Posted on 11/24/2008 6:50:40 PM PST by james500
The US government eavesdropped on Tony Blair while he was British prime minister, according to claims made by a former employee of the National Security Agency.
ABC News on Monday reported that the NSA had eavesdropped on Mr Blair and Ghazi al-Yawer, the first Iraqi president following the 2003 invasion. The White House did not respond to inquiries.
Making the allegations to ABC, David Faulk, a former NSA Arabic linguist who worked for the spy agency at Fort Gordon, Georgia, claimed to have had access to a top secret database called “Anchory” in 2006 that included personal details about Mr Blair.
While the US government routinely spies on foreign governments and their leaders, the US and UK are long understood to have had a more trusting relationship. The revelations could damage the “special relationship” with Washington that London prizes so highly. Mr Blair was one of President George W. Bush’s closest allies over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mr Faulk also claimed to have read secret NSA files on Mr Ghazr, including “pillow talk” phone calls, between 2003 and 2007. Bob Woodward, the veteran Washington Post reporter, this year reported in The War Within that the US had also eavesdropped on Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister.
Last month, Mr Faulk and another former NSA employee provided a rare glimpse into the veiled world of the NSA, by revealing that the spy agency had spied on journalists, soldiers, and non-governmental organisations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross. They told ABC that the NSA routinely spied on Americans by listening to private conversations, including pillow talk and, in some cases, phone sex.
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
So the ef what. Trust but verify like the man said.
all governments spy on each other.
so, what’s new?
We should be spying on every significant sumbitch in the world. We just shouldn’t tattle about it.
Hang him from the nearest lamppost.
And a cunning linguist he is.
He's just making a buck and lying about it to boot.
If he doesn't get arrested he may was well be working for TMZ.
Somebody is spying on me?
I have LifeLock. Why wasn’t I alerted?
Our intelligence community has no self discipline when it comes to leaks. I’m so tired of reading the latest on Bin-Laden’s cell phone calls, etc. They need to shut the hell up.
We have built-in protocols to prevent sensitive communication from being broadcast.
We are listening to far more interesting communications than from these two. This blabber-mouth just wants his 15 minutes of fame and then he can slither back under the rock he came from.
David Faulk, a former NSA Arabic linguist who worked for the spy agency at Fort Gordon, Georgia, claimed to have had access to a top secret database called "Anchory" in 2006 that included personal details about Mr Blair... Last month, Mr Faulk and another former NSA employee provided a rare glimpse into the veiled world of the NSA, by revealing that the spy agency had spied on journalists, soldiers, and non-governmental organisations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross. They told ABC that the NSA routinely spied on Americans by listening to private conversations, including pillow talk and, in some cases, phone sex.
I hope they are spying. That IS their job, don’t ya know
Faulk writes for the left wing rag Augusta (GA) Metro Spirit under the byline - ‘Murfee Faulk’.
His partner in crime Adrienne Kinne, is a member of Iraq Vets against the War and a water carrier for Cindy Sheehan.
Anybody who reads this and think it’s against ANY law or directive to intercept and/or record conversations of American military personnel is sadly mistaken.
Ah, but Faulk is a cunning linguist !!
If it’s OK to eavesdrop and spy on Boehner, Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin and Joe the plumber...
Don’t these people have to sign a contract promising not to reveal anything they know? For at least some number of years?
And can they not be sued into bankruptcy for blabbing to the press what ought to be left unsaid?
And to push this point a bit farther, what is the use of having those secret Romanian prisons we supposedly have if we aren’t going to use them on guys like Faulk?
more here:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/09/spying.on.americans/index.html
The ACLU issued a statement on Thursday saying the allegations show that the government “misled the American public about the scope of its surveillance activities.”
The ABC report “is an indictment not only of the Bush administration, but of all of those political leaders, Democratic and Republican, who have been saying that the executive branch can be trusted with surveillance powers that are essentially unchecked,” said ACLU official Jamell Jaffer.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-West Virginia, called the allegations “extremely disturbing.”
This is an excellent report to do a “no comment” on.
Echelon get everything...everything.
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