Matt Wiser
February 17th 04, 06:20 PM
So what? Everyone spies on everyone else-friends spy on friends-Remember
John Pollard, who spied on the U.S. for Israel? The U.S. spied on neutrals
and allies in WW II, and so did the Brits. Soviets spied on everyone. Knowing
what course of action other parties are considering helps decision makers.
There is a saying in the intelligence community:
"In God we trust. All others we monitor." Oh, BTW, remember MAGIC?
We were reading Japanese diplomatic message traffic faster than any Japanese
embassy or the Foreign Ministry. The Japanese Ambassador in Germany was,
to use Allen Dulles's words, "Our man in Berlin." Everything Hitler told
him was on FDR's desk the next day, thanks to MAGIC.
(Michael Petukhov) wrote:
>Yet another blight on US, British credibility
>17.02.2004 [08:33]
>
>
>A report in the British newspaper The Observer
>about Britain aiding
>the United States in conducting a secret and
>illegal spying operation
>at the United Nations (UN) prior to the Iraq
>War is more frightening
>than shocking.
>It raises new questions about how far the two
>countries had gone
>before pulling the trigger that launched the
>invasion of Iraq.
>
>The issue was brought to light during the trial
>of Katherine Gun, a
>translator formerly employed at Britain's secret
>global listening
>facility.
>
>Gun was arrested for violating Britain's Officials
>Secrets Acts. Her
>disclosure of classified documents concerning
>attempts by the British
>secret service to bug UN delegates in order
>to help the United States
>better "negotiate" support for invading Iraq
>made a furor last March.
>For sure, Gun's conduct embarrassed the US and
>British governments.
>
>A highly classified US National Security Agency
>memo outlined the
>operation, which included e-mail surveillance
>and taps on home and
>office telephones.
>Gun's revelations may have been critical in
>denying the military
>strikes on Iraq a cloak of legitimacy. However,
>that did not prevent
>the war.
>
>The case is another example of illegal and immoral
>behaviour by the
>United States and Britain concerning the war.
>
>It should not be a surprise, given US President
>George W. Bush's
>clear-cut mentality at the time of the invasion,
>when he told the rest
>of the world community "You are either with
>us or against us."
>Nor is it surprising that a man who referred
>to the UN Security
>Council as "the so-called security council"
>treats such an august body
>with contempt.
>
>Based on the fact Gun is considered an expert
>translator of Chinese,
>there is speculation that China, a permanent
>Security Council member,
>was likely a target of the operation.
>The memo, dated January 31, 2003, stated the
>National Security Agency
>wanted to gather "the whole gamut of information
>that could give US
>policy-makers an edge in obtaining results favourable
>to US goals or
>to head off surprises."
>The operation was ordered before deliberations
>over a second UN
>resolution and targeted the so-called "swing
>nations" on the Security
>Council - Chile, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Angola,
>Guinea and Pakistan -
>whose votes were needed to proceed to war.
>
>The information was intended for US Secretary
>of State Colin Powell
>before his presentation on weapons of mass destruction
>(WMD) to the
>Security Council on February 5, 2003.
>It was sent out four days after the UN's chief
>weapons inspector, Hans
>Blix, produced his interim response on Iraqi
>compliance with UN
>resolutions.
>
>Such action was certainly a breach of the Vienna
>Convention on
>diplomatic relations, which strictly outlaws
>espionage at the UN
>missions in New York.
>The Convention stipulates that "The receiving
>state shall permit and
>protect free communication on the part of the
>mission for all official
>purposes...The official correspondence of the
>mission shall be
>inviolable."
>
>In the wake of the Hutton report on the absence
>of WMD in Iraq and the
>establishment of inquiries into intelligence
>failures on both sides of
>the Atlantic, the Gun case has dropped yet another
>cluster bomb on US
>and British credibility over the Iraq War. It
>shows how far the two
>nations were prepared to go in their ultimately
>unsuccessful attempt
>to persuade the world of the case for UN support
>for their invasion.
>
>The Gun trial has reopened questions about the
>legality of the Iraq
>War.
>
>On March 8, 2003, the office of UN Secretary
>General Kofi Annan said
>the UN had started a top-level investigation
>into the bugging of its
>delegates by the United States.
>No results from that investigation have been
>made available.
>
>When Daniel Ellsberg leaked the "Pentagon Papers"
>to the New York
>Times in 1971, he blew the whistle on the deceptions
>and lies of the
>Nixon administration and other forms of official
>misconduct relating
>to the war in Viet Nam.
>There are expectations Gun's case will have
>a similar impact - and
>unveil truths rather than tricks.
