[Peace-discuss] Fwd: How the NSA Pushed Iraq Invasion

Wed May 18 04:59:46 UTC 2016

-------- Forwarded Message -------


    *From:*Institute for Public Accuracy . [mailto:accuracy at accuracy.org]
    *Sent:*Tuesday, May 17, 2016 2:18 PM
    *To:* duchamp at mindspring.com <mailto:duchamp at mindspring.com>
    *Subject:* How the NSA Pushed Iraq Invasion

     
    Charles Savage in the /New York Times/ writes Tuesday
    <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.nytimes.com_2016_05_17_us_politics_intercept-2Ddiscloses-2Darchive-2Dof-2Dinternal-2Dnsa-2Dnewsletters.html-3Fref-3Dtodayspaper-26-5Fr-3D0&d=CwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=_iuwmBDMEAIAz6k1h--JVoji6x5mlDiImSbbdIp2zWg&m=y2MRZb0YT4uuQ44I42opTP2x1Gsi9mjd3CYGbLsLgYQ&s=wbZZ_3FvVjt9RIYncSBsW_u9cFYdkeLyLZrc9J5OsIQ&e=>:
    "On Monday, the news website The Intercept said it would publish the
    entire archive of the [National Security Agency’s Top Secret
    internal] newsletter and began by posting more than 150 articles
    from 2003.... For example, one article described the American and
    British ambassadors to the United Nations expressing thanks to the
    agency for providing what the latter called 'insights into the
    nuances of internal divisions among the five permanent members of
    the U.N. Security Council' during the diplomatic negotiations ahead
    of the Iraq War."

     
    The Intercept on Monday in one of their postings stated
    <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__theintercept.com_snowden-2Dsidtoday_2829994-2Da-2Dperspective-2Don-2Dthe-2Dnsa-2Dusun-2Dpartnership_&d=CwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=_iuwmBDMEAIAz6k1h--JVoji6x5mlDiImSbbdIp2zWg&m=y2MRZb0YT4uuQ44I42opTP2x1Gsi9mjd3CYGbLsLgYQ&s=b4z8jJFR55vzB6ElTW_QWnZOyixSGmjPoarSkjpwbng&e=> the
    NSA's intelligence "during the wind-up to the Iraq War 'played a
    critical role' in the adoption of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
    The work with that customer was a resounding success." The relevant
    document quotes John Negroponte, then the U.S. ambassador to the
    United Nations: "I can't imagine better intelligence support for a
    diplomatic mission."

     
    SAM HUSSEINI, sam at accuracy.org
    <mailto:sam at accuracy.org>, @samhusseini
    <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__twitter.com_samhusseini&d=CwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=_iuwmBDMEAIAz6k1h--JVoji6x5mlDiImSbbdIp2zWg&m=y2MRZb0YT4uuQ44I42opTP2x1Gsi9mjd3CYGbLsLgYQ&s=25WnblOAuNRoZSyGGuP6W65kF-BUMfIavkRcLdKEiuQ&e=>

        Communications director of the Institute for Public Accuracy,
    Husseini wrote the piece "Katharine Gun’s Risky Truth-telling
    <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__consortiumnews.com_2014_11_19_katharine-2Dguns-2Drisky-2Dtruth-2Dtelling&d=CwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=_iuwmBDMEAIAz6k1h--JVoji6x5mlDiImSbbdIp2zWg&m=y2MRZb0YT4uuQ44I42opTP2x1Gsi9mjd3CYGbLsLgYQ&s=R40ibS9UryX46Lz5DNcUWO5Z2vIWPjfgDXZ4ZDFYJWs&e=>"
    about a British official who crucially leaked evidence of NSA spying
    against UN officials during the buildup to the Iraq invasion. 

     
        Husseini said today: "The U.S. government, through the NSA, was
    spying -- in violation of international law -- on other UN Security
    Council members in order to better coerce them to back the invasion
    of Iraq. We know this because Katharine Gun leaked a short 300-word
    NSA memo on this shortly before the invasion. She worked at the time
    at GCHQ, the British equivalent of the NSA. 

     
        "This memo was reported by /The Observer/ in Britain and then
    around the world -- but there was hardly a peep in the U.S. media,
    including the /Times/. Dan Ellsberg has called it the most important
    leak of all time. This story debunked key lies about the Iraq
    invasion in real time. It highlighted how the U.S. government was
    not -- as President George W. Bush was claiming at the time --
    trying to find a way to avoid war. Rather, it documented that the
    U.S. government was going to incredible lengths to coerce other
    states to give it diplomatic cover for the desired invasion. 

