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KevinTheOmnivore KevinTheOmnivore is offline
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Old Mar 1st, 2003, 09:55 PM        UN full of potential terrorists
http://www.observer.co.uk/iraq/story...905936,00.html

Revealed: US dirty tricks to win vote on Iraq war

Secret document details American plan to bug phones and emails of key Security Council members

Martin Bright, Ed Vulliamy in New York and Peter Beaumont
Sunday March 2, 2003
The Observer

The United States is conducting a secret 'dirty tricks' campaign against UN Security Council delegations in New York as part of its battle to win votes in favour of war against Iraq.
Details of the aggressive surveillance operation, which involves interception of the home and office telephones and the emails of UN delegates in New York, are revealed in a document leaked to The Observer.

The disclosures were made in a memorandum written by a top official at the National Security Agency - the US body which intercepts communications around the world - and circulated to both senior agents in his organisation and to a friendly foreign intelligence agency asking for its input.

The memo describes orders to staff at the agency, whose work is clouded in secrecy, to step up its surveillance operations 'particularly directed at... UN Security Council Members (minus US and GBR, of course)' to provide up-to-the-minute intelligence for Bush officials on the voting intentions of UN members regarding the issue of Iraq.

The leaked memorandum 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 - the so-called 'Middle Six' delegations whose votes 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, led by France, China and Russia.

The memo is directed at senior NSA officials and advises them that the agency is 'mounting a surge' aimed at gleaning information not only on how delegations on the Security Council will vote on any second resolution on Iraq, but also 'policies', 'negotiating positions', 'alliances' and 'dependencies' - the 'whole gamut of information that could give US policymakers an edge in obtaining results favourable to US goals or to head off surprises'.

Dated 31 January 2003, the memo was circulated four days after the UN's chief weapons inspector Hans Blix produced his interim report on Iraqi compliance with UN resolution 1441.

It was sent by Frank Koza, chief of staff in the 'Regional Targets' section of the NSA, which spies on countries that are viewed as strategically important for United States interests.

Koza specifies that the information will be used for the US's 'QRC' - Quick Response Capability - 'against' the key delegations.

Suggesting the levels of surveillance of both the office and home phones of UN delegation members, Koza also asks regional managers to make sure that their staff also 'pay attention to existing non-UN Security Council Member UN-related and domestic comms [office and home telephones] for anything useful related to Security Council deliberations'.

Koza also addresses himself to the foreign agency, saying: 'We'd appreciate your support in getting the word to your analysts who might have similar more indirect access to valuable information from accesses in your product lines [ie, intelligence sources].' Koza makes clear it is an informal request at this juncture, but adds: 'I suspect that you'll be hearing more along these lines in formal channels.'

Disclosure of the US operation comes in the week that Blix will make what many expect to be his final report to the Security Council.

It also comes amid increasingly threatening noises from the US towards undecided countries on the Security Council who have been warned of the unpleasant economic consequences of standing up to the US.

Sources in Washington familiar with the operation said last week that there had been a division among Bush administration officials over whether to pursue such a high-intensity surveillance campaign with some warning of the serious consequences of discovery.

The existence of the surveillance operation, understood to have been requested by President Bush's National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, is deeply embarrassing to the Americans in the middle of their efforts to win over the undecided delegations.

The language and content of the memo were judged to be authentic by three former intelligence operatives shown it by The Observer. We were also able to establish that Frank Koza does work for the NSA and could confirm his senior post in the Regional Targets section of the organisation.

The NSA main switchboard put The Observer through to extension 6727 at the agency which was answered by an assistant, who confirmed it was Koza's office. However, when The Observer asked to talk to Koza about the surveillance of diplomatic missions at the United Nations, it was then told 'You have reached the wrong number'.

On protesting that the assistant had just said this was Koza's extension, the assistant repeated that it was an erroneous extension, and hung up.

While many diplomats at the UN assume they are being bugged, the memo reveals for the first time the scope and scale of US communications intercepts targeted against the New York-based missions.

The disclosure comes at a time when diplomats from the countries have been complaining about the outright 'hostility' of US tactics in recent days to persuade then to fall in line, including threats to economic and aid packages.

The operation appears to have been spotted by rival organisations in Europe. 'The Americans are being very purposeful about this,' said a source at a European intelligence agency when asked about the US surveillance efforts.
-30-
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Old Mar 2nd, 2003, 08:17 AM       
Only a TERRORIST would post a thing like this...
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Old Mar 2nd, 2003, 09:43 AM       
If this turns out to be true (and I don't think the Observer is lieing, but it is possible the document itself is a hoax of some kind) it will be the first concrete example of the kind of intelligence abuse that I am pretty sure is irresistible to the Bush administration.
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Old Mar 2nd, 2003, 02:06 PM       
I don't know if I find this to be sooo shocking, but it made me think of 1948 and UNSCOMP. The pre-Israeli government did exactly the same thing to the UN inspection committee that would ultimately decide upon what was then mandate Palestine.

