By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, November 29 -- The UN's rather pathetic reaction to evidence that the US State Department under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has tried to spy on it, from UN officials' computer passwords and frequently flier codes to the intentions of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations is indicative of the complex relationship between the UN and its host country.
On November 28, after repeated Press inquiries, Ban's spokesperson's office put out a statement that “the UN is by its very nature a transparent organization that makes a great deal of information about its activities available to the public.”
This is highly debatable: as simply one example, after the UN canceled its November 26 noon media briefing, Inner City Press submitted several questions about ranging from Haiti and Sudan through Iran and human rights to Myanmar and Iraq, less than half of which were answered.
Tellingly, even the Iraq questions which got a one line response was dodged. Inner City Press asked the UN's top envoy in Iraq “Ad Melkert receive security protection from the US forces in Iraq” and “if yes, is this a change from previous procedure,” citing http://www.nola.com/military/index.ssf/2010/11/louisiana_soldiers_in_iraq_tak.html
“The soldiers of Alpha Battery, 1/141, started out providing armed troops and armored vehicles to protect the supply convoys. They now act as the quick reaction force, which includes providing ground medical evacuation to area helicopters that cannot reach and secure landing zones, Fernandez said. They also staff entries to the United Nations Villa, a compound where UN workers live, and specifically guard the residence for the special representative for the UN secretary-general in Iraq. While the UN officials have personal security personnel, they also are shadowed by Alpha Battery when they travel. 'They’re not allowed to move without us,' Fernandez said. 'They don’t want to move without us.'”
To this question, UN acting Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq answered “We don't comment on precise security arrangements, for security reasons.”
If you have the UN in Iraq accepting not only security but also orders from the US, what position is the UN in to complain if Hillary Clinton orders UN envoy to Iraq Ad Melkert, or even Ban Ki-moon, spied on?
An interesting aspect of Clinton's spying memo is its focus on the UN Development Program's actions on whistleblowers. The highest profile UNDP whistleblower case has been of the agency's security chief in North Korea, who exposed among other things that the UN system was allowing the Kim Jong-il government to choose the UN's staff and take payment for them.
This became associated with the final days of George W. Bush's Republican Administration, leading one to wonder if there are not a serious of such spy memos, portions of which were unchanged, dating back to the previous administration. This would not let the Obama administration off the hook -- if anything, it would show how much the Obama administration's UN policy is on auto-pilot.
The revelations come at a particularly inconvenient time with the US, as Ambassador Susan Rice takes over the Presidency of the UN Security Council on December 1, and will be required or at least expected to stand before the Press reading out the decisions of the Council.
In fact, every other Council President has scheduled a full press conference at the beginning of their month, to take a range of questions. The UN's “Week Ahead” scheduled distributed the day before Thanksgiving does not include any such press conference by Susan Rice. Watch this site.