would place unnecessary limits on legitimate arms trafficking.

The U.S. exports over $1 billion worth of small arms annually.

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,45134,00.html

-- Cave Man (caves@are.us), July 10, 2001

Answers

Reeling? From 400 email messages?

Whoa! These guys must be awfully unstable! Either that or... maybe... they aren't exactly... um, reeling. If you know what I mean.

-- Little Nipper (canis@minor.net), July 10, 2001.