Germany’s Ex-Chancellor Put Under Surveillance After Opposing U.S. Iraq Invasion
Angela Merkel wasn’t the only German leader put under surveillance by the NSA. Her predecessor, Gerhard Schröder, was spied on when the German government opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2002.
US intelligence agencies began monitoring the mobile phone of the German chancellor more than 10 years ago when Gerhard Schröder was leader, according to German media.
The Social Democrat chancellor was put under surveillance from around 2002, according to research by newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and TV network NDR, reportedly because of his government’s opposition to military intervention in Iraq…
The source of the latest information is a document leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The document, containing information about the so-called National Sigint Requirement List, had previously been interpreted as referring only to Merkel’s mobile…
“I would never have imagined that I was being bugged by American services then,” Schröder said in response to the revelations, “but now I am no longer surprised.”
