Australia 'party to bugging of UN'

[rooboy]

Australia was party to spying on the United Nations, including Secretary-General Kofi Annan, to assist the lobbying campaign for launching the war against Iraq.

Intelligence community sources confirmed that the Howard Government received details of the UN bugging, in response to revelations to be published in a book by a senior Australian intelligence analyst turned whistleblower, Andrew Wilkie.

The book, which has been vetted by the Attorney-General's Department and had some details censored on national security grounds, also states that:

Australian agencies gathered intelligence on the US Administration and reported that allegations of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction and links to terrorists were not the main reasons it wanted to invade Iraq.

The Opposition was deliberately misled during briefings by intelligence agencies in the lead-up to the war, with facts undermining the Government's position omitted.

The Government knowingly presented false intelligence to the public that exaggerated the threat that Saddam Hussein posed.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/06/18/1087245106216.html?oneclick=true

[Spazito]

1. More bad news for Howard, awww, gee, too bad, so sad....

I hope he gets his ass handed to him by the Australian voters.

[salin]

2. bushco intent to pull down all of his allies?

as they really are irrelevant - he just needed them initially to create the image of support to sell his war to the American public.

[Judi Lynn]

3. This is one great article, rooboy! Sorry to say, you've been infected by

some corruption which appears to have had its birth here. Bad news. Good article.

From the story:

Mr Wilkie did confirm that Australia was also "party to the organised use of UN agencies as a cover for covert activities".

The Howard Government had placed the US high on its official "National Foreign Intelligence Assessment Priorities" list guiding spy agencies, he said. "Mr Howard and Alexander Downer knew exactly why the US was going to war and that terrorism and WMD was not the most important part of the reason," Mr Wilkie said.

The US wanted to gain control of oil reserves, reinforce its global power ascendancy, respond to domestic political considerations after the September 11 attacks and influence the shape of the Middle East, he said. Confidential US Administration information was obtained from sources and contacts, then communicated back to Australia in diplomatic cables, he said.
(snip)

The Government manipulated the flow of intelligence information to the Opposition, Mr Wilkie said, ensuring only material supporting its policies was conveyed.
(snip)

The fact this information has been released is one giant step forward.

[venus]

5. If this is true, I'm scared. n/t

[rooboy]

6. Don't be.

At some point, the US will need to recruit enough soldiers to do all of this, and as soon as they start the draft the end will begin. Bush is only surviving because the American middle class is largely disengaged from politics - a draft will bring them into play.

You can only be so tough when you're picking fights you don't participate in.

[tom_paine]

4. I predicted immediately after the Bloodless Coup of 2000

that Evil Behavior by goverments and Totalitarianism would enjoyt a resuragence thanks to Imperial Amerika.

This has definitely occurred, expecially in Comrade Putin's Russia.

[struggle4progress]

7. Howie and Bushie caught together with their pants down.

:evilgrin:

[DulceDecorum]

8. "Five-eyes"

In Axis of Deceit, Mr Wilkie confirms a former British cabinet member's claims that sensitive UN communications were intercepted in the lead-up to the war. The Age has confirmed that the interceptions were made by a five-way electronic intelligence gathering and sharing network made up of Australia, Britain, the US, New Zealand and Canada.
"The UN was monitored and assessed with almost as much vigour as Iraq itself," Mr Wilkie writes. Australia, US and Britain also placed spies inside UN organisations, including weapons inspection teams, to collect intelligence.
His book states that "there was a deliberate and official campaign to eavesdrop on the most sensitive UN communications during the lead-up to the war".
"The UN was spied on at the highest level," Mr Wilkie told The Age. "I am not able to speak in any detail, I am not able to say what was edited from the book."
He would say only that Australia was part of the "five-eyes" arrangement, a global system of communications interceptions (including Australian ground stations). Intelligence sources confirmed that the arrangement was used to spy on the UN.
Mr Wilkie did confirm that Australia was also "party to the organised use of UN agencies as a cover for covert activities".
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/06/18/1087245106216.html?oneclick=true