Spy case casts fresh doubt on war legality

[NoPasaran]

Dramatic new evidence pointing to serious doubts in the government about the legality of the war in Iraq was passed to government lawyers shortly before they abandoned the prosecution of the GCHQ whistleblower Katharine Gun.
The prosecution offered no evidence yesterday against Ms Gun, a former GCHQ employee, despite her admitting that she leaked information about an American spying operation at the UN in the run-up to the war.

-snip-

But the Guardian has learned that a key plank of the defence presented to the prosecutors shortly before they decided to abandon the case was new evidence that the legality of the war had been questioned by the Foreign Office.

It is contained in a document seen by the Guardian. Sensitive passages are blacked out, but one passage says: "The defence believes that the advice given by the Foreign Office Legal Adviser expressed serious doubts about the legality (in international law) of committing British troops in the absence of a second resolution."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1156539,00.html

[ixion]

1. there were still doubts?

I thought it was a pretty well known fact that they lied their a**es off. :eyes:

[grytpype]

2. Wow. This is huge.

[mike_c]

3. you know, what distresses me the most about the events...

...and lies of the last three years is that as they drip, drip, drip out into the light of day, to the extent that most people pay attention to them at all they will focus on the revelations themselves and NOT on the conspiracy of dishonesty and secrecy that our governments have perpetrated. That leaves those same avenues of lies and machinations open to the next group of self-serving politians and their hangers on.

[Cooley Hurd]

4. This story's been out for a year...

I remember how incredulous I was that no one seemed to give a crap that the UN delegates were being spied on and being blackmailed to try to influence their vote on Iraq.

I wonder how many senators were treated the same way to influence their Iraq vote?

[CHIMO]

5. This

Is a smoking gun!

"Our case was that any advice the government received on the legality of war was relevant to Katharine's case and we were prepared to go before a judge and argue for it to be disclosed," he said.
She felt she had no choice but to do what she did. The UN was being undermined. She thought about the destruction of people's lives in Iraq.


She remembered her husband telling her: "Do nothing and die, or fight and die."

There comes a time...

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

6. Daniel Elsberg (of Pentagon Papers fame) spoke thus on NPR

on Morning Edition...2/26
http://www.npr.org/rundowns/segment.php?wfId=1698989

He says essentially: He wished he had had the guts in 1964 to do what she did last year. He sounds very depressed about holding out until 1971 with the secrets.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Update on your article

Short: UK spied on Kofi Annan

Martin Nicholls and agencies
Thursday February 26, 2004

British agents spied on the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, in the run-up to the Iraqi war, former international development secretary Clare Short claimed today.

Ms Short made the claim while being interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Today programme about the implications of the collapse of the Official Secrets Act case against GCHQ whistleblower Katharine Gun.

Asked whether British agencies had been involved in spying activities against Mr Annan, Ms Short - who quit the cabinet in protest against the war - said: "I know, I have seen transcripts of Kofi Annan's conversations.

"Indeed, I have 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'."
(snip/...)

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12956,1156694,00.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[maddezmom]

8. big news on CNNI and BBC this am

[Kellanved]

9. wow

That is really pretty much. I really wonder what Blair was thinking. Spying on the UN, not only other delegations, but the UN itself...
I wonder who planted the bugs at the EU comission :eyes:

IMHO you should repost that as it's own thread, it goes way beyond the original article.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. the "spying on Annan" news already has its own new thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x385617

[Kellanved]

11. ahh, thanks

The title of that thread is somewhat anticlimatic.

[0007]

12. A real classic picture of - The Gentleman and the Jerk

The only thing missing to making this picture complete, would be for junior to be wearing white socks.

[DoYouEverWonder]

13. The orders for this spying operation came from the WH

Blair & Co were just willing co-conspirators. It all started with a memo from a top official at NSA on orders from Ms. Condoleezza Rice herself.


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.

<snip>

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.


http://observer.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12239,905936,00.html

[Barrett808]

14. Bush: "Ooh, international law, let me get my lawyers." n/t

n/t