“Of course I was (bugged)," Butler

LONDON, February 27 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Former U.N. chief weapons inspector Richard Butler said Friday, February 27, that at least four countries – including Britain – had bugged on his conversations.

Former U.N. Secretary Boutros Boutros-Ghali said he was “not surprised” by the statements, as “it's a tradition member states who have the technical capacity to bug will do it without hesitation”.

Speaking to Australian radio ABC, Butler said his phone calls at the United Nations were monitored during his tenure from 1997 to 1999.

“Of course I was (bugged)," Richard Butler told ABC radio.

“I was well aware of it. How did I know? Because those who did it would come to me and show me the recordings that they had made on others to help me do my job disarming Iraq.”

A key Australian official at the heart of attempts to verify Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, Butler said if he needed to make a private call to his contacts, he would leave the U.N. building in New York and either go to a busy cafe or walk in Central Park.

Butler said he was bugged by the Americans, British, French and Russians.

“I knew it from other sources," he said. "I was utterly confident that I was bugged by at least four permanent members of the Security Council."

Butler said he was convinced U.N. headquarters in New York is full of spies.

The revelations come after former British international development secretary Clare Short said that British intelligence spied on U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan as Washington and London tried to win the world organization’s support for invading Iraq.

Butler welcomed Short's comments, saying it is time the world knew how international diplomacy really works.

Blix Also Bugged

“It's a tradition member states who have the technical capacity to bug will do it without hesitation',” Ghali

ABC Radio cited Australian intelligence sources as saying Hans Blix, the last weapons inspector, was also bugged.

“Specifically each time he entered Iraq, his phone was targeted and recorded and the transcripts were then made available to the United States, Australia, Canada, the UK and also New Zealand,” said the Australian reporter.

The U.N. refused to authorize the U.S.-British invasion of the oil-rich Iraq, as the two countries tried to make the case for threats posed by the Arab country’s weapons of mass destruction – non of which have been found since.

The United Nations has already said that any bugging of U.N. offices would be illegal and should end immediately.

‘Not Surprised’

Meanwhile, former U.N. chief said he was “not surprised” by the claims because he had been warned his office would be bugged.

“From the first day I entered my office they told me: 'Beware, your office is bugged, your residence is bugged and it's a tradition member states who have the technical capacity to bug will do it without hesitation',” Boutros-Ghali told BBC Radio 4's Today program.

Boutros-Ghali called for more to be done to protect the U.N chief from spying, which he said could cause problems for diplomats and negotiations to fail.

Under Pressure

Moving to London, Blair is under pressure after Short’s remarks.

On Friday, Short hit back after British Prime Minister Tony Blair branded her statements “deeply irresponsible”.

She denied putting the UK or its security services at risk by her revelations, and accused the Prime Minister of using "pompous" distraction tactics, the BBC News Online said.

At his monthly news conference, Blair insisted the British security services acted in accordance with domestic and international law and in their country's best interests.

Short, one of the longest-serving members of Prime Minister Tony Blair's government, quit as secretary for international development in May 2003 in protest over the Iraq invasion.

Former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook has cast doubt on Short's claims, saying he “would be surprised” if it were true Britain had intercepted the calls of Annan.

Former British ambassador to the U.N. Crispin Tickell told Today that bugging was not necessarily “a bad thing” if done in the national interest - and he doubted whether her claim had affected diplomatic trust.

Edward Mortimer, Annan's director of communications, said the U.N. had asked the British government whether Short's claims were true.

"I don't think we have got an answer precisely on that,” Mortimer said in press statements.