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02/26/2004 Archived Entry: "Blair's in big trouble with the UN."
Blair's in big trouble with the UN.
Seems somebody was bugging Kofi Annan's conversations in the run-up to the war.
Britain bugged the office of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan before the Iraq war, an ex-cabinet minister said on Thursday, angering the United Nations and threatening a fresh crisis for Prime Minister Tony Blair."Given that the story was that the U.S....was thinking of bugging the offices of some of the non-permanent members of the Security Council, I think it's right that people in Britain should know that the UK is doing that to the secretary-general," former minister Clare Short told Channel 4 News.
The former aid minister, a critic of Blair who resigned after the war but was in government during the period when London and Washington sought U.N. authorization for military action, said Annan's office had been specifically targeted.
"In the case of Kofi's office, it was being done for some time," Short told BBC Radio. "I read some of the transcripts of the accounts of his conversations."
She also said Britain received transcripts of Annan's phone calls but declined to say which country was doing the bugging.
Blair, already under pressure over his handling of the war, declined to address her complaint beyond saying British security services acted within domestic and international law.
But U.N. chief spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters: "We want this action to stop if indeed it has been carried out."
"It undermines the secretary-general's conduct of business with other leaders. It is therefore not good for the United Nations' work and it is illegal," he said in New York.
Replies: 2 people speak up
I just watched a clip from the BBC on Blair's non-response to this very serious allegation: disgraceful. Blair has now shown himself to be nothing more than a liberal, articulate version of Bush.
Blair's whining that British intelligence agencies are charged to defend the security of Britain fails to address the egregious insult to the UN. He's pathetic. He sold his soul to Bush, he is trash.
Posted by Metropolitan99 @ 02/26/2004 07:41 PM NY
does anyone else see any connections between this and the recent revelations (although anyone paying attention already knew) about Project Echelon?
wait a second, isnt there some kind of treaty against spying in the UN? oh wait, i remember now, treaties dont apply to the united states, they never have, since the very beginning... to quote Sitting Bull "What treaty that the white man ever made with us have they kept?" well, im waiting, name one....
Posted by justin @ 02/27/2004 10:46 AM NY
