David
anybody hear of Katherine Gun? She’s an american who was working for GCHQ until she was fired last march. Turns out miss gun leaked (made public) an email between NSA and gchq which apparently discussed spying on diplomats at the U.N.
a group on the left, who like to call themselves the ‘opponents of war’ (i can think of a few other adjectives for them) is trying build this lady up as a heroine for her courage and bravery.
seems the article dealt with eavesdropping on 6 particular countires who were swing votes in the un. The U.S. wanted to know what they needed to do to win their votes for the liberation (i used that word on purpose) of iraq. mz gun decided it was illegal, and decided on her own to violate british official secrets laws (for which she has been charged) to help stop the war; and therefore, help prevent potential suffering of the iraqi people.
somebody thinks she’s cool. somebody thinks she’s brave.
i think she’s a pinhead. to borrow a visual from Allah she needs to be whipped with a car antennae. then i’d like a large rock dropped on her. does she realize she is risking american/britsih/coalition lives?
the whole point of a democracy is that you get a “vote”, not “your way”. you get to cast your vote. when you lose, you are supposed to be in the “loyal minority”. the loyal minority, or the existance thereof, is a pillar of democracy. breaking laws, especially when it risks your own countrymens lives, because you disagree with a policy of your government is violating a basic tenet of democracy.
who is it that does not know the U.S. spies? the crux of mz gun’s argument was that the wiretaps (evesdropping) were illegal, and the war was illegal, so it should be ok for her to break the law (british offical secrets act, and yes she was in britain) again? two wrongs make a right? was she not paying attention at age three? pinhead i tell you.
of course the U.S. spies. we apparently tried to go away from human being operatives in the field doing the spying a while back, and rely on hello, guess what satelites. what do those satelites do? take pictures? and i bet they LISTEN! eavesdropping. what is this ladies problem?
see this for little info about Francis Gary Powers, and U.S. spying. Ike acknowledged we spy, and would continue.
if the U.S. government is NOT spying, then they aren’t earning my taxes. GET BUSY!
Well seems to me she was doing what she believed was right, now whether it was wrong or right is neither here or there. What I do believe is she and all of her supporters should only expect for there to be consequences for her actions. What is true in life is we all have choices and consequences for the choices we make!
Okay, now I now what a blog is. I’m truly alarmed.
Your right wing conservative rant on Katherine Gun was fascinating, in much the same way the aftermath of a car accident is. As much as you don’t really want to, you can’t help but look.
As an open-minded but basically centrist liberal, I could easily debate you blow for blow on Ms. Gun’s actions, yet your choice of words such as your opinion on the “opponents of war” shows me you’re not a very good listener… so what’s the point?
Yet, I can’t resist this simple counterpoint: You say “breaking laws… is violating a basic tenant of democracy.” Agreed. But spying within a voting, democratic body such as the U.N.is not violating a basic tenant of democracy?
Whatever. You can kick me later…
Dude – I agree with you totally. It is because of people like her that things that can cause direct harm to our troops and government employees are released. Does anyone remember Aldrich Ames? He was responsible for the death of numerous agents. Even though it isn’t the same situation, by releasing the information that she did, she could have also caused the same type of thing to happen. She should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law in the UK, and then brought over here for the same thing.
oh draygon,
i imagine numerous debates over more than a few beers are coming forthwith.
the triple oxymoron. openminded/centrist/liberal.
my rant shows i’m not a good listener. you confuse the skill or ability to listen with agreement. just because i disagree with the left bs does not mean i do not listen, or have not heard it. i DISAGREE with that crap. i DID hear it.
give me the car antennae, i’ll give her the saudi fashion whipping.
I’m jealous. I want the whipping…
Ah, mlah, (or should I just call you Rush?) I detest political debate because more often than not it devolves into emotive name-calling, which fogs the facts. I’m as guilty as anyone and somehow I can’t help it.
“Centrist” and “Open-minded” are actually compatible if you think about it. I am not a pure bleeding heart, for example, because I am pro-capital punishment and suspicious of organized labor. I developed these views after being exposed to the issues are opening my mind to all points of view. ‘Nuf said.
Spying has it’s uses and it can be a valuable assest in a military role. See Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. But in politics it’s just plain sleezy. Nixon showed that. I would have no respect for John Kerry if he spied on Prez Bush in a comparable way.
The comments I see about the sanctity of military intelligence I couldn’t agree with more. But lumping Gun’s leak with Ames’ treason is invalid to me. It just isn’t the same thing. She evidently had her own ideas about the integrity of the democractic process.
By the way, I had no idea you wrote so well. You might be in the wrong career…