U.N. headquarters invaded

UNITED NATIONS – Here's one problem the U.N. is not likely to solve with diplomacy.

In fact, a full-fledged attack using all the death-bringing force the organization is capable of assembling likely is the best option.

The target? Those increasingly pesky New York City bedbugs that now have invaded the organization's New York headquarters.

Tests have revealed that studios of some of the major broadcasters working out of the U.N. offices are infested.

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Officials on the Security Council were not available to comment and the secretary-general was "mum."

For more than four months, numerous U.N. staffers have complained about mysterious insect bites while at work inside the U.N. campus.

Initially, U.N. officials did not put much weight on the complaints since most of the offices inside the 38-story Secretariat were being vacated to make way for a three-year renovation of the glass-walled tower.

Today, about the only remaining people inside the complex are the officials overseeing the renovation and the U.N. press corps of about 200.

Occasionally, the Security Council meets in an adjoining conference building. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has a new office in a park a few blocks away.

So while most U.N. staff are now off campus it seems some new squatters have arrived to occupy empty offices.

"They are all over the place," laughed one veteran U.N. security officer.

When told they may have surfaced inside the press center, the official replied: "Now you know why the press is still inside the complex and was not moved outside."

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Last week, the U.N. press corps was told that fumigators would sweep the press center for the little critters on Monday evening.

On Tuesday, the U.N. revealed the sweep produced positive results, but would say no more.

"The (sniffer) dogs came by and started barking," is all the U.N. official would admit.

But WND sources have determined the bugs have been found inside the studios of the BBC as well as Japan's NHK.

Such revelations are embarrassing not only to the U.N. but to the international broadcasters as well.

Just a few weeks ago, both studios were host to numerous high-level VIP's visiting New York for the annual U.N. General Assembly.

Now, it is possible that some of those world leaders might not only have been bitten by the Big Apple's latest version of good will ambassadors but also could have carried them home as well.

One person unaffected was Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who moved all his meetings and news conference outside U.N. headquarters to nearby hotels.

During a week in New York, Ahmadinejad only visited the U.N. three times and then only briefly. Twice it was to deliver a speech and a third time for a lunch with Ban Ki-moon.

Did the fiery Iranian know something most others did not?

Could that be the reason why Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai canceled his U.N. visit?

Could that be the real reason why Venezuela's Hugo Chavez stayed home?

Libya's Muammar Gadhafi, the center of last year's General Assembly, would not come and pitch his infamous tent this year.

Did he fear that bedbugs were waiting for him?

"Another hazard of being in Turtle Bay; at least it's not turtles!" quipped former U.S. Ambassador John Bolton.

But everyone at the U.N. is tightlipped.

The U.S./U.N. mission did not respond to e-mail requests for comment.