So just what are ambassadors' wives actually for?

Given the furore about the Plame affair that the CIA is now investigating and the frenzied DU discussions about intelligence gathering implications, an obvious question also arises about official/unofficial work done by the wives of diplomats.

Apart from the social and formal/ceremonial functions they actually perform, spouses do not have diplomatic immunity in the same way as ambassadors and yet many of them act as if they did. They grey area between what they can and cannot get away with is further obscured if covert spying operations are protected by levels of immunity that are only valid for accredited and international treaty-ratified ambassadors.

Take Sarah Sharp Farish, wife of top US shrubman in London, William Stamps Farish III. Despite many court orders going back to the 1970s restraining her from 'malicious and defamatory behaviour' towards the family of an extremely well known and militarily highly decorated American resident in the UK, married to a British aristocrat - who herself has successfully sued Mrs Farish and various members of the Sharp family in the past - she continues to act as if diplomatic priviledge allows her to flaunt the law of the land by ignoring the injunctions against her continued campaign of harrassment and malice. Documents that are imminently publishable into the public domain all show she is doing more 'unofficial' work for Dubya than her husband performs in his official capacity as ambassador.

The American resident is a noted Democrat with the sort of Democratic family pedigree that any American would recognise instantly. His wife is a top UN official.

The same diplomatic anomaly situation applies to the wife of the former UK ambassador to Tel Aviv, whose manipulation of personal contacts in the Labour Party has been tantamount to espionage for the government of Ariel Sharon, and conversely in the run up to the Iraq war, a personal favour to Dubya.

As her husband's consort, she has a deep personal acquanitance of Dubya, going back to the heady days when her husband, Sherard Cowper Coles, was a junior official in the UK embassy in Washington when Bush senior was vice pres. He has just recently been appointed as UK ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

The UK security service 'positively vets' all diplomats' spouses to protect the UK's interests. It is a matter of public record that Mr Cowper Coles was Thatcher's private secretary in the troubled days of her premiership when she famously remonstrated Bush senior by saying: "Now don't go all wobbly on me , George...."

Both Mrs Cowper Coles and Mrs Farish are close acquaintances of Lilly Safra, widow of at least two extremely wealthy men who died in alarmingly mysterious circumstances - one 'committed suicide' by shooting himself.....twice, that is!..... and another died in a dodgy fire in Monte Carlo, despite massive security at the residence.

Mrs Safra, who has reputedly inherited many billions from her former husband Edmond, is also under the very same anti-harrassment injunctions as the diplomats' wives and yet has chosen to become domiciled in London, thanks to the special relationship between Dubya and his Poodle. She is noted for her past substantial donations to Thatcher's personal Foundation as well as recently to the UK Labour Party.

This is the second thread trying to spin it for bushco.

Perhaps you didn't read the post through properly....

Ms.Plame was a cia operator. She develeped a network over 30 yrs. That was destroyed by the worthless pigs in the the WH. You can only imagine who thoses pigs were. It just stinks.

they have good access, great cover. Thats why various governments continually watch them and complain. In the old days we would just pooh pooh the complaints from the USSR et al about their allegations.

This revelation should have you scratching your head about some of that 'preposterous' clap trap you heard about and skipped over.

Remember that being covert is not like in the movies. Its far more mundane than James Bond and To Clancy but the threat to other coverts is very real. You can bet that others watched who she had contacts with, this puts that subset of people in a heightened state of observation. They are out of the intel game now and people will be digging for proof of secrets that they let out.