President Bush will be happy to learn the mighty United States of America does not have a monopoly on wiretap scandals. Indeed, our leadership position in the wiretap controversy space is being threatened from abroad.
That’s right. In Greece, they are hooping and hollering about an eerie eavesdropping brouhaha with a slightly different twist than our own. In this case, cell phones of senior government, military and business officials-about 100 in all and serviced by Vodafone Greece-were tapped throughout and following the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. It was a bipartisan wiretap effort, with politicians from both major parties subjected to unauthorized eavesdropping.
While the National Security Agency’s secret domestic spying program is a distraction for President Bush, his troubles are nothing compared to what Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis and his center-right government are facing. Apparently, Karamanlis is quite the magnet for scandals. Some have dubbed this latest one Greek Watergate. Historical note: Cell phones were not around to be bugged during Nixon Watergate.
Like Bush, Karamanlis chose to go on the offensive. Karamanlis threatened action against cell phone carriers if they are found to be implicated in security breaches. But unlike Bush, Karamanlis is not defending the wiretaps, since the latter head of state undoubtedly was one of those monitored by a yet-to-be-determined third party.
“This is a major crime perpetrated against our country and its citizens,” Karamanlis was quoted as saying. “It is our responsibility to shield the state. The epoch of cover-ups is over.”
Unlike the U.S., Greece has launched an investigation. Though we know who conducted the warrantless wiretaps in our country, U.S. legislators from both sides of the aisle want to determine whether the program is legal and whether the Bush administration is properly handling the matter.
Vodafone Greece, according to foreign news accounts, has denied any wrongdoing. In addition, the carrier said last March’s suicide of its network planning manger, Kostas Tsalikides, is unrelated to the discovery of eavesdropping software earlier the same month.
So then, Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) have their work cut out for them if they want to compete with the Greek wiretap fracas. The two recently sent letters to executives of Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp. to inquire what extent, if any, the carriers helped the White House carry out domestic spying.
Meantime, the U.S. high-tech crowd took more heat from Congress last week for aiding and abetting China in its crackdown on dissenters. What ever happened to the basic task of getting a phone call or e-mail from point A to point B?
