British intelligence spied on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in the run-up to the Iraq war, former British cabinet minister Clare Short said. "Yes, absolutely... These things are done, and in the case of Kofi’s office it’s been done for some time," said Short in an interview on BBC radio, adding that she had read transcripts of Annan’s conversations. Short, one of the longest-serving members of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government, quit as secretary for international development in May last year in protest over the Iraq war.
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Blair was to hold his regular monthly press conference at Downing Street later Thursday. Ahead of his press conference, a Downing Street spokesman told AFP: "We never comment on intelligence matters." He added: "Our intelligence and security agencies act in accordance with national and international law at all times"
On Wednesday, prosecutors in London dropped their case against Katharine Gun, a British intelligence translator who had leaked a US intelligence memo requesting Britain’s help in spying on non-aligned UN Security Council members. The top-secret memo was sent in January last year, when Britain and the United States were trying to get a green light from the United Nations to launch the invasion of Iraq. Angola, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea and Pakistan were the UN Security Council members named in the memo from the UN National Security Agency as targets of the eavesdropping effort.
Prosecutors said they were dropping their case against Gun because they felt they did not have enough evidence to secure a conviction. But Gun’s lawyers speculated that the real reason was because a trial would have forced the government to reveal details of Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith’s controversial legal opinion in support of the Iraq war. Short’s sensational claim emerged during an interview on BBC radio’s "Today" programme about the Gun case. "Spying in the United Nations is quite different, isn’t it?" she was asked. Short replied: "Well indeed, but these things are done, and in the case of Kofi’s office it’s been done for some time."
Interviewer: "Let me repeat the question. Do you believe Britain has been involved in it?"
Short: "Well, I know. I’ve seen transcripts of Kofi Annan’s conversations. In fact I’ve had conversations with Kofi in the run-up to war, thinking: ’Oh dear, there will be a transcript of this and people will see what he and I are saying’."
Interviewer: "So in other words, British spies ... have been instructed to carry out operations within the UN on people like Kofi Annan."
Short: "Yes, absolutely."
Interviewer: "Did you know about this when you were in government?"
Short: "Absolutely. I read some of the transcripts of the accounts of his conversations."
Interviewer: "Is this legal?"
Short: "I don’t know. I presume so. It’s odd. I don’t know about the legalities." She went on to say that the real issue, in her opinion, was the broader legality of the Iraq war. |