US: An independent panel investigating the August 19th bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad in which 22 people died describes the UN's security systems there as "dysfunctional", writes Conor O'Clery in New York
In a scathing report the panel said procedures in place were "sloppy", and non-compliance with security regulations was "commonplace".
The seven-member panel was led by Mr Martti Ahtisaari, a former president of Finland, and included Deputy Commissioner Peter Fitzgerald, of the Garda Síochána.
They were appointed by the UN secretary-general, Mr Kofi Annan, in September to examine "all relevant facts about the security situation in Iraq before the attack, the UN security mechanisms, procedure and measures in place", and to identify lessons for future security arrangements.
The report acknowledged that improved security might not have prevented the bombing which killed Mr Annan's special representative in Iraq, Mr Sergio Vieira de Mello, 21 other staff and visitors and injured more than 150.
Mr de Mello ignored advice from two teams of UN security experts to move his office, which was devastated by the explosion when a truck laden with explosives was driven up to the building. He had said he would leave the matter to his successor.
The investigators also found that before the attack UN officials had requested the US military to remove a five-ton truck blocking access to the service road that the bomber used.
US soldiers replaced the truck with concertina wire, but UN officials requested that that also be removed.
Mr Ahtisaari said in New York: "Everyone bears responsibility; the member-states, who are asking the UN to carry out those responsibilities, and of course the secretary-general himself - the buck stops always with the secretary-general."
Mr Annan said steps would be taken to ensure early implementation of the main recommendations of the 40-page report.
The report did not directly criticise Mr Annan but pointed out that even after the UN bombing the UN secretary general, anxious to "maintain a core institutional presence", twice turned down the recommendation of senior advisers to withdraw UN staff from Iraq.
After a second attack on UN headquarters on September 22nd, Mr Annan withdrew all but a skeleton staff from Iraq, and ordered a re-evaluation of security at UN missions around the world.
Shortly before the August 19th attack, UN security officials received information about "an imminent bomb attack", according to the investigators.
"It was also reported that other information was available around mid-July that the UN headquarters in Baghdad was under threat from a group loyal to the former regime."
Uneasy with the highly-visible military presence, UN personnel asked US coalition forces several times to withdraw from around UN headquarters but failed to request alternative security measures, the report said.