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02-26-2004, 02:31 PM | #1 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Southeastern Pennsylvania
Posts: 1,215
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British "bugging" Kofi Annan?
Just heard an odd report on PBS radio. A former Labour cabinet member said T. Blair's Government was spying on U.N. Secretary General- apparently related to the American-British invasion of Iraq, and Blair's response seemed to essentially confirm the charge.
To coin a phrase: "It's worse then a crime, it's a mistake." What possible gain could there be to make up for the obvious downside if Blair's government was caught doing this? Do they think the Secretary General was scheming against the invasion or had some sort of secret information about Iraq defenses? It seems quite odd.
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02-26-2004, 02:57 PM | #2 | |
I am Freddie/UNDERCOVER/ Founder of The Great Continent of Entmoot
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02-26-2004, 03:09 PM | #3 |
im quite stupid
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Cockermouth
Posts: 2,058
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lol i wouldnt be surprised if we have. Infact i think we did. I cannot wait to see how tony trys to wessles out of this
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02-26-2004, 03:14 PM | #4 |
the Shrike
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SWEEN! Good to see you back! *runs off with his pants*
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02-26-2004, 03:30 PM | #5 | |
im quite stupid
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Quote:
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Yeah god hes ok but i would rather be judged by a sheep than that idiot |
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02-26-2004, 03:58 PM | #6 |
The Chocoholic Sea Elf Administrator
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Is this tied with the recording material that was found a few months ago in one of the UN-buildings in Brussels?
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02-26-2004, 04:14 PM | #7 | |
I am Freddie/UNDERCOVER/ Founder of The Great Continent of Entmoot
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Come back! Come back! To Mordor we will take you! "The only thing better than a great plan is implementing a great plan" - JerseyDevil "If everyone agreed with me all the time, everything would be just fine"- JerseyDevil AboutNewJersey.com New Jersey MessageBoard Another Tolkien Forum Memorial to the Twin Towers New Jersey Map Fellowship of the Messageboard Legend of the Jersey Devil Support New Jersey's Liberty Tower Peacefire.org AboutNewJersey.com - New Jersey Travel and Tourism Guide |
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02-26-2004, 04:56 PM | #8 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Mirkwood, well actually I live in North-west Scania, Sweden
Posts: 9,481
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'What's bugging you, Kofi?'
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02-26-2004, 05:19 PM | #9 | |
I am Freddie/UNDERCOVER/ Founder of The Great Continent of Entmoot
Join Date: Dec 2001
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Come back! Come back! To Mordor we will take you! "The only thing better than a great plan is implementing a great plan" - JerseyDevil "If everyone agreed with me all the time, everything would be just fine"- JerseyDevil AboutNewJersey.com New Jersey MessageBoard Another Tolkien Forum Memorial to the Twin Towers New Jersey Map Fellowship of the Messageboard Legend of the Jersey Devil Support New Jersey's Liberty Tower Peacefire.org AboutNewJersey.com - New Jersey Travel and Tourism Guide |
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02-27-2004, 12:46 PM | #10 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Feb 2003
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Which is of course why Bush & Co. had to go running to beg him to intercede with the Grand Ayatollah Sistani to get their butts out of a sling.
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02-27-2004, 02:04 PM | #11 | |
I am Freddie/UNDERCOVER/ Founder of The Great Continent of Entmoot
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Come back! Come back! To Mordor we will take you! "The only thing better than a great plan is implementing a great plan" - JerseyDevil "If everyone agreed with me all the time, everything would be just fine"- JerseyDevil AboutNewJersey.com New Jersey MessageBoard Another Tolkien Forum Memorial to the Twin Towers New Jersey Map Fellowship of the Messageboard Legend of the Jersey Devil Support New Jersey's Liberty Tower Peacefire.org AboutNewJersey.com - New Jersey Travel and Tourism Guide |
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02-27-2004, 05:43 PM | #12 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: In me taters
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Hooray! A slagging match.
Good to see you back, Sween. The background to this is hilarious. (Well, it would be if it hadn't started a war, but hey) It came out of a court case where this woman had been sacked from GCHQ (Government spy centre). She had leaked a story that the US had requested the British help them to bug various UN targets to stop Chile and a few other countries from formulating a peace plan immediately prior to the Iraq war. They also wanted to spread disinformation about France's voting intentions in the Security Council. Now, in Britain we have a charming piece of legislation called the Official Secrets Act, which all Government employees have to sign. Thatcher brought this in after the gaff was blown on her sinking the Belgrano. Anyway, this law states that you cannot use "the national interest" as a defence against accusations of leaking classified information. So, if you discovered that the government had set up death camps for single mothers, you'd still get done for telling. So, this woman at GCHQ examines her conscience and, deciding that she is being asked to perform illegal acts, she may as well break the law anyway and tell the story. She gets sacked and prosecuted. However, the day her trial was due to start, the prosecution drops the case. The story is that the court would have to examine whether she actually was being asked to do illegal acts, which would throw the spotlight onto the legality of the government's behaviour, including the advice from the Attorney General that the war was legal in the first place (and many people here believe that it was not). So, Claire Short, the Overseas Development Minister who resigned after the Iraq war, goes on the Today programme and is asked whether there was any bugging of the Secretary General or other UN delegations. She says "well, I saw them, I read the reports" meaning that she got to see the intelligence that they derived from the bugging. John Humphries was gobsmacked. File under "Suspicions Confirmed" |
02-29-2004, 03:26 PM | #13 |
The Blobbit
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Kent, England (Not Oxford! ... yet...)
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All those surprised by the notion that MI5 was, god forbid, bugging people, say aye.
*silence* I mean really, isn't that the point of secret services... forging passports, bugging people, generally breaking international law. And hey, doesn't it kinda prove the UN is relavent... at least more than the League. Who's bugging people? Must be Claire Short. |
03-03-2004, 06:47 AM | #14 |
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Edinburgh University Library
Posts: 410
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i can't believe just how much bureacratic nonsense the intelligence services has to put up with. What is the point of trying to serve your country if you have to hide what you're doing from people in power inthe country?
That woman just bugs me. She's going to lose her job now because she told secrets concerning intelligence which is a serious breach in security. So what did she achieve? Telling the world that the secret service is spying?!?!?!?!?! Gosh, shock, horror!!!
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03-03-2004, 08:43 AM | #15 |
Lady of Letters
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Either Oxford or Kent, England
Posts: 2,476
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And with that, another potential problem for Blair fades into nothingness - Teflon Tony indeed.
I agree with Dwarven Sen and Janny though, this is hardly scandal of the century.
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And all the time the waves, the waves, the waves Chase, intersect and flatten on the sand As they have done for centuries, as they will For centuries to come, when not a soul Is left to picnic on the blazing rocks, When England is not England, when mankind Has blown himself to pieces. Still the sea, Consolingly disastrous, will return While the strange starfish, hugely magnified, Waits in the jewelled basin of a pool. |
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