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U.N.: UK spying 'illegal' if true
UNITED NATIONS (CNN) --The United Nations said alleged British spying on
Secretary-General Kofi Annan's office, if true, is illegal and must stop
immediately.
U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said Thursday the world agency "would be
disappointed" if claims that British spies listened in on Annan's conversations
turned out to be true.
Commenting on allegations by former British Cabinet minister Clare Short,
Eckhard said such actions would be "illegal" under international conventions.
"We would be disappointed if this were true," Eckhard said. "Such activities
would undermine the integrity and confidential nature of diplomatic exchanges.
"Those who speak to the secretary-general are entitled to assume that their
exchanges are confidential. The secretary-general therefore would want this
practice stopped, if indeed it exists."
Eckhard said routine measures to guard against such tapping would be heightened.
Earlier Thursday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair called Short's claims
"deeply irresponsible" and said they threatened the security of the country.
Blair, speaking to reporters in London, refused to respond directly to Short's
charge that UK intelligence agents had bugged Annan ahead of the war in Iraq.
"I'm not going to comment on their operations," Blair told a news conference.
"That should not be taken as any indication about the truth of any particular
accusations."
Blair said intelligence agents "always act in accordance with domestic and
international law."
"Whether intentionally or not, those who do attack the work our security
services are doing undermine the essential security of this country," Blair
said. "The fact that those allegations were made, I think, is deeply
irresponsible."
Short, who resigned as international development secretary following the
campaign to topple Saddam Hussein, said in a radio interview Thursday morning
that she had read transcripts of Annan's conversations.
"The UK in this time was also getting, spying on Kofi Annan's office and getting
reports from him about what was going on," she told the BBC.
"I have seen transcripts of Kofi Annan's conversations. In fact I have had
conversations with Kofi in the run-up to war thinking 'Oh dear, there will be a
transcript of this and people will see what he and I are saying."'
Asked explicitly whether British spies had been instructed to carry out
operations within the United Nations on people such as Kofi Annan, she said:
"Yes, absolutely."
When asked if such actions were legal, she said: "I don't know. I presume so.
It's odd."
Short was one of two Cabinet members to resign in protest against Britain's
participation in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Robin Cook, a former foreign
secretary, resigned as leader of the House of Commons before the campaign began.
Short's comments came a day after charges were dropped against a British
government translator accused of leaking a memo on an alleged U.S. "dirty
tricks" campaign ahead of the Iraq war.
Katharine Gun, 29, a former Mandarin translator with Britain's Government
Communications Headquarters listening station, allegedly leaked a memo from U.S.
intelligence officers asking their British counterparts to spy on members of the
U.N. Security Council before the Iraq war. (Full story)
The charge against Gun was dropped after prosecutors said they would offer no
evidence against her.
Blair told reporters Thursday the decision not to go ahead with the case was
taken by counsel on "evidential and legal grounds" and not for "other reasons."
"I played no part in the discontinuance of the prosecution," he said. "My
understanding is that it is to do with their belief that they could not secure a
conviction based on legal and technical reasons."
--
"Naturally, the common people don't want war;
neither in Russia nor in England nor in America,
nor for that matter in Germany.
That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders
of the country who determine the policy and
it is always a simple matter to drag the people
along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist
dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist
dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can
always be brought to the bidding of the leaders.
That is easy. All you have to do is tell them
they are being attacked and denounce the
pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing
the country to danger. It works the same way
in any country."
- Hermann Goering, Nazi Reichsmarshall
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=> Vox Populi wrote:
U.N.: UK spying 'illegal' if true
UNITED NATIONS (CNN) --The United Nations said alleged British spying on
Secretary-General Kofi Annan's office, if true, is illegal and must stop
immediately.
It is true. Blair issued a non-denial, which, as any politically savvy
individual knows, is an admission of the fact.
What a putz. He is one of those "I am the smartest guy I know" people
who assume that because all around him are dull, *everyone* is dull, and
therefore no one can tell he is bull#@($ting.
--
Baldin Pramer
"I've been to war, and I've been to Denny's. I'd rather have a Buick."
George Bernard Pshaw
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U.N.: UK spying 'illegal' if true
Earlier Thursday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair called Short's claims
"deeply irresponsible" and said they threatened the security of the
country.
Blair, speaking to reporters in London, refused to respond directly to
Short's
charge that UK intelligence agents had bugged Annan ahead of the war in
Iraq.
"I'm not going to comment on their operations," Blair told a news
conference.
"That should not be taken as any indication about the truth of any
particular
accusations."
Blair said intelligence agents "always act in accordance with domestic and
international law."
"Whether intentionally or not, those who do attack the work our security
services are doing undermine the essential security of this country,"
Blair
said. "The fact that those allegations were made, I think, is deeply
irresponsible."
What has 'threatened the security of our country' is the irresponsible
adventurism of Blair. The fact that he 'made allegations' about WMD should
clearly not be taken as 'any indication of the truth'.
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Scott wrote:
And yet your soldiers are being slaughtered and the UK is facing world
obloquy because you wankers sit back and let Toady Blair play obsequious
lap dog to the idiot madman Bu$h ...
Not in my name.
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Not in my name.
So you're not a Brit ?
--
"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the
name of liberalism they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program
until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how
it happened." --Norman Thomas, Socialist Party presidential candidate,
Cofounder of the American Civil Liberties Union
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