Brit claims U.S. Spy agencyâŠSPYING!
The prosecution is preparing to abandon the case against a former GCHQ employee charged with leaking information about a "dirty tricks" spying operation before the invasion of Iraq, the Guardian has learned.
(we so bad)
Katharine Gun, 29, is due to appear at the Old Bailey next week where she has said she will plead not guilty to breaking the Official Secrets Act.
(plead guilty of being a lefty)
She has said her alleged disclosures exposed serious wrongdoing by the US and could have helped to prevent the deaths of Iraqis and British forces in an "illegal war". Sources familiar with the case last night strongly indicated that the prosecution will ask the court to drop the case against her at a pre-trial hearing at the Old Bailey on Wednesday.
(Donât drop it hang her!)
Ms Gun, a translator at GCHQ, was arrested in March but not charged until eight months later. The long delay suggests that even then there was a fierce debate in government and GCHQ circles about the advisability of a secrets trial against an employee who said she acted out of conscience over an issue which divided the country. The NSA told GCHQ that the particular targets of an eavesdropping "surge" were the delegates from Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Bulgaria, Guinea and Pakistan - the six crucial "swing votes" on the security council. A memo sent by Frank Koza, a senior NSA official, said the information from the eavesdropping would be used against the key UN delegations.
(I hope so!)
In a statement when she was charged, Ms Gun said: "Any disclosures that may have been made were justified because they exposed serious illegality and wrongdoing on the part of the US government which attempted to subvert our own security services. Secondly, they could have helped prevent wide scale death and casualties amongst ordinary Iraqi people and UK forces in the course of an illegal war."
(Spying is legal here, as long as we are doing it)
Senior Mexican and Chilean diplomats at the UN have since claimed their missions were spied on.
(really?)
High-profile usual suspects figures in the US who have signed a statement backing Ms Gunâs case include actor Sean Penn, civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, president of the Newspaper Guild Linda Foley, and Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers containing evidence of US involvement in Vietnam in 1971. Ms Gun is currently on unconditional bail.
For those that donât already know it, the U.S. spies on other countries (surprise meter 0.0). Not some Countries, ALL COUNTRIES. Ms. Gun ârevelationâ that the U.S. was spying on UN members could only come from a elitist linguist such as herself. Note: Every linguist (Military or Civilian) I ever working with were the MOST arrogant people I have ever met. Also they do one hell of a job under some very difficult circumstances. Ms. Gun did not reveal anything that was already common knowledge to anyone who can read. She sounds like some left wing elitist that thought she was outing the great Satan. Sorry honey, James Bamford had a really good book called the âPuzzle Palaceâ that outlines an intelligence effort by the U.S. So the U.S. was targeting countries on the UN Security Council during a critical time in history? If they werenât I would want George Tenet's head on a platter! The UK should close the doors, try this whore, and throw her in the dungeon! She doesnât deserve the publicity she is getting.
Posted by: 2004-02-20 |