>
>Source: Renmin Ribao, Feb 17
Posted via www.My-Newsgroups.com - web to news gateway for usenet access!
John Pollard, who spied on the U.S. for Israel? The U.S. spied on neutrals
and allies in WW II, and so did the Brits. Soviets spied on everyone. Knowing
what course of action other parties are considering helps decision makers.
There is a saying in the intelligence community:
"In God we trust. All others we monitor." Oh, BTW, remember MAGIC?
We were reading Japanese diplomatic message traffic faster than any Japanese
embassy or the Foreign Ministry. The Japanese Ambassador in Germany was,
to use Allen Dulles's words, "Our man in Berlin." Everything Hitler told
him was on FDR's desk the next day, thanks to MAGIC.
(Michael Petukhov) wrote:
>Yet another blight on US, British credibility
>17.02.2004 [08:33]
>
>
>A report in the British newspaper The Observer
>about Britain aiding
>the United States in conducting a secret and
>illegal spying operation
>at the United Nations (UN) prior to the Iraq
>War is more frightening
>than shocking.
>It raises new questions about how far the two
>countries had gone
>before pulling the trigger that launched the
>invasion of Iraq.
>
>The issue was brought to light during the trial
>of Katherine Gun, a
>translator formerly employed at Britain's secret
>global listening
>facility.
>
>Gun was arrested for violating Britain's Officials
>Secrets Acts. Her
>disclosure of classified documents concerning
>attempts by the British
>secret service to bug UN delegates in order
>to help the United States
>better "negotiate" support for invading Iraq
>made a furor last March.
>For sure, Gun's conduct embarrassed the US and
>British governments.
>
>A highly classified US National Security Agency
>memo outlined the
>operation, which included e-mail surveillance
>and taps on home and
>office telephones.
>Gun's revelations may have been critical in
>denying the military
>strikes on Iraq a cloak of legitimacy. However,
>that did not prevent
>the war.
>
>The case is another example of illegal and immoral
>behaviour by the
>United States and Britain concerning the war.
>
>It should not be a surprise, given US President
>George W. Bush's
>clear-cut mentality at the time of the invasion,
>when he told the rest
>of the world community "You are either with
>us or against us."
>Nor is it surprising that a man who referred
>to the UN Security
>Council as "the so-called security council"
>treats such an august body
>with contempt.
>
>Based on the fact Gun is considered an expert
>translator of Chinese,
>there is speculation that China, a permanent
>Security Council member,
>was likely a target of the operation.
>The memo, dated January 31, 2003, stated the
>National Security Agency
>wanted to gather "the whole gamut of information
>that could give US
>policy-makers an edge in obtaining results favourable
>to US goals or
>to head off surprises."
>The operation was ordered before deliberations
>over a second UN
>resolution and targeted the so-called "swing
>nations" on the Security
>Council - Chile, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Angola,
>Guinea and Pakistan -
>whose votes were needed to proceed to war.
>
>The information was intended for US Secretary
>of State Colin Powell
>before his presentation on weapons of mass destruction
>(WMD) to the
>Security Council on February 5, 2003.
>It was sent out four days after the UN's chief
>weapons inspector, Hans
>Blix, produced his interim response on Iraqi
>compliance with UN
>resolutions.
>
>Such action was certainly a breach of the Vienna
>Convention on
>diplomatic relations, which strictly outlaws
>espionage at the UN
>missions in New York.
>The Convention stipulates that "The receiving
>state shall permit and
>protect free communication on the part of the
>mission for all official
>purposes...The official correspondence of the
>mission shall be
>inviolable."
>
>In the wake of the Hutton report on the absence
>of WMD in Iraq and the
>establishment of inquiries into intelligence
>failures on both sides of
>the Atlantic, the Gun case has dropped yet another
>cluster bomb on US
>and British credibility over the Iraq War. It
>shows how far the two
>nations were prepared to go in their ultimately
>unsuccessful attempt
>to persuade the world of the case for UN support
>for their invasion.
>
>The Gun trial has reopened questions about the
>legality of the Iraq
>War.
>
>On March 8, 2003, the office of UN Secretary
>General Kofi Annan said
>the UN had started a top-level investigation
>into the bugging of its
>delegates by the United States.
>No results from that investigation have been
>made available.
>
>When Daniel Ellsberg leaked the "Pentagon Papers"
>to the New York
>Times in 1971, he blew the whistle on the deceptions
>and lies of the
>Nixon administration and other forms of official
>misconduct relating
>to the war in Viet Nam.
>There are expectations Gun's case will have
>a similar impact - and
>unveil truths rather than tricks.
>
>Source: Renmin Ribao, Feb 17
Posted via www.My-Newsgroups.com - web to news gateway for usenet access!