More on the UN spying claim
As I wrote about the other day
here, an ex British cabinet minister has claimed that England was bugging the offices of Kofi Annan.
My comment in that entry was this:
bq. Where are the UN Security people? Don’t they sweep rooms on a regular basis? I would think that something as diplomatically sensitive as Koffi’s office would be swept weekly if not daily…
Well, it turns out that Kofi's predecessor (as reported by the
Times Online):
bq. Boutros Boutros Ghali, the former UN Secretary-General, had his clothes, attaché case and office checked before beginning his working day, according to the official who served with him.
The article goes on:
bq. Mr Boutros Ghali who was UN Secretary-General between 1992 and 1996, admitted that he had had to be ultra-cautious about bugging operations against him. “From the first day I entered my office they said, beware, your office is bugged, your residence is bugged and it is a tradition that the member states who have the technical capacity to bug will do it without any hesitation,” he told BBC Today.
bq. He added: “That would include permanent members of the Security Council, that would include members which have the technical capacity. The perception was that you must know in advance that your office, your residence, your car, your phone is bugged.”
What we are seeing is another failure of the UN to adequately deal with its own security. This case (if it actually happened) is just as bad as the UN security failure that led up to the bombing of their Baghdad offices a few months ago. There (as I wrote about
here) they hired people they knew when they last visited Iraq under from Saddam's regime. Unfortunately, these people were ex-Baath party thugs who had every interest in destabilizing the peace and getting the Westerners out of Iraq. So they paid lip-service to the UN but allowed terrorists to get close enough to tbe building to cause serious damage. Stupid stupid fools... They cannot even assure their own security and here they posture on the world stage saying that they are the only ones who should ensure global security. Bleagghh...
Posted by DaveH at February 27, 2004 4:05 PM