-Caveat Lector-
http://truthout.org/docs_03/030603B.shtml
Editor's Note: This is a massive story internationally, and
yet there has been virtually no coverage of it here in the States.
- wrp
US Refuses to Comment on Report of 'Dirty Tricks' to Win UN
Vote on Iraq
by the Agence France Presse
Tuesday 4 March 2003
The United States steadfastly refused to comment on a report
it is waging a secret "dirty tricks" campaign against UN Security
Council members to win votes for a resolution opening the way for
war against Iraq.
Neither the White House nor the State Department would be
drawn into making any statement on the report in London's Observer
newspaper that said it had obtained a document detailing US
surveillance of the home and office telephones and e-mails of UN
delegates.
"The administration never comments on anything involving any
people involved in intelligence," White House spokesman Ari
Fleischer said. "The administration does not answer questions of
that nature."
At the State Department, spokesman Richard Boucher repeatedly
declined to respond to questions about the report and stayed mum
even when asked if he could deny it.
"It doesn't matter what the paper is or whether it's true or
not, I wouldn't have any comment on that kind of allegation," he
told reporters.
"I would not have any comment whatsoever on that kind of
question or allegation because we never comment on intelligence
matters, and I'm not going to do it now," Boucher said.
The paper said the disclosures were made in a memorandum
written by a top official at the National Security Agency (NSA),
the US body which intercepts communications around the world, and
circulated to senior agents in his organization and to a friendly
foreign intelligence agency.
The memo describes orders to staff at the agency to step up
surveillance "particularly directed at ... UN Security Council
members" to provide up-to-the-minute intelligence on the voting
intentions of UN members regarding the issue of Iraq, according to
the Observer.
The leaked memorandum, dated January 31, makes clear that the
target of the heightened surveillance efforts are the delegations
from Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Mexico, Guinea and Pakistan at the UN
headquarters in New York, it said.
Along with Spain and the United States, Britain has sponsored
a new UN resolution declaring Iraq in non-compliance with earlier
UN demands that it disarm, which would in effect authorize the use
of force against the Baghdad regime.
The resolution needs nine votes to pass while avoiding a veto
by any of the five permanent members, and Britain and the US are
lobbying feverishly for support.
The votes of the so-called "middle six" delegations are being
fought over by the pro-war party, led by the US and Britain, and
the party arguing for more time for UN inspections in Iraq, led by
France, China and Russia.
Chile's foreign minister Soledad Alvear ordered Chile's
embassy in London to look into The Observer's claims after meeting
with Chile's UN Ambassador Juan Gabriel Valdes and Chilean
President Ricardo Lagos.
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material
is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes.)
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