16 November 2005. A writes:

I saw those photos too the other day.  [For what it's worth, earlier that day I was randomly thinking about Aristide, and how quickly his protection evaporated, once DC gave the nod to Steele.]  I thought that they looked a bit PMC-ish, too.  Not a coalition unit, in all likelihood.  Especially given their consistent ethnicity - my first gueses would usually be Ghurka guys, but they're sure to be Fijian:

Google cache link of article from AP story, back on 10/20/2004.

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:wTyBCFuMF8AJ:www.wibc.com/news/article.aspx%3Fid%3D480688+%22green+zone%22+fijianhl=en&client=firefox

The small U.N. staff now in Baghdad is protected by coalition troops, who will be replaced by Fijians. But with no offers for the larger, separate U.N. protection force, U.N. staff will almost certainly have to continue relying on the coalition for perimeter security and for protection when they move outside the Green Zone.

Plenty of other stories on them online, and I wonder how often Fijian has started showing up in casaulty lists, or maybe these are really just Green Zone tough guys, admittedly with very large targets painted on their backs...

14 November 2005

From 1,200 Kofi Annan photos in the Associated Press archive from July 14, 2004 to November 13, 2005, only these six show him with bodyguards, the first three apparently showing US mercs bristling with walkie-talkies and head mics, automatic weapons and magazine vests, body armor and branded blackshirts, watches and sunglasses, ID tags and cammies -- and no helmets, not like Kofi was goofily hatted for the UN vanity shoot, exhibiting chic black body armor bearing a brand name, perhaps "Blackwater."

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New York Times, November 13, 2005
Captions by Associated Press.
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Bodyguards escort UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, centre left, in to give a press conference in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2005. Annan arrived in Baghdad Saturday for a meeting with Iraqi leaders while a car bomb exploded outside a public market in the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of New Baghdad, killing four and injuring 19. (AP Photo/Karim Sahib, pool)

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A bodyguard escorts UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to give a press conference in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2005. Annan arrived in Baghdad Saturday for a meeting with Iraqi leaders while a car bomb exploded outside a public market in the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of New Baghdad, killing four and injuring 19. (AP Photo/Karim Sahib, pool)
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In this photo provided by the United Nations, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, center left, arrives in Baghdad, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2005. (AP Photo/United Nations, Mark Garten)

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In this photo provided by the United Nations, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, left, places flowers by the memorial to the UN staff who were killed while serving in Iraq, Saturday, Nov. 12, 2005, in Baghdad. (AP Photo/United Nations, Mark Garten)
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U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, center, greets a crowd with the president of Niger, Mamadou Tandja, right, Tuesday Aug. 23, 2005 in Zinder, Niger. Annan visited skeletal babies in Niger and heard villagers' pleas for help Tuesday, seeking to put attention on 5 million northwest Africans left short of food after their crops were ravaged by drought and locusts. (AP Photo/United Nations, Evan Schneider)

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In this picture provided by the United Nations, Chairman of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, Dr. John Garang, right, and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, center right, wave to people welcoming Annan to Rumbeik, Sudan. Annan met with the ex-rebel leader who told him that the postwar return of hundreds of thousands of refugees to their homes in southern Sudan is mushrooming into a humanitarian crisis. (AP Photo/United Nations, Evan Schneider) MANDATORY CREDIT: UNITED NATIONS, EVAN SCHNEIDER