US Threatened to Downgrade Qatari Ties Over Al-Jazeera

[TheWebHead]

Al-Jazeera made the decision to pull two “anti-US” cartoons from its website last month under US pressure after an article appeared in a Kuwaiti newspaper quoting a US Gulf-based diplomat as saying that Congress had proposed to George W. Bush he should put “all possible pressure” on the Qatari government to close down the satellite station, Arab News has learned.

The two cartoons were pulled “without any hesitation” from both the Arabic and English language websites after a US government official complained about them, Arab News reported yesterday, making a mockery of Al-Jazeera’s reputation for fiercely safeguarding its journalistic independence against outside pressure.

more...
http://arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=33005&d=4&m=10&y=2003

[thebigidea]

1. grrrrrrrrrrr

I can't stand the fact that W isn't satisfied fucking with OUR freedom, he has to go and pressure other governments to fire officials who criticize him... or remove snotty cartoons...

[Manix]

2. ...nothing like spreading freedom and democracy in the Middle East

...most of the world is wise to BushCo but when will the US
population wake up!

[saigon68]

6. Wake up? you must be joking

THE AMERICAN PUBLIC AFTER A BIG DINNER AND DRINKS LAST NIGHT, AND AFTER SLUMBERING IN A HEATED WATER BED LAST NIGHT, IS GOING TO BE SEDATED ON SPORTS THIS WEEK-END.

THEY DON'T CARE WHAT HAPPENS THERE IN IRAQ OR THE THE MIDEAST, JUST KEEP THE GAS CHEAP, THE CHEERLEADERS BUXOM AND THE BEER COLD.

</Rant Off> sorry :-( sometimes I lose it-- Its called PTSD= post traumatic stress disorder.

Good post :-) and by the way, hunting season is coming shortly too and that will also keep them occupied.

[Cappurr]

3. Qatar has been our friend, despite criticism from Arab neighbors

I am more shocked by our government every day. There is a first amendment. Hasn't Bush heard of it? If I were these countries, I'd tell them to take our "friendship" and shove it. We aren't their "friends". We give them money. We are their owners. And it is getting worse and worse.

[KharmaTrain]

4. Chickenhawks At It Again

The DOD has had to hold it's powder on the Quataris (if that's what they're called) about Al Jezeerah as long as we had a large military presence there and it was Tommy Franks' master control.

Now that's not the case and another BushCo. mess up is getting even messier. One of the biggest sellers in Iraq since the "liberation" has been satellite dishes...long prohibited there except for the elite...and given the choice between Al Jezeera and BremerVision, it's no question whose not only getting the eyes, but the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people.

From what I've studied of the network, it is Government "controlled" but autonomous...meaning it's like the CBC or BBC...that it is a company owned by the government, but it's content and administration is outside of direct government control. Or at least that's the concept.

But this is more like the typical Arab double-talk...being our friend...either diplomatically or by allowing us to use them for military, but then turning to their own people and saying something else. You have to think that with all the anti-American feeling in the Arab world, Al Jezeera is kinda an insurance policy for the Sultanates of the Gulf and deflect the close BushCo family ties with these regimes.

[izzie]

5. My God I had better take the cartoons sites off this PC

Will I be next???? I hate hot weather and I will hate Cuba.

[bahrbearian]

7. I'd like to see them first ,, I'm tried of the cold..

[lostnfound]

8. Finding a "Moderate & neutral" replacement..for Mazen Dana?

Someone willing to "moderate & neutral" to the farce in Washington is like finding someone "moderate & neutral" during WW2. Come to think of it, there were quite a few then..

I have a small picture of Mazen Dana (the AlJaz reporter killed on top of the Al Rashid hotel in Baghdad by a US tank), wearing his helmut and bulletproof vest, on 'the motivation space' in front of me as I type. His story touched me..I heard one of his colleagues describing him and saying 'he told me he'd promised his wife that he would ALWAYS wore a bulletproof vest so he would come home to them'..and he had a 1-year old daughter at the time. It was terrible to think of that 1-year old growing up without a daddy now, his wife learning to cope. His bulletproof vest did him no good in the end.

My 'motivation space' is not all sad..there's several photos of big 2/15/03 anti-war demonstrations from around the world..But Mazen Dana isn't just one dead reporter in the papers to me; he's the father of a little girl not much younger than my boy, and as such, his face reminds me of why this greed-based anti-human war machine must be seen for the horror that it is.