Really the U.S. is probably doing it in order to pander to the wants and needs of these nations, rather than simply to be "devious." However, the path to hell.....
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Old Mar 2nd, 2003, 06:16 PM       
I have yet to see this mentioned on any news station - has anyone else?
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Old Mar 2nd, 2003, 06:27 PM       
I have, but then I'm foreign, like the article. :/
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Old Mar 3rd, 2003, 02:45 AM       
home of the free, indeed.
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Old Mar 3rd, 2003, 03:01 AM       
Not that this is the beacon of truth, BUT....


http://www.drudgereport.com/matt.htm


XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN MARCH 02, 2003 12:28:35 ET XXXXX

STANDING FIRM: BUT PAPER ADMITS TRANSLATION GOOF; WORDS IN ALLEGED NSA EMAIL ALTERED FOR BRITISH SPELLING

London's OBSERVER newssheet altered words of a "top secret" email from a alleged National Security Agency worker -- an email which detailed a U.S. plan to spy on key U.N. Security Council members!

"The email was originally transcribed with English spellings standardised for a British audience," the paper claimed on Sunday after the DRUDGE REPORT revealed the oddity of an American government worker typing favorable as 'favourable', recognize as 'recognise' and emphasize as 'emphasise'.

MORE

Other errors also appeared in the paper's online document of the purported email text. The spelling of the NSA official's name was strangely changed from "Frank Koza" to "Frank Kozu"; and the top secret marker of "Top Secret//COMINT//XL" should have read "Top Secret//COMINT//X1" to conform to any government coding.

The multiple errors immediately ignited questions about the authenticity of the email and raised credibility issues over the entire OBSERVER report.

"Secret document details American plan to bug phones and emails of key Security Council members ahead of crucial vote over war on Iraq,' splashed the OBSERVER in a world exclusive.

The compelling report took more than 3 weeks to develop, research and confirm, an OBSERVER insider said on Sunday.

Spelling alterations and typographical slip-ups not withstanding, editors of the OBSERVER are standing tough behind the results of the paper's investigation.

Impacting...

-----------------------------------------------------------
Filed By Matt Drudge
Reports are moved when circumstances warrant
http://www.drudgereport.com for updates
(c)DRUDGE REPORT 2003
Not for reproduction without permission of the author
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Ronnie Raygun Ronnie Raygun is offline
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Old Mar 3rd, 2003, 06:45 AM       
HAHA!
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Old Mar 3rd, 2003, 11:12 AM       
Is Naldo laughing at

A: The humour of Matt Drudge
B: Silly British spelling
C: Kevin taking an English News Report seriously
D: Spying on the Security Council
E: "HA HA" when written by Naldo should no more be confused with laughter or context than the barking of a Sea Lion.
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Old Mar 3rd, 2003, 11:25 AM       
So, Ronnie, you feel it would be wrong to spy on them?

"Please say yes."
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KevinTheOmnivore KevinTheOmnivore is offline
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Old Mar 3rd, 2003, 01:06 PM       
HAHA!
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Old Mar 3rd, 2003, 06:09 PM       
So far as I know, The Nation is the only American newsoutlet currently carrying this story, which is wierd.
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KevinTheOmnivore KevinTheOmnivore is offline
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Old Mar 3rd, 2003, 07:12 PM       
What's especially weird is that I haven't seen the major American outlets even denouncing the information as factually inaccurate. WUTS UP WIT DAT!?
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Old Mar 4th, 2003, 01:44 PM       
Today the AP wire i carrying the story, and most major US news outlets. They pretty much have to as it was a major topic of discussion today at the UN. As far as I can tell from my reading so far, we do not deny or confirm the spying. The general reaction at the UN is not outrage, but "This is par for the course, and we pretty much assume that you spy on us all the time."

More to the point is what sort of information are we spying for and what do we do with it once we get it. That and we're shitty hosts.
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KevinTheOmnivore KevinTheOmnivore is offline
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Old Mar 4th, 2003, 01:55 PM       
Quote:
Originally Posted by mburbank
As far as I can tell from my reading so far, we do not deny or confirm the spying. The general reaction at the UN is not outrage, but "This is par for the course, and we pretty much assume that you spy on us all the time."
Every other nation was assuming this, or we were assuming that they likewise spy on us...? Like I said previously, the historical precedent IS there. But like the old saying goes, two wrongs....
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