US spies on Iraq

The US daily Washington Post said that an Iranian had unveiled a US spying operation in Iraq, based at the UN headquarters in Baghdad and through UNSCOM, according to the London-based al-Hayat daily.

Al-Hayat added that the Washington Post stressed that the British intelligence detected the message of the Iranian who informed his government that the Americans are spying from the headquarters of the UN in Baghdad.

In its Tuesday issue, the Washington Post reported that for three years US intelligence implanted puppets and equipment in UNSCOM in order to spy on Iraq and its armed forces, but not with the knowledge of the committee.

The paper said its information was derived from US government officials and from secret documents, adding that UNSCOM was not aware of the spying and did not benefit from it, a matter which contradicts the US administration's assertions that what it had done was in collaboration with the committee in order to reveal what Iraq hides of weapons of mass destruction.

The paper explained that Washington planted technicians to install a bugging system in UNSCOM equipment with the objective of listening to the telephone communications of the Iraqi Army, which used to be made through towers broadcast on microwaves.

The paper added that US intelligence availed the opportunity presented when UNSCOM changed the way it sends video camera pictures from Iraqi sites under its control to install aerials for listening and broadcasting.

The Washington Post added that it abstained from publishing the names of the American technicians at the request of the administration.

The US daily noted that UNSCOM former chairman Rolf Ekeus denied having known about this operation, while it quoted the UN organization's current chairman, Richard Butler, as saying, "If all this stuff turns out to be true, then Rolf Ekeus and I have been played for suckers, haven't we?"