Dirty Tricks
I didn't want to comment on this right away, but basically here's what it says:
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 is here. The thing is, I wanted to develop an opinion on it based on the memo itself, but I had not the experience or know-how in order to put it in context.
So I e-mailed my history professor, Ed Segel, who is extremely intelligent and, being a diplomatic historian, reads things like this often and would know how to interpret it. Here's his reaction:
Thanks for the reference. There is a long tradition in diplomacy of spying on one's interlocutors at a conference - seduce the chambermaids, steal the contents of wastebaskets, etc. - so, as with other aspects of Bush foreign policy, in principle this isn't so new. It's the manner and intensity which are disturbing in themselves and offensive to others. The administration has been very heavy-handed in many respects for some time, most of all re Iraq, and this tactic - while arguably not all that helpful in garnering votes in the UN - will probably only increase anti-American suspicion and hostility. Oh well - it may be a sign of the admin.'s desperation.
I'm hoping the administration is desperate in this. It may be our best hope. Honestly, I think this whole Iraq thing is imploding around the administration, and killing them. Bush said he doesn't care about the anti-war marches, but he does. He had to address it. He's backed himself into a corner with no good way out with his constant warmongering and unilateral action. The only problem is that before he falls, a lot more innocent people could die, and trillions of US dollars will go into the best Al Qaeda recruitment program money can buy.
I didn't want to comment on this right away, but basically here's what it says:
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 is here. The thing is, I wanted to develop an opinion on it based on the memo itself, but I had not the experience or know-how in order to put it in context.
So I e-mailed my history professor, Ed Segel, who is extremely intelligent and, being a diplomatic historian, reads things like this often and would know how to interpret it. Here's his reaction:
Thanks for the reference. There is a long tradition in diplomacy of spying on one's interlocutors at a conference - seduce the chambermaids, steal the contents of wastebaskets, etc. - so, as with other aspects of Bush foreign policy, in principle this isn't so new. It's the manner and intensity which are disturbing in themselves and offensive to others. The administration has been very heavy-handed in many respects for some time, most of all re Iraq, and this tactic - while arguably not all that helpful in garnering votes in the UN - will probably only increase anti-American suspicion and hostility. Oh well - it may be a sign of the admin.'s desperation.
I'm hoping the administration is desperate in this. It may be our best hope. Honestly, I think this whole Iraq thing is imploding around the administration, and killing them. Bush said he doesn't care about the anti-war marches, but he does. He had to address it. He's backed himself into a corner with no good way out with his constant warmongering and unilateral action. The only problem is that before he falls, a lot more innocent people could die, and trillions of US dollars will go into the best Al Qaeda recruitment program money can buy.
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