British officers spied on Iraq using UNSCOM

The British daily Independent has reported that officers at in British foreign intelligence unit MA six worked in Iraq under the cover of the UN inspection teams investigating Iraqi weapons.

The BBC said the paper stressed, quoting officials at the British government and the U.N. in New York, that officers from British intelligence gained entry into Iraq under the cover of UNSCOM since 1991.

Liberal Democratic Party House of Commons member Norman Baker asked Defense Minister George Robertson how many Ministry of Defense employees had worked with UNSCOM, and the minister said 220 persons working for his ministry had served with UNSCOM since 1991.

Moreover, US media and papers said at the beginning of this month that officers from the US Central Intelligence Agency also penetrated the UN inspection teams working in Iraq in order to spy on Iraq and collect intelligence information about it.