April 18 (Bloomberg) -- Two British men were accused by prosecutors of potentially endangering troops in Iraq by leaking a secret memo about a 2004 meeting between U.S. President George Bush and U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair.
David Keogh, 50, a former Cabinet communications officer, and political researcher Leo O'Connor, 44, are on trial in London for allegedly breaching Britain's Official Secrets Act. Prosecutor David Perry QC today claimed that the two men conspired to push the memo into the public domain after Keogh intercepted a confidential fax from Washington to London.
``That document contained information about this nation's defense interests and this nation's international relations,'' Perry told the Central Criminal Court, known as the Old Bailey. ``That's what this case is about.''
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The leaked record of their discussions was written by Blair's private secretary for foreign affairs at the time, Matthew Rycroft, and was stamped both ``personal'' and ``secret,'' Perry said. It was intended to be circulated only on a ``need to know'' basis among senior officials at organizations such as the U.K.'s Ministry of Defence and the United Nations, the prosecutor claimed.
***MEMO That was leaked***
Al Jazeera bombing memo
The Al Jazeera bombing memo is an unpublished memorandum made within the British government which purports to be the minutes of a discussion between United States President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair. The Daily Mirror published a story on its front page on 22 November 2005 claiming that the memo quotes Bush speculating about a U.S. bombing raid on Al Jazeera world headquarters in the Qatari capital Doha and other locations. The story claims that Blair persuaded Bush to take no action.
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