Listening in and twisting arms. Reader AQ passes along a link to this report in yesterday's London Observer charging the US with conducting a surveillance campaign aimed at digging up information that could be used to pressure members of the UN Security Council into voting with the White House on Iraq.

The article doesn't quite deliver on the promise of the hyperventilating lead, which refers to "a secret 'dirty tricks' campaign." Nevertheless, the allegations of telephone and e-mail intercepts are serious indeed, and are backed up by a memorandum that reportedly was written by a National Security Agency official.

National-security adviser Condoleezza Rice gets dragged into this as well.

Follow-up, anyone?