     
        "And this has critical importance for today. This shows the NSA
    is not working tirelessly, as officialdom would have us believe, to
    protect the U.S. public. It is facilitating policies that enable
    horrific wars, destabilize countries and dramatically increase
    insecurity. 

     
        "While the /Times/ treats what happened in 2003 rather gingerly,
    The Intercept is incorrect in claiming that there were Security
    Council 'resolutions' during the buildup to the invasion of Iraq.
    There was only one -- in good measure because Katharine Gun's
    whistleblowing made it difficult for other members of the Security
    Council to go along with another resolution. This made a liar out of
    Negroponte, who had stated when the first resolution [1441] was
    adopted: 'There’s no "automaticity" and this is a two-stage process'
    -- that is, the U.S. would come back to the Security Council for a
    second resolution before invading Iraq."

     
        Husseini's piece states: "When the British reporters writing the
    story called the author of the memo, Frank Koza, a top official at
    the NSA, they were put through to his office. When they shared the
    nature of their phone call, they were told by an assistant they had
    'the wrong number.' The reporters noted: 'On protesting that the
    assistant had just said this was Koza’s extension, the assistant
    repeated that it was an erroneous extension, and hung up.'


        "The story was ignored by the U.S. media, though we at
    the Institute for Public Accuracy put out a string of news releases
    about it
    <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.accuracy.org_1104-2Dthe-2Dkatharine-2Dgun-2Dcase_&d=CwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=_iuwmBDMEAIAz6k1h--JVoji6x5mlDiImSbbdIp2zWg&m=y2MRZb0YT4uuQ44I42opTP2x1Gsi9mjd3CYGbLsLgYQ&s=o-zQciODbq_1WM05r6bkljddjC46fQ04hTHLb5ZO7t8&e=>.
    Gun has commented that Martin Bright, one of the reporters who broke
    the story for the British /Observer/, had been booked on several
    U.S. TV networks just after the story was published but they had all
    quickly cancelled. [See video
    <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.youtube.com_watch-3Fv-3DZ7GVWOMhrNk&d=CwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=_iuwmBDMEAIAz6k1h--JVoji6x5mlDiImSbbdIp2zWg&m=y2MRZb0YT4uuQ44I42opTP2x1Gsi9mjd3CYGbLsLgYQ&s=WcUkizCfJnhS0_kUpDp59n45xRkavLjT5e2CbCoAQ8E&e=> of
    an interview with Gun and Larry Wilkerson, former chief of staff for
    Colin Powell, on German TV.]


        "However, the story did cause headlines around the world --
    especially in the countries on the Security Council that the memo
    listed as targets of the surveillance. Through whatever combination
    of authentic anger or embarrassment at their subservience to the
    U.S. government being exposed, most of these governments apparently
    peeled away from the U.S., and no second UN resolution was sought by
    the war planners.

     
        "Rather, George W. Bush started the Iraq war with unilateral
    demands that Saddam Hussein and his family leave Iraq (and then
    indicated that the invasion would commence in any case
    <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__fair.org_press-2Drelease_will-2Dthe-2Dwar-2Dbegin-2Dwith-2Da-2Dbig-2Dlie_&d=CwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=_iuwmBDMEAIAz6k1h--JVoji6x5mlDiImSbbdIp2zWg&m=y2MRZb0YT4uuQ44I42opTP2x1Gsi9mjd3CYGbLsLgYQ&s=uvhIgKsWWmrtRR9j2cywp7FrZZiij8vhesfelTuSKXs&e=>.)"

    For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
    Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020 <tel:%28202%29%20347-0020>; David
    Zupan,(541) 484-9167 <tel:%28541%29%20484-9167>

    May 17, 2016

    Institute for Public Accuracy
    980 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
    (202) 347-0020 <tel:%28202%29%20347-0020> * accuracy.org
    <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__accuracy.org_&d=CwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=_iuwmBDMEAIAz6k1h--JVoji6x5mlDiImSbbdIp2zWg&m=y2MRZb0YT4uuQ44I42opTP2x1Gsi9mjd3CYGbLsLgYQ&s=r1_iN0NWVLQcnxok7kSptWkgrmSgnJQVtzdIaKeUBFI&e=> *ipa at accuracy.org
    <mailto:ipa at accuracy.org>


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