U.S. bugged Princess Diana's telephone without British permission on night of her death

[Initech]

US bugged Diana's phone on night of death crash


Mark Townsend and Peter Allen in Paris
Sunday December 10, 2006
The Observer

The American secret service was bugging Princess Diana's telephone conversations without the approval of the British security services on the night she died, according to the most comprehensive report on her death, to be published this week.

Among extraordinary details due to emerge in the report by former Metropolitan police commissioner Lord Stevens is the revelation that the US security service was bugging her calls in the hours before she was killed in a car crash in Paris.

<snip>

The inquiry will support the findings of the original French accident inquiry in criticising the paparazzi as a possible reason for encouraging Paul to speed. The 'bright light' theory - the claim that the driver was deliberately blinded by a beam immediately before the crash - is also dismissed by Stevens.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1968664,00.html

:yoiks:

[William769]

1. Why would the Secret Service be bugging her phone.

Was Bill getting it on with Diana also? :sarcasm:

[Buzz Clik]

2. this makes no sense whatsoever,

but I'm sure the tinfoil helmet crew will explain this...

[marmar]

3. Linda Tripp?

Trying to coerce Diana to put on a dress and head to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?

[Kutjara]

4. In the time-honored tradition of this type of inquiry...

...it raises more questions that it answers.

- Henri Paul's blood sample was mixed-up but the mixup didn't affect the results.

- Diana's Mercedes hit the Fiat Uno, but the Uno didn't contribute to the crash.

- The NSA was eavesdropping on Diana, but we have to take their word for it that her death was unrelated to their activities.

- Henri Paul was a French intelligence agent, but this isn't important.

Whatever the reality of Diana's death, the idea that this inquiry will discourage conspiracy theorists is ridiculous. It's given them fodder for the next ten years.

[OzarkDem]

5. They owe everyone an explanation

not that we'll get it..

[Traveling_Home]

6. Diana was in France - Why inform British Intelligence? n/t

[leveymg]

7. Why would U.S. intel have any interest in her? Someone explain that, please.

Or, was this an Echelon-type operation, in which we were bugging one of their nationals as part of a reciprocal surveillance agreement? This report would seem to refute that explanation, which is the only one that makes sense at first glance.

[leveymg]

8. Self-delete. Dupe

[silverlil]

9. Diana was murdered

I dont care what this lot says. All I want to see, is a statue of Princess Diana in Trafalgar Square.
Her 2 sons are apparently going to put together a huge rock thing on her birthday next year. And yes, I realize they are both in the Army now and Diana would be so proud. Having said that, William and Harry are both grown men now. However, I still want a statue of Diana in London. There will be no statue as long as the asshole - penniless Prince Philip is alive, he saw Diana off. I went to see Diana in her lonely grave. I cant talk about it, I choke up, just like when it comes down to JFK, RFK and MLK.

[Raine]

10. Weird

this whole thing doesn't make sense, something was going on.

[silverlil]

16. I agree

It is all strange. This is aa UK thing, and I do not know why she was murdered and I am liar now aren't I? Diana fell in love with a Pakistan doctor who lived in London I am very angry with the Royal Family and I dont know what to make of them anymore. Dad took mum and I to London to see the coronation and we stood for 30 hours in the pouring rain to see this happen, and we were completely surrounded by Americans and Canadians (little did I know I would marry an US military man years later).
Diana was taken out from within. The man she was dating when she was murdered, was not the man she was in love with. And the royal family would have none of that. My british empires pisses me off, just like America kicked the british empire to the curb back in 1776.

I still do not understand the american fascination with the british royal family, but americans stood beside us when the Queen was crowned and stood for 30 hours! Unbelieve, but it happened.I was there.

Besides seeing the Queen twice on that day, I got to see Winston Churchill, along with 'Ike'

and 'Monty'. And the point of my post is that Diana changed the royal family, but 'they... the firm ' did not like it.

And the Queen is going to come to Virginia next year... Williamsburg, Jamestown and the whole nine yards --- 400 years to look back on.... gosh I hope she will not be stuck with President Bush again.

[Tsiyu]

24. Sounds like you've led an interesting life, Silverlil

In '97, I guess it was, I had a number of interesting conversations about Diana, jamming in pubs all over London and Cornwall and at the Square and Compass, which i believe was in Dorset (Werth Matravers?)

So many different speculations and opinions opened my eyes.

:hi:

[SeattleGirl]

11. What possible interest could the Secret Service have in Diana?

Georgie Boy wasn't in office then, so I doubt they would have considered her a "turrest". Except, she WAS dating a brown-skinned man with a "furren" sounding name. Hmmmmm.

Okay, I'm being a bit tongue-in-cheek here, but really, why in the HELL would the American SS be interested in Diana's phone calls?

