Have you heard about the latest effort by the U.S. government to use reason and logic to convince the world that a war against Iraq is just and necessary?
Reason and logic? That’s for wimps! President Bush and his team of stellar diplomats have more effective means of convincing others to follow America’s lead.
Bribery and threats have been favorite tactics so far. Now, an intensive campaign to spy on diplomats from countries who are either opposed to or undecided about supporting war against Iraq is the latest example of the Bush administration’s clumsy and arrogant foreign policy. It’s astonishing how quickly Bush is squandering any remaining goodwill towards America.
US dirty tricks to win vote on Iraq war
The Observer
The United States is conducting a secret ‘dirty tricks’ campaign against UN Security Council delegations in New York as part of its battle to win votes in favour of war against Iraq.
Details of the aggressive surveillance operation, which involves interception of the home and office telephones and the emails of UN delegates in New York, are revealed in a document leaked to The Observer.
The disclosures were made in a memorandum written by a top official at the National Security Agency — the US body which intercepts communications around the world — and circulated to both senior agents in his organisation and to a friendly foreign intelligence agency asking for its input.
No Comment From U.S. on ‘Dirty Tricks’ Report
Newsday
Uncle Sam’s dirty tricks?
Salon.com
Countries, even allies, routinely spy on each other — nothing new there. But when you add something like this to a long list of recent American actions that show a rough disdain for the opinions and policies of other nations, it just ends up feeding the perception of a new, arrogant, bullying America.
After September 11, 2001, Bush told the world that “you’re either with us, or against us.” He’s certainly working hard to provide plenty of reasons to be against us.
This is big news around the world — everywhere but in America, apparently. It doesn’t seem to qualify as important news at major media organizations in the U.S.