Report: Brits Spied On U.N. Chief

British intelligence agents spied on U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan in the run up to the Iraq war, a former member of Prime Minister Tony Blair's Cabinet said Thursday.

Clare Short, who resigned as international development secretary following the campaign to topple Saddam Hussein, said she had read transcripts of Annan's conversations.

"The U.K. in this time was also getting, spying on Kofi Annan's office and getting reports from him about what was going on," she said in an interview with British Broadcasting Corp. radio.

The comments came just days after British prosecutors dropped legal proceedings against a former intelligence employee who leaked a confidential memo raising concerns about spying in the United Nations.

Katharine Gun, 29, a former Mandarin translator with Britain's Government Communications Headquarters listening station, allegedly leaked a memo from U.S. intelligence officers asking their British counterparts to spy on members of the U.N. Security Council before the Iraq war.

The charge dominated Blair's monthly news conference,

"I'm not going to comment on the operations of our security services," Blair said.

"But I do say this: we act in accordance with domestic and international law, and we act in the best interests of this country, and our security services are a vital part of the protection of this country.

"So 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," Blair said.

When asked to clarify her comments, Short repeated her allegation. "These things are done. And in the case of Kofi's office, it's been done for some time," she said.

Asked whether Britain was involved, she said: "Well I know, I have seen transcripts of Kofi Annan's conversations. In fact I have had conversations with Kofi in the run-up to war thinking 'Oh dear, there will be a transcript of this and people will see what he and I are saying.'"

Asked explicitly whether British spies had been instructed to carry out operations within the United Nations on people such as Annan, she said: "Yes, absolutely."

If Short's claims are accurate, they point to a broad surveillance campaign at the United Nations in which the United States also may have played a part.

Mexico's former ambassador to the United Nations recently said it was common knowledge the United States had spied on U.N. delegations in the run-up to the war in Iraq. The comments by Adolfo Aguilar Zinser came after Mexico acknowledged it sent a letter in December asking the United States and Britain to explain recent accusations of spying on United Nations delegations.

The Jan. 31, 2003 memo — which Gun leaked to London's Observer newspaper — said the wider U.N. eavesdropping effort was concerned with "the whole gamut of information that could give U.S. policymakers an edge in obtaining results favorable to U.S. goals or to head off surprises."

The memo was drafted by Frank Koza, identified as chief of staff of a National Security Agency division and addressed to "All," according to text of the memo reproduced on the newspaper's web site.

"As you've likely heard by now, the Agency is mounting a surge particularly directed at the UN Security Council (UNSC) members (minus US and GBR of course) for insights as to how to membership is reacting to the on-going debate RE: Iraq, plans to vote on any related resolutions, what related policies/ negotiating positions they may be considering, alliances/ dependencies, etc," the memo read. "GBR" refers to Great Britain, the most supportive U.S. ally in the push toward a possible military confrontation.

The memo then lists the countries this target list would include: Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea, Mexico and Pakistan. All were considered undecided in the run-up to a crucial vote on the U.S.-backed resolution authorizing force. The U.S. ultimately pulled the resolution fearing defeat either because of a French veto or a majority vote.

The intelligence-gathering project was to "peak" around the time of Secretary of State Colin Powell's presentation to the Security Council on Feb. 5, where he presented a detailed case — including intercepted telephone calls and satellite photos — to back the Bush administration's claims that Iraq possessed and was concealing dangerous weapons.

The memo also called for NSA staff to exploit surveillance of U.N. members who are not on the council, as well as "analysts who might have similar, more in-direct access to valuable information from accesses in your product lines."

The NSA did not comment on the report last year.

The charge against Gun was dropped after prosecutors said they would offer no evidence against her. But opposition politicians have questioned whether the decision was politically motivated, and whether the British government intervened to stop the case, fearing disclosure of further embarrassing details about the case for war.

The government has in recent months been criticized for its presentation of intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.

Gun's lawyers speculated the case was dropped because they had demanded the government disclose advice it received from Attorney General Lord Goldsmith on the legality of going to war. Ministers have repeatedly refused to make the advice public.

Short was one of two Cabinet members to resign in protest to Britain's participation in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Robin Cook, a former foreign secretary, resigned as leader of the House of Commons before the campaign began.

In the past, Short has called for Blair to resign, accusing him of misleading the country about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein.