Interpol pushing to be UN globocop.

The International Criminal Police Organization, better known as Interpol, held its 73rd General Assembly October 5-8 in Cancun, Mexico. More than 450 delegates from 120 countries gathered at the posh Mexican resort city to elect a new president and address such issues as international organized crime and terrorism. They chose Jackie Selebi, national commissioner of the South African Police Service, to be Interpol's new president. Selebi, a leader in the terroristic African National Congress (ANC), was named by South African President (and ANC revolutionary) Thabo Mbeki to be South Africa's representative on the United Nations Human Rights Commission. Mbeki later appointed Selebi to the post of foreign affairs director-general, before naming him National Police Commissioner.

In June of this year, Selebi was under investigation for alleged intimidation of South African airport executives. Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) executives Paul O'Sullivan and Mashudu Ramano claim that Commissioner Selebi intimidated them to stop them from terminating an airport security contract with a friend of Selebi, a Mr. Noel Ngwenya. Mr. Ngwenya has since been charged with multi-million dollar theft in the ACSA contract affair. Gunmen twice tried to kill O'Sullivan, and Ramano's bodyguards have fought off gunmen who attacked his home. Neither O'Sullivan or Ramano accused Selebi publicly of being behind the attacks, but he is considered by many to be a prime suspect.

Interpol's chief executive officer, Ronald K. Noble, has been moving the organization ahead by leaps and bounds since being confirmed as secretary-general in 2000. Noble, who served in top Justice and Treasury posts in the Clinton administration, was nominated to the Interpol position by then-Attorney General Janet Reno. Noble came under heavy fire from congressional critics for his role in approving the deadly attack by federal agents on the Branch Davidian Church in Waco, Texas, and for covering up criminal misconduct by federal authorities afterward. Since taking command of Interpol, Noble has helped increase dramatically Interpol's international profile and its links to U.S. agencies such as Treasury, DEA, and Homeland Security. He was a key guest at the elite World Economic Forum in January 2002 and has presided over a major increase in funding for Interpol. The organization's budget has grown from 25 million euros in 2000 to 37 million euros in 2004.

An October 13, 2004 Interpol press release states that "the Organization's goal is to become the No. 1 global police agency, one that will coordinate and lead a multi-dimensional anti-terrorism and anti-organized crime approach, where police will conduct joint operations directly with judicial, intelligence, diplomatic and military services."

Headquartered in Lyon, France, Interpol was granted consultative status with the United Nations in 1949. In 1971 it was recognized as an intergovernmental organization by the UN. Interpol has recently appointed its first-ever representative to the United Nations. Dr. K. Ulrich Kersten, the former head of the German federal police agency BKA, is scheduled to begin his duties in New York on October 25, 2004.