The U.S. Air Force is planning to hire a private company to provide wire-tapping capabilities to Iraq.

 

Iraqi officials will be able to eavesdrop on cellular calls and messages “to assist in combating criminal organizations and insurgencies,” according to the Air Force. The proposed system also would allow Baghdad to monitor and store voice calls, data transmissions and text messages.

 

Additionally, the government would have the option to expand the system to spy on land-line telephone systems and international mobile telecommunications.

 

Major General Jeffrey Buchanan, spokesman for U.S. forces in Iraq, tried to argue that the new technology would not abused by Iraq. “Iraq’s stringent surveillance laws require law enforcement to obtain a warrant before accessing and monitoring private conversations,” Buchanan said in a statement last week. Buchanan was apparently unaware that the United States itself also had stringent surveillance laws, but that they have been ignored by the government, especially during the presidency of George W. Bush.

 

The Air Force has yet to choose an American contractor to buy, install and maintain the equipment, as well as train Iraqis to use it. A similar outsourced surveillance system was installed in Afghanistan in 2007.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

U.S. Plans to Provide Iraq with Wiretapping System (by Walter Pincus, Washington Post)