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Doug Henwood writes as follows. I'm afraid he's right.<br>
<br>
<pre wrap="">On Nov 28, 2010, at 8:06 PM, <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:123hop@comcast.net">123hop@comcast.net</a> wrote:
<span class="moz-txt-citetags"></span><span class="moz-txt-citetags">> </span>
<span class="moz-txt-citetags">> </span>"So what's Assange's life expectancy? 6 months?"
<span class="moz-txt-citetags">> </span>
<span class="moz-txt-citetags">> </span>I don't get any of this. Is any of this stuff they are uncovering news to anyone? EVERYBODY knows that U.S. embassies are spy centers. The U.N. stuff is creepy but also not surprising.
</pre>
<pre wrap="">Lese majeste. You don't embarrass the USA and get away with it. It doesn't matter that we all "knew" it. Learning that Hillary signed an order to get Ban-ki Moon's iris and DNA info and AmEx numbers is not something they can tolerate. And who knows what's next? Examples must be set. --Doug
</pre>
<br>
On 11/28/10 8:49 PM, E.Wayne Johnson wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:E1B71E01440240308D19231CC7AAC40E@ACERLAPTOP"
type="cite">
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<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Der Speigel is catalogueing a
series of interesting articles on the latest wikileaks
documents </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">and describes it as a "foreign
policy meltdown" for the US.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">If only that statement were
true. One can imagine that the otherwise</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">incomparable HC is as mad as a
wet hen. It will be interesting to see what</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">spin doctoring, crawfishing, and
apologetics will issue from the State Dept. and</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">who will rise to defend them.</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,731583,00.html">http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,731583,00.html</a></font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Speigel makes this wholesale
statement:</font></div>
<blockquote style="margin-right: 0px;" dir="ltr">
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">"The compendium of reports,
most of which cover the period from 2003 until the end of
February 2010, </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">sheds light on America's at
times arrogant view of the world. </font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Never before have so many
political revelations embarrassed the US State Department in
one fell swoop. "</font></div>
<div> </div>
</blockquote>
<div dir="ltr"><font face="Arial" size="2"><em>"...at times
arrogant"? </em></font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">The State Department's incredible
hubris is evident in their statement-</font></div>
<blockquote style="margin-right: 0px;" dir="ltr">
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">"To be clear -- such
disclosures put at risk our diplomats, intelligence
professionals, and people around the world who come to the
United States for assistance in promoting democracy and open
government. These documents also may include named
individuals who in many cases live and work under oppressive
regimes and who are trying to create more open and free
societies. President Obama supports responsible,
accountable, and open government at home and around the
world, but this reckless and dangerous action runs counter
to that goal. <br>
<br>
By releasing stolen and classified documents, Wikileaks has
put at risk not only the cause of human rights but also the
lives and work of these individuals. We condemn in the
strongest terms the unauthorized disclosure of classified
documents and sensitive national security information. "</font></div>
</blockquote>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><em>"...human rights?" "...open
government" you say? </em></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><em></em></font> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><em> Heh.</em></font></div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">----- Original Message ----- </font>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">From: "C. G. Estabrook" <</font><a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:galliher@illinois.edu"><font
face="Arial" size="2">galliher@illinois.edu</font></a><font
face="Arial" size="2">></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">To: "Peace-discuss" <</font><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:peace-discuss@anti-war.net"><font face="Arial"
size="2">peace-discuss@anti-war.net</font></a><font
face="Arial" size="2">></font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Sent: Monday, November 29, 2010
8:55 AM</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Subject: [Peace-discuss] US
government illegalities</font></div>
</div>
<div><font face="Arial"><br>
</font></div>
<font face="Arial" size="2">> US diplomats spied on UN
leadership<br>
> • Diplomats ordered to gather intelligence on Ban Ki-moon<br>
> • Secret directives sent to more than 30 US embassies<br>
> • Call for DNA data, computer passwords and terrorist links<br>
> Robert Booth and Julian Borger, guardian.co.uk,<br>
> Sunday 28 November 2010 18.14 GMT<br>
> <br>
> Washington is running a secret intelligence campaign
targeted at the leadership <br>
> of the United Nations, including the secretary general, Ban
Ki-moon and the <br>
> permanent security council representatives from China,
Russia, France and the UK.<br>
> <br>
> A classified directive which appears to blur the line
between diplomacy and <br>
> spying was issued to US diplomats under Hillary Clinton's
name in July 2009, <br>
> demanding forensic technical details about the
communications systems used by <br>