[Selatius]

12. Only Clinton could answer your question, since he was in the WH at the time.

The only big issue I know that the US opposed Diana on was over the issue of her campaign to ban landmines. The US government was not pleased with her campaign, and it communicated its position repeatedly to her.

From a war profiteer's perspective, a lot of money could be lost if he is no longer able to make landmines. They're cheap, easy to produce, and sell in large numbers. Outside of AK-47s and hand grenades, landmines are perhaps one of the best sellers arms dealers and smugglers could offer to willing customers.

And the largest arms dealer on the planet is the US government.

[SeattleGirl]

13. I wonder, though, if even Clinton could answer the question.

I have a strong feeling that the SS, the FBI, and the CIA may be doing -- and probably ARE doing -- things that the President doesn't know about. I'm not a big tin foil hatter, but I do think it's possible that these agencies are doing things that perhaps only a few people know about.

[Selatius]

14. I'm pretty sure Clinton would have to OK spying on somebody that prominent and well-known.

There's no way you could launch an operation to spy on Diana without a large number of technicians, field agents, and station chiefs being involved. Somebody would leak sooner or later, and they always do. A rogue operation is called a "rogue operation" for a reason: Because it could possibly endanger other "legitimate" operations that are currently running as well as take away resources from those operations.

No, I'm pretty sure Clinton himself OK'd surveillance of somebody BIG like Diana. Do you honestly think we would spy on a major head of state without Clinton knowing about it? Clinton is a lot of things, but he isn't incompetent.

BTW, I added some more stuff to my previous post.

[SeattleGirl]

15. I agree with what you added to your previous post.

And you are probably right, Clinton would have had to okay the spying. Still, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me, unless the government was blindly angry at Diana for her campaign against landminds.

It's no wonder I was not able to get a job, even at the local government level. I think too much.

[Missy M]

20. I don't think President Clinton would have known anything...

about it. Don't forget Hoover spied on JFK while he was president and I'm sure JFK didn't authorize it. Those agencies seem to be a nation onto themselves.

[Selatius]

25. That's because JFK had no control over Hoover.

Are you saying Clinton had no control over the SS?

[silverlil]

18. From within

America did not kill Diana. No way, end of story. Diana went on a couple of trips to the 'med' taking the heir to the british throne with her, and staying on the
boat/ship with the most hated Arab in England, yes he owns 'Harrods' but with all of his money, he cannot 'buy' english citizenship. It was a bad judgement position that Diana made, but after she left Charles, her phone was 'tapped', and yes in Kensington Palace. She knew she was being tapped and watched, but sadly, she refused royal protection. Diana also had the bitch Camilla to deal with.

I loved Princess Diana, and I always will.

And to the person that mentioned President Clinton because it happened on his watch when Diana was murdered, you need to rethink your position because it was carried out internally within brtish government and the penniless Prince was behind it. This is my story and I am sticking with it.

[Selatius]

19. I never asserted the US government had a hand in her death, but the fact remains...

the US government was simply not going to listen to Diana on her insistence on banning landmines. As far as the US government was concerned, the discussion was dead. The US was going to keep producing landmines and selling them, period.

[CJCRANE]

17. Maybe it's sloppy journalism -

I take "secret service" to be used in the British sense of secret intelligence service (i.e. CIA or NSA?) not as in Secret Service.

[originalpckelly]

21. Yes, that's correct. They probably mean the NSA which had(s)

ECHELON.

You are absolutely correct, uncapitalized "secret service" is like uncapitalized democratic. It's a different word that Secret Service or Democratic.

In Britain, it isn't sloppy journalism, however, this is of interest to Americans so they should have put it in American English.

[Roland99]

22. Just saw that story on ABC. JFK, RFK, MLK, Lennon... Princess Diana, too?

[demobrit]

23. Rest in peace Diana

[Lipton64]

26. I heard this on a radio-show the other month......

I think it was over the summer on this show with this libertarian host named Rollye James. It was either her or Art Bell who brought up the topic. I think they referenced a book with regards to it. I have no idea why the U.S. would be "monitoring" Diana's movements but they said the NSA was involved in tracking. They claimed, assuming my memory serves me right, that it was done at the request of MI6. I'm going to assume for a minute that this is another way that the British can keep track of its dissidents without violating its constitution's privacy laws by letting the Americans "watch" their "questionable" citizens much as the United States probably gets the U.K., Canada, Germany, France, Australia, Japan, etc. to keep watch on radicals, possible foreign agents, and other "subversive and criminal elements" within our borders without violating the right to privacy. Of course the info. is shared over private channels but since it's a foreign intelligence agency actually "doing the deed" the NSA/CIA can get away with spying on Americans and MI6 vice-versa by relying on "allies" to do the dirty work.....