British pre-war spying allegations expand

LONDON, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- More allegations of British security agents tapping U.N. officials' telephones before the war in Iraq emerged Friday, The Guardian said.

The telephones of former U.N. chief weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Richard Butler were also tapped while on missions abroad, Butler said in an interview with the Australia Broadcasting Corporation.

The claims follow Thursday's allegations by former cabinet minister Clare Short she had read transcripts of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's telephone calls.

Butler told ABC radio he was forced to hold confidential talks with contacts on walks in New York's Central Park because of the phone tapping in his office at the U.N. headquarters while he was investigating Iraq's weapons program.

Butler, who was chief weapons inspector in Iraq from 1997 to 1999, claimed at least four permanent members of the U.N. Security Council monitored his calls.

He said while he was weapons inspector he learned from unnamed sources that his office was bugged.

"I was being listened to by the Americans, British, the French and the Russians and they also had people on my staff reporting what I was trying to do privately," he said.