October 8 2002
The sky is falling, the sky is falling!
CHICKENHAWK DATABASE from the New Hampshire Gazette
By WARREN P. STROBEL and JONATHAN S. LANDAY
Knight-Ridder Tribune News
WASHINGTON -- While President Bush marshals congressional and international support for invading Iraq, a growing number of military officers, intelligence professionals and diplomats in his own government privately have deep misgivings about the administration's double-time march toward war.
Bush-Blair transcript 'seized by IRA spies'
By Thomas Harding, Ireland Correspondent Telegraph
(Filed: 08/10/2002)
Secret documents obtained by an IRA spy network included transcripts of
telephone conversations between Tony Blair and President Bush, security sources
confirmed yesterday.
As Northern Ireland enters its biggest crisis since the 1998 Good Friday
Agreement, the province is bracing itself today for a final meeting of the
power-sharing Assembly. Direct rule from Westminster is likely to be imposed
within days.
The disclosure that terrorists gained access to confidential White House
information is likely to provoke a furious reaction in America. David Trimble,
Northern Ireland's First Minister and leader of the Ulster Unionists, compared
the republican espionage as "10 times worse than Watergate", which led to the
resignation of President Nixon.
Confidence in sharing power between the Unionists and Sinn Fein, the political
wing of the IRA, has collapsed following the revelations connecting them to
terrorist intelligence gathering.
The IRA and Sinn Fein allegedly used information from their spy ring during
talks at Weston Park in July last year. Throughout five days of deadlocked
negotiations, Sinn Fein procrastinated over arms decommissioning before
accepting concessions from the Government. They are said to have known the
Government's "bottom line" on negotiations on a number of occasions.
Documents taken included memos from John Reid, the Northern Ireland Secretary,
to intelligence chiefs and Lt Gen Sir Alistair Irwin, the Army commander in
Northern Ireland who was allegedly targeted by the Provisionals.
Minutes of separate private meetings held by Mr Blair with Mr Trimble and Ian
Paisley, the Democratic Unionist Party leader, were also taken. So were notes
from a meeting between Jane Kennedy, the security minister, and the director of
the Organised Crime Task Force.
Denis Donaldson, Sinn Fein's chief administrator, has been charged with five
counts of possessing documents useful to terrorists in carrying out acts of
violence. Fiona Farrelly, a republican community worker, faces two similar
charges.
Link to the Telegraph