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February 26, 2004

Clare Short, the former Secretary of International Development in the Blair Cabinet who resigned in protest to Britain's participation in the US invasion of Iraq, has delivered a bombshell in an interview with the BBC.  Ms. Short has made astounding allegations that British intelligence agents spied on United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan in the lead up to the war.  Mr. Annan is only one of many individuals attached to the UN Security Council that were targeted.

What is even more amazing is Mr. Blair's response, which unlike previous passionate and unequivocal denials that he manipulated intelligence, seems more like an admission of being caught.

"I'm not going to comment on their operations, not directly, not indirectly. That should not be taken, as I say, as an indication about the truth of any particular allegations. And I think the fact that those allegations were made I think is deeply irresponsible”

Crown prosecutors have also mysteriously dropped charges against Katharine Gun, a former Mandarin translator with Britain's Government Communications Headquarters listening station accused of leaking a memo from U.S. intelligence officers asking their British counterparts to spy on members of the UN Security Council before the Iraq war.  It is believed that this decision was made for political reasons to prevent disclosing advice the British Government received from Attorney General Lord Goldsmith on the legality of going to war.

Intelligence agencies have obviously always been cloaked in secrecy, although it is widely known that allies have been just as likely targets as enemies for information acquisition by Western powers.  The conduct of both the United States and Britain in this situation, however, is deplorable. 

First, these actions are outright illegal, in addition to going against every diplomatic principle the United Nations is premised upon.  Secondly, the legitimacy of the invasion, both due to the strong opposition from fellow UN Security Council members such as Germany and France, and a true lack of accurate evidence regarding Saddam Hussein and his regime, has never come close to being affirmed.  In fact, continuing evidence is showing quite the contrary.

In the United States, President George W. Bush's administration has been able to justify many acts under the guise of security since that fateful day of 9/11, and Americans for the most part have been willing to succumb.  Great Britain, on the other hand, does not have the war monger spirit that our neighbours to the south possess, and thus Tony Blair is shaking in his army boots as he watches his political career evapourate before his very eyes.

To paraphrase the words of Tony Blair's closest political counterpart, I believe that Britons now have ample evidence to initiate regime change.

Comments? jonathan@tdhstrategies.com