WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2004-02-26 Posted By: Jan
From the News Archives of: WWW.AfricanCrisis.Org
Date & Time Posted: 2/26/2004 3:52:36 PM
Britain spied on Kofi Annan illegally
[I think Kofi Annan is an idiot. But then again so is much of the UN. What a waste of money that organisation is. They achieve so little.
So here he comes from a loser African nation. If he’s any good why doesn’t he solve the problems in his own country? Jan]
London – Britain spied on United Nations chief Kofi Annan before the invasion of Iraq, former minister Clare Short said on Thursday, threatening a fresh crisis for Prime Minister Tony Blair as he tries in vain to put the conflict behind him.
Blair declined to address the claim, beyond saying British security services acted within domestic and international law.
But the UN declared any such operation would be illegal.
“This is something which is not entirely surprising,” Andreas Nicklisch, deputy director of the UN’s Brussels office said. “It’s illegal of course, but it’s also unnecessary because we work in complete transparency and openness.”
Short’s allegation comes a day after Britain dropped charges against a translator who admitted leaking a top-secret United States document seeking the British government’s help in bugging United Nations members in the run-up to the invasion.
The former aid minister, who resigned after the invasion but was in government during the period when Britain and America sought UN authorisation 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.”
Blair reacted angrily to his now frequent critic, saying she was undermining the intelligence services and British security as it faced a real threat from ruthless Islamic militants.
‘It’s illegal of course’
“The fact that those allegations were made is deeply irresponsible,” he told a news conference at Downing Street. “We are going to be in a very dangerous situation as a country if people feel they can simply spill out secrets or details of security operations, whether false or true.”
Iraq has become a political nightmare for Blair. Ten months after Saddam Hussein was toppled, none of the banned weapons Blair claimed Iraq had primed for use has been found.
The premier’s public trust ratings have slumped and many in his Labour Party feel betrayed to the point of mutiny.
Bob Worcester of pollsters Mori said Blair remains favourite to win a third term at next year’s election but with a halved majority of 60-80 in the 659-seat parliament, from 161 now.
That could spell danger, leaving him at the mercy of a hardcore of some 50 Labour MPs so opposed to the invasion they are ready to fight him on any number of issues.
“Until the boil of the truth about Iraq is lanced, the prime minister can never put this behind him,” Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn said.
On Wednesday, state prosecutors said they had insufficient evidence to prove 29-year-old translator Katharine Gun broke the Official Secrets Act although she freely admitted leaking a memo which she said revealed a US plot to spy on UN missions.
At the time of the memo, Britain and the US were desperately trying to persuade wavering members of the Security Council to vote in favour of war against Iraq.
Blair’s opponents believe the government’s top lawyer, Attorney-General Lord Goldsmith, killed the case for fear that questions about the war’s legality would be raised.
Goldsmith denied the case was dropped for political reasons, or that he took the decision.
“At the time we started military action it was my own considered view that military action was lawful,” he told parliament. “I believe today it was the correct legal position.”
Blair’s spokesperson said the government would review the Official Secrets Act to see if it needed amending.
Gun, who worked at surveillance centre GCHQ, said she exposed “illegality and wrongdoing on the part of the US government, who attempted to subvert our own security services”.
The Observer newspaper said her leaked memo showed America had wanted Britain’s help to bug the offices of Security Council members – Chile, Mexico, Cameroon, Angola, Guinea and Pakistan.
Some diplomats were philosophical. In New York, Spain’s UN ambassador Innocencio Arias shrugged and said: “Everybody spies on everybody.”
Additional reporting by Quentin Webb
Source: IOL
URL: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=79&ar…br>