> top UN officials, including passwords and personal
encryption keys used in <br>
> private and commercial networks for official
communications.<br>
> <br>
> It called for detailed biometric information "on key UN
officials, to include <br>
> undersecretaries, heads of specialised agencies and their
chief advisers, top <br>
> SYG [secretary general] aides, heads of peace operations
and political field <br>
> missions, including force commanders" as well as
intelligence on Ban's <br>
> "management and decision-making style and his influence on
the secretariat". A <br>
> parallel intelligence directive sent to diplomats in the
Democratic Republic of <br>
> the Congo, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi said biometric data
included DNA, <br>
> fingerprints and iris scans.<br>
> <br>
> Washington also wanted credit card numbers, email
addresses, phone, fax and <br>
> pager numbers and even frequent-flyer account numbers for
UN figures and <br>
> "biographic and biometric information on UN Security
Council permanent <br>
> representatives".<br>
> <br>
> The secret "national human intelligence collection
directive" was sent to US <br>
> missions at the UN in New York, Vienna and Rome; 33
embassies and consulates, <br>
> including those in London, Paris and Moscow.<br>
> <br>
> The operation targeted at the UN appears to have involved
all of Washington's <br>
> main intelligence agencies. The CIA's clandestine service,
the US Secret Service <br>
> and the FBI were included in the "reporting and collection
needs" cable <br>
> alongside the state department under the heading
"collection requirements and <br>
> tasking".<br>
> <br>
> The leak of the directive is likely to spark questions
about the legality of the <br>
> operation and about whether state department diplomats are
expected to spy. The <br>
> level of technical and personal detail demanded about the
UN top team's <br>
> communication systems could be seen as laying the
groundwork for surveillance or <br>
> hacking operations. It requested "current technical
specifications, physical <br>
> layout and planned upgrades to telecommunications
infrastructure and information <br>
> systems, networks and technologies used by top officials
and their support <br>
> staff", as well as details on private networks used for
official communication, <br>
> "to include upgrades, security measures, passwords,
personal encryption keys and <br>
> virtual private network versions used".<br>
> <br>
> The UN has previously asserted that bugging the secretary
general is illegal, <br>
> citing the 1946 UN convention on privileges and immunities
which states: "The <br>
> premises of the United Nations shall be inviolable. The
property and assets of <br>
> the United Nations, wherever located and by whomsoever
held, shall be immune <br>
> from search, requisition, confiscation, expropriation and
any other form of <br>
> interference, whether by executive, administrative,
judicial or legislative action".<br>
> <br>
> The 1961 Vienna convention on diplomatic relations, which
covers the UN, also <br>
> states that "the official correspondence of the mission
shall be inviolable".<br>
> <br>
> The emergence of the directive also risks undermining
political trust between <br>
> the UN leadership and the US, which is the former's biggest
paying member, <br>
> supplying almost a quarter of its budget – more than $3bn
(£1.9bn) this year.<br>
> <br>
> Washington wanted intelligence on the contentious issue of
the "relationship or <br>
> funding between UN personnel and/or missions and terrorist
organisations" and <br>
> links between the UN Relief and Works Agency in the Middle
East, and Hamas and <br>
> Hezbollah. It also wanted to know about plans by UN special
rapporteurs to press <br>
> for potentially embarrassing investigations into the US
treatment of detainees <br>
> in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay, and "details of
friction" between the <br>
> agencies co-ordinating UN humanitarian operations, evidence
of corruption inside <br>
> UNAids, the joint UN programme on HIV, and in international
health <br>
> organisations, including the World Health Organisation
(WHO). It even called for <br>
> "biographic and biometric" information on Dr Margaret Chan,
the director general <br>
> of WHO, as well as details of her personality, role,
effectiveness, management <br>
> style and influence.<br>
> <br>
> The UN is not the only target. The cables reveal that since
2008 the state <br>
> department has issued at least nine directives to embassies
around the world <br>
> which set forth "a list of priorities intended to guide
participating US <br>
> government agencies as they allocate resources and update
plans to collect <br>
> information".<br>
> <br>
> They are packed with detailed orders and while embassy
staff are particularly <br>
> encouraged to assist in compiling biographic information,
the directive on the <br>
> mineral and oil-rich Great Lakes region of Africa also
requested detailed <br>
> military intelligence, including weapons markings and plans
of army bases. A <br>
> directive on "Palestinian issues" sent to Cairo, Tel Aviv,
Jerusalem, Amman, <br>
> Damascus and Riyadh demanded the exact travel plans and
vehicles used by leading <br>
> members of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, without
explaining why.<br>
> <br>
> In one directive that would test the initiative, never mind
moral and legal <br>
> scruples, of any diplomat, Washington ordered staff in the
DRC, Uganda, Rwanda <br>
> and Burundi to obtain biometric information of leading
figures in business, <br>
> politics, intelligence, military, religion and in key
ethnic groups.<br>
> <br>
> Fingerprints and photographs are collected as part of
embassies' consular and <br>
> visa operations, but it is harder to see how diplomats
could justify obtaining <br>
> DNA samples and iris scans. Again in central Africa,
