THE TROJAN HORSE
Jay Bulworth
http://www.dissent.com.au
Katharine Gun is a 29 year old English woman who spent a part of her formative years in North-east Asia. As a result, she is fluent in Mandarin Chinese. She used to work as a translator at Britain’s super-secret GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters), the signals intelligence agency that violates privacy every day by eavesdropping on phone calls, emails and other communications. Katharine exposed US espionage against member delegations at the UN Security Council in the lead-up to the war on Iraq. Espionage at the United Nations is prohibited under the Vienna conventions on diplomatic relations. When charged under the Official Secrets Act, she signalled her intention to argue the defence of ‘necessity’ – the prevention of an illegal war involving the loss of thousands of lives. On Tuesday 24th February 2004, her legal team served documents demanding to see any advice given to ministers about the legality of the war. Two days later, all charges were dropped and Katharine Gun walked free.
It should be noted that the leaks showed a “surge” in US espionage against member delegations. The US engages in such activity every day. What was unusual was the “surge”, or increase, in surveillance as the US tried to manipulate the vote and obtain authorisation for its war on Iraq. There are people of goodwill who believe in the sanctity of international law, and who feel disturbed by this event, as they do about the US-led aggression against Iraq without UN authorisation.
This article is for those people. It is written in order to dispel illusions in the United Nations, which was created as an instrument of US foreign policy. Furthermore, the reader should understand that the US began spying on member delegations even before the UN existed.