NEWS: UK spies 'bugged UN's Kofi Annan'

Ex International development secretary Clare Short has accused the British Government of bugging the offices of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan during the buildup to the Iraq war. The comments come hot on the heels of yesterday�s collapse of the trail of Katharine Gun, accused of leaking a secret e-mail from US spies supposedly requesting British help in bugging other UN delegates during the same period. Tony Blair has described the comments as 'irresponsible' and claimed any actions taken were within the boundaries of international law. The U.N however has claimed any such actions, if true, would be illegal.

The U.S has been widely accused of bugging the U.N offices of Allies and others during tense negotiations before the war.
news.bbc.co.uk...

Ms Short's comments came the day after the dramatic collapse of the trial of GCHQ whistle-blower Katharine Gun.

She had been accused of leaking a secret e-mail from US spies apparently requesting British help in bugging UN delegates head of the Iraq invasion.

The government has denied claims the move to drop the case was politically motivated.

During an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme Ms Short said British spies were involved in bugging Mr Annan's office in the run up to war with Iraq.

"The UK in this time was also getting spies on Kofi Annan's office and getting reports from him about what was going on," she said.

"These things are done and in the case of Kofi's office, it was being done for some time."
Asked to confirm if British spies were instructed to carry out operations within the UN on people like Mr Annan, she said: "Yes, absolutely."

Asked if Britain was involved in this, she replied; "Well I know - I've seen transcripts of Kofi Annan's conversations.

"In fact, I have had conversations with Kofi in the run up to the war thinking 'oh dear, there will be a transcript of this and people will see what he and I are saying'."

Quizzed about whether she knew about this when she was in government, Ms Short responded: "Absolutely. I read some of the transcripts of the accounts of his conversations."

A Downing Street spokesman said in a statement: "We never comment on intelligence matters. Our intelligence and security agencies act in accordance with national and international law at all times."

But a UN representative in Europe said any spying on Mr Annan would be illegal.

Another bombshell for Blair. The conspiracy factors of this war are coming to light fast. I can the see the U.S distancing themselves from this pretty quickly. Blair�s going to be over the coals for this one for quite some time.






[Edited on 26-2-2004 by kegs]

[Edited on 26-2-2004 by Nerdling]

A conspiracy being uncovered before our very eyes.

I am sure this is only the tip of a dirty great iceberg.

Remember the language involved though.

She read a transcript of the accounts of Annans calls... now thats VERY different from bugging in diplomatic speak, this could have been a transcript from an intern who had overheard a few lines, not neccessarily a full bug.

Great works kegs.

There are other news sources which explicitly say that he and others(like the UN members from mexico) were bugged on request by the USA through the British.

I just wonder when Tony Blair will be shot by somebody. Meanwhile Tony seem to have more mud on his side than President Bush and Putin together, can't be long till somebody wants some justice for this piece of shiat.

Certain number of nations are looking for the removal of the hypocritical Kofi Annan.....



regards
seekerof

GOOD!

Got any links on the hypocrisy angle Seekerof? I'm not too up on that. Don't pay to much attention to Mr Annan to be honest.

Despicable behavior by the UK but not unexpected. I wonder how Blair will wriggle out of this one. Wasn't Blair supposed to be a "liberal"? You know, intrically opposed to ideals held by people like Bush... (sigh)

P.S.- Kofi Annan for president....of the world!

Posted one of many examples of his hypocrisy and the UN's yesterday kegs.
The link to the thread is:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

The title of the article is:
"U.N. request to court disregards Israel's side of the story"


If you require more; more can be provided, as well as articles on the UN's 'world obsessions', as eluded to by Flinx above:
"P.S.- Kofi Annan for president....of the world!"




regards
seekerof

[Edited on 26-2-2004 by Seekerof]

I know what is regarded by some as the U.N's hypocrisy, just wondered if what you reffered to was seperate from him being the figurehead. Hypocrisy on a personal level, apart from the U.N kind of thing.
Anyway I know what your reffering to now.
Thanks.

Originally posted by Seekerof
If you require more; more can be provided, as well as articles on the UN's 'world obsessions', [Edited on 26-2-2004 by Seekerof]

While having read plenty of your anti-UN posts I always wondered where your strong position against the UN comes from. I have the strong feeling you just don't know the good things the UN is doing and know wrong about what the UN can really do.

GOOD. It means they're keeping an eye on the enemy.

Get the US out of the UN and get the UN the hell out of the US.

sorry, drunk.

[Edited on 26-2-2004 by kegs]

Originally posted by Seekerof

If you require more; more can be provided, as well as articles on the UN's 'world obsessions', as eluded to by Flinx above:
"P.S.- Kofi Annan for president....of the world!"

Cute Seeker....really.

The reason people don't like the UN, is that no body should be over a sovern nation, nor should one cast ANY loyalty their way.

We should tell them to kiss our ass and get out of NY. We do all their dirty work when they mess it up anyway, they should be working for us at this point.

Members of the United Nations have been bugging each other since the day it started and will do until the day it closes.
This is not an extraordinary story.