embassy officials were <br>
> ordered to gather details about countries' military
relations with China, Libya, <br>
> North Korea, Iran and Russia. Washington assigned high
priority to intelligence <br>
> on the "transfer of strategic materials such as uranium",
and "details of arms <br>
> acquisitions and arms sales by government or insurgents,
including negotiations, <br>
> contracts, deliveries, terms of sale, quantity and quality
of equipment, and <br>
> price and payment terms".<br>
> <br>
> The directives, signed simply "Clinton" or "Rice",
referring to the current and <br>
> former secretaries of state, Hillary Clinton and
Condoleezza Rice, form a <br>
> central plank of America's intelligence effort and reveal
how Washington is <br>
> using its 11,500-strong foreign service to glean highly
sensitive information on <br>
> both allies and enemies.<br>
> <br>
> They are compliant with the National Intelligence
Priorities Framework, which is <br>
> approved by the president, and issued by James Clapper, the
director of national <br>
> intelligence who oversees the CIA, the Defence Intelligence
Agency, FBI and 13 <br>
> other intelligence agencies.<br>
> <br>
> Washington circulated to its Middle Eastern embassies a
request for what was <br>
> effectively a counter-intelligence operation against
Mukhabarat, the Palestinian <br>
> Authority's secret service, and Istikhbarat, its military
intelligence.<br>
> <br>
> The directive asked for an assessment of the foreign
agencies' "signals <br>
> intercept capabilities and targets, decryption
capabilities, intercept sites and <br>
> collection hardware, and intercept operation successes" and
information of their <br>
> "efforts to illicitly collect classified, sensitive,
commercial proprietary or <br>
> protected technology information from US companies or
government agencies".<br>
> <br>
> Missions in Israel, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt
were asked to gather <br>
> biometric information "on key Palestinian Authority and
Hamas leaders and <br>
> representatives, to include the young guard inside Gaza,
the West Bank", as well <br>
> as evidence of collusion between the PA security forces and
terror groups.<br>
> <br>
> Taken together, the directives provide a vivid snapshot of
America's perception <br>
> of foreign threats which are often dazzlingly
interconnected. Paraguayan drug <br>
> traffickers were suspected of supporting Hezbollah and
al-Qaida, while Latin <br>
> American cocaine barons were linked to criminal networks in
the desert states of <br>
> west Africa, who were in turn linked to Islamist terrorists
in the Middle East <br>
> and Asia.<br>
> <br>
> High on the list of requests in an April 2009 directive
covering the Saharan <br>
> west African countries, including Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali,
Mauritania, Niger <br>
> and Senegal, was information about the activities of
fighters returning from <br>
> Iraq and Afghanistan. Information was wanted on
"indications that international <br>
> terrorist groups are seeking to take advantage of
political, ethnic, tribal or <br>
> religious conflict".<br>
> <br>
> Diplomats were told to find out about the links between
drug traffickers in the <br>
> region to Latin American cocaine cartels, as well as
terrorist or insurgent <br>
> groups' income derived from the drugs trade.<br>
> <br>
> Sometimes the directives appear linked to forthcoming
diplomatic obligations of <br>
> the secretary of state. In a cable to the embassy in Sofia
last June, five <br>
> months before Clinton hosted Bulgaria's foreign minister in
Washington, the <br>
> first request was about government corruption and the links
between organised <br>
> crime groups and "government and foreign entities, drug and
human trafficking, <br>
> credit card fraud, and computer-related crimes, including
child pornography".<br>
> <br>
> Washington also wanted to know about "corruption among
senior officials, <br>
> including off-budget financial flows in support of senior
leaders … details <br>
> about defence industry, including plans and efforts to
co-operate with foreign <br>
> nations and actors. Weapon system development programmes,
firms and facilities. <br>
> Types, production rates, and factory markings of major
weapon systems".<br>
> <br>
> Top tips for dealing with defectors and turncoats<br>
> <br>
> One cable offered a detailed and practical guide for
embassies on how to handle <br>
> possible defectors, known as "walk-ins", who turned up at
embassies offering to <br>
> switch sides. It called for them to be treated with
considerable care because <br>
> they "may be sources of invaluable intelligence".<br>
> <br>
> "Walk-ins may exhibit nervous or anxious behaviour,
particularly because access <br>
> controls and host nation security forces around many of our
diplomatic posts <br>
> make it difficult for walk-ins to approach our facilities
discreetly," it <br>
> warned. "All briefings should also stress the importance of
not drawing <br>
> attention to the walk-in or alerting host nation security
personnel."<br>
> <br>
> Embassy staff should immediately copy the person's
identification papers or <br>
> passport, in case they got cold feet and ran off, it said.
A walk-in who <br>
> possessed any object that appeared potentially dangerous
should be denied access <br>
> even if the item was presented "as evidence of some
intelligence he offers, eg, <br>
> red mercury [a possibly bogus chemical which has been
claimed to be a component <br>
> of nuclear weapons] presented as proof of plutonium
enrichment". <br>
> <br>
> </font><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/us-embassy-cables-spying-un"><font
face="Arial" size="2">http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/28/us-embassy-cables-spying-un</font></a><br>
<font face="Arial" size="2">>
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