U.S. plans to provide Iraq with wiretapping system

[unhappycamper]

Source: Washington Post

U.S. plans to provide Iraq with wiretapping system
By Walter Pincus, Published: July 30

The United States is planning to provide the Iraqi government with a wiretapping system to eavesdrop on cellular calls and messages “to assist in combating criminal organizations and insurgencies,” according to a U.S. Air Force contract solicitation.

The proposed system would allow Iraqi officials to monitor and store voice calls, data transmissions and text messages and would be installed with the acquiescence of the three current cellular communications providers in Iraq, according to documents accompanying the solicitation.

The system, which would be able to target at least 5,000 devices, would be designed for expansion to cover land-line telephone systems and international mobile telecommunications.

Maj. Gen. Jeffrey S. Buchanan, spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, said the equipment would be similar to the technology used by federal and state law enforcement agencies in the United States. “Iraq’s stringent surveillance laws require law enforcement to obtain a warrant before accessing and monitoring private conversations,” he said in a statement last week.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-plans-to-provide-iraq-with-wiretapping-system/2011/07/26/gIQAGexvjI_story.html

[Syrinx]

1. just kill me now

[ejpoeta]

2. what, like what they use here??? hmm... can't see how this could possibly go wrong

like saddam hussein using OUR weapons to fight against us. Or was it he used our stuff to attack his own people? hmm.... then of course there was the stuff we gave bin laden and the taliban that they then used against us.

[Divernan]

6. Spot on observation! Every democracy needs its very own NSA!

[digitaln3rd]

3. How's that freedom and democracy working out for ya', Iraq?

You thought things would be different with a Democratic president? How silly.

[ixion]

4. Yeah, 'cause the US loves itself some fascism

whenever it gets the chance, both here and abroad. :(

[Divernan]

5. What fat cat MIC companies getting big $$$ to sell/install/maintain it?

Iraq War profiteering - we may get thrown out at the end of the year, but by god, we will squeeze every last opportunity to profiteer for Obama's big donors down to the wire. Blood money - profitable to the last drop!

[No Elephants]

7. It's probably too late to go back to that whole "no standing armies": thing, right?

Honest to goodness, the MIC is so large, so rich and so powerful, the only CONSENT to be under civilian command, or at least pretend to be.

Largest air force in the world? USAF, of course.

Second largest air force in the world? USN.

How long before the U.S. becomes a no fly zone?

[rug]

8. Exporting democracy.

[awoke_in_2003]

17. at the end of a gun. nt

[Yon_Yonson]

9. US sponsored secret police and now wiretapping system in Iraq

My GAW the new Iraq is evolving into a system just like the US of A ... democracy hard at work.

This secret police article dates to 2003 but it’s prevalent:

CIA recruiting Saddam’s secret police
By Julie Hyland
26 September 2003

The Sunday Times has reported that the CIA is recruiting former agents from Saddam Hussein’s notorious security forces in Iraq.

According to the newspaper, “American forces have launched a covert campaign to recruit former officers of the Mukhabarat, Saddam Hussein’s infamous secret police, who were responsible for the deaths and torture of tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis.”

It reports that dozens of these sadistic and brutal murderers are now employed by the US “for help in hunting resistance groups” within Iraq, as well as “identifying and tracking down Iraqis suspected of spying for Iran and Syria, the neighbouring countries most hostile to Washington”.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/sep2003/iraq-s26.shtml

:banghead:

[rms013]

12. Iraq, Iran same imperialism different country

When the CIA fermented anti nationalism/Mosaddegh(the democratically elected president) and installed the Shah they also established the security state within Iran (the SAVAK). The coup's main purpose was to wrest control of the Iranian oilfields (which had been nationalized by Mosaddegh) from the Iranian government back to international oil corps. Before the nationalization they were mainly owned and controlled by British energy companies, after the coup they were owned and controlled by American oil companies. The end result being... the revolution in Iran, the taking of hostages from the US embassy and a general hatred for US imperialistic policies in Iran, the Iran Iraq 7 year war (guess who's side we were supporting).
Saddam Husein nationalized the oil in Iraq, US military overthrows government of Iraq etcet etcet.
Need I say more...........

[pmorlan1]

10. Pathetic

It's not bad enough that we do it here, now we are exporting this system to other countries. They don't give a rat's ass about democracy.

[msongs]

11. just another way to generate profits for our war criminal corporations nt

[Solly Mack]

13. and will they get their own version of the Patriot Act too?

LMAO

Oh...that's not a happy laugh.

[humblebum]

14. Are they also giving them a complimentary copy of the Bill of Rights?

"Iraq’s stringent surveillance laws require law enforcement to obtain a warrant before accessing and monitoring private conversations,” he said in a statement last week. Gee. How very un-American. (SARCASM)

We need to get the hell out of Iraq and Afghanistan and leave them to make a life for themselves. It's also a great way to save money.

[rms013]

16. Hey, we got the same requirement here...

It's called the 4th amendment of the Constitution. I guess they will ignore it just like our law enforcement and judicial system does.

[Veri1138]

15. Just as long...

as The US does not provide them with the Israeli-manufactured system that the US uses. Which includes backdoors into the American telecommunications system. That is the problem when you globalise and outsource your capabilities to foreign countries and industries. Hell, the US cannot even manufacture the magnets made in all those GPS guided bombs.

If you google the Israeli penetration of US telecommunications, you will come across a bunch of right-wing lunatic sites. If you do, ignore the hysterics - there is some truth there.

[Fokker Trip]

18. This will facilitate more torture and killing.

Now the Iraqi secret police will be able to more easily track down those who would demand freedom or change. The US government only backs regimes that are either outright dictatorships or stealth dictatorships (elections with no hope of real change). The uncertainty of real democracies is not something that military planners want to contend with. Terrorists...phhhhhh right.

[tpsbmam]

19. Spreading democracy all over the world! USA! USA!

I'm all tingly -- our country is bring so much to Iraq and Afghanistan!

:sarcasm:


Now they can have the kind of democracy Sadam would have approved.