The Wall
Street Journal has revealed that a White House official revealed to it that the
U.S. President Barack Obama didn’t have the information that German Chancellor
Angela Merkel’s cellphone was being tapped.
This clarification
was necessary after documents from former NSA (National Security Agency)
contractor Edward Snowden revealed (by U.K.’s Guardian) that the United States
has been monitoring about 35 world leaders through their cell phones.
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| U.S. President Barack Obama. Img: The Verge |
This has
caused a lot of outrage around the world as many people are concerned that the
NSA’s spying is too much and it’s getting too much information about other
countries than necessary.
The U.S.
official claims that there are many targets monitored by the NSA which makes it
impossible for the president to know every individual being targeted.
This was in
reply to a German newspaper, Bild am Sonntag that claimed that President Obama
ordered NSA to tap Merkel’s cellphone since 2010. “These decisions are made at
the NSA,” he told The Wall Street Journal. “The president doesn’t sign off on
this stuff.”
The pressure
on the United States spying activities didn’t look like abating after Spanish
newspaper El Mundo revealed that the National Security Agency monitored 60
million phone calls in Spain last December.
Some world
leaders are expecting President Obama to come out publicly and apologize for
all the NSA shenanigans but there are calls from important individuals in the
U.S. that this is unnecessary as the U.S. protect these countries by spying on
them.
“The reality
is the NSA has saved thousands of lives not just in the United States but in
France, Germany and throughout Europe. Quite frankly, the NSA has done so much
for our country and so much for the president, he’s the commander in chief. He
should stand with the NSA.” Peter King, a Republican congressman posited.
A former NSA
official, John Schindler noted that Germany would have done worse than the U.S.
if the 9/11 attacks were planned in America and carried out in Germany. “If
9/11 had happened to Germany and been in NY not Hamburg, I’d expect [German]
intel to monitor USA top 2 bottom.” he revealed on Twitter.
The pressure
is piling up on the United States over these revelations, some out of
necessity, and some out of curiosity. Where is the U.S. going with this and how
will it escape from angry members of the United Nations?
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Obama wasn’t aware that Merkel’s phone was being tapped – White House official