Jazeera fury over 'U.S. bomb' memo

[sabra]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/11/24/jazeera.protest/index.html

Jazeera fury over 'U.S. bomb' memo

(CNN) -- Employees of the Arabic news network Al-Jazeera have been protesting over a recent report by a British tabloid that the U.S. allegedly planned to bomb the network's headquarters in Qatar -- a report vehemently denied by the White House.

Men and women stood outside Al-Jazeera's Doha, Qatar offices on Thursday holding signs in Arabic and in English, one reading "Don't bomb the messenger." Another sign read "Hostage of Truth" over a photo of Sami al-Hajj, an Al-Jazeera cameraman imprisoned at the U.S. military facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Al-Hajj was detained in Afghanistan, and the network has been asking for his release.

Employees staged similar protests at bureaus in Cairo, Beirut, and Ramallah, with banners condemning U.S. President George Bush.

[rosesaylavee]

1. I'd be protesting too if I could find a place to do it...

this man is just insane... When will the American people wake up - all of them - to that fact?

[lostexpectation]

2. what did Qatar have to say about it

I think they should be more upset then Al jazeera

[allemand]

5. Interestingly at the time of the Blair visit there were diplomatic strains

between Washington and Qatar over the issue of al-Jazeera:

But despite Qatar acting as the launch pad for the Iraq war and hosting the US central command during the conflict, a long-running dispute over al-Jazeera’s coverage provoked deep strains in diplomatic relations last year.

The Bush administration avoided meeting Qatari officials for several months and Washington insisted Qatar should put pressure on al-Jazeera – launched with government funding nine years ago – to tone down its broadcasts out of Iraq. (...)

US pressures led the Qataris to suggest that they might put al-Jazeera up for sale. This option was not welcomed by US officials, who feared a privatisation could make al-Jazeera more difficult to control.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/92fad322-5c58-11da-af92-0000779e2340.html

One member of Qatar's ruling family comments:

“I thought this was just a rumour, but now the UK has used the secrecy act to stop it, it raises more questions. It makes this high profile and we would be really interested to know what is going on,” a senior member of the ruling Al-Thani family said.

[SpiralHawk]

6. Please proceed to the nearest Free Speech Zone

And submit an application (in triplicate) for your 10 seconds of unamplified First Amendment Rights.

You will be monitored by HomeLand Security, so please do not VIOLATE your Faith-Based Government by using words -- or other commie pinko disloyal and unpatriotic tactics.

Have a nice day.

[elehhhhna]

3. Hey, they sent Anthrax to our media, why not bomb Al-J?

I'm shocked that anyone is surprised by this revelation.

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

15. Say wah? it was American made anthrax that offed the national Enquirer

the Floridian Enquirer reporter was anthraxed when he was about to release photos of Bushee whackin his weenie in a coffin at the Skull and Bones initiation-
...and Dems got it in the mail (those who opposed Bush)--somehow no war mongers got a taste of any Anthrax--

Does this suroprise someone like you who is so easily not surprised?

[elehhhhna]

16. By "they" I meant the BUSH Administration. THEY sent anthrax.

That's when I became convinced they (BA) had cooked up 911.

[TankLV]

17. self deleted.

I typed too fast without reading further down.

[IndianaGreen]

4. This story has raised quite a furor in England

even Tories are demanding answers.

The American media has merely repeated the lies of the White House, but the British press has been threatened with prosecution if they publish the contents of the memo (yes, there is another memo!).

[jbnow]

7. I have to say

scandals involving memos baffle me.

If I was plotting crimes or other nasty things I would not write memos. I would not write e-mails. I would not keep a file.

I realize bush was the bad guy here and as far as we know Blair was on the right side of this question.

Still I never understand why notes on crimes are taken by the criminals. Perhaps I should have been a criminal if I have a better criminal mind then they do but I am too old to start a new career now.

[Voltaire99]

9. Yes. It speaks to how insulated from reproach or consequence...

...our plutocrats feel.

Democracy? Ha; a ceremonial distraction in between the memos and the wars.

[Barkley]

10. Perhaps keeping memo is type of insurance policy

Can you imagine if Panama's Noriega had kept a diary of all he had done
for the CIA in 25 years?!?!?!

I imagine that's partly why Bush nominated his own personal lawyer to the Supreme Court.

I believe the current chief Justice did legal consulting for Bush I.

Being able to leak damaging information might be valuable. Having memos helps make such information credible.

[lfairban]

14. Sit down my son, and let me tell you about Richard Nixon.

President Nixon not only took notes, he insisted on having all his conversations tape recorded so that there would be an accurate record for history.

There was. It was the basis for his impeachment.

[VegasWolf]

8. "Give me your Oil", GWB. nt

:puke:

[leesa]

11. Bush should be arrested under the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act for threatening

to commit a terrorist attack. Actually, it would be under international law, but it is definitely a terrorist attack.

[IndianaGreen]

12. Steve Bell's cartoon about Bush bombing Al-Jazeera

http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/0,7371,1650498,00.html

[G_j]

13. "Al-Jazeera demands probe of alleged U.S. bomb plot" (AP)

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&pubid=968163964505&cid=1132831234700&col=968705899037&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492

Al-Jazeera demands probe of alleged U.S. bomb plot
Nov. 27, 2005. 01:00 AM

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — Staff at Al-Jazeera, the Arab world's best known satellite channel, held protests Thursday demanding an investigation into British reports that U.S. President George W. Bush wanted to bomb their network's headquarters.

Al-Jazeera personnel at the headquarters in Doha, Qatar, and in the channel's foreign bureaus stopped work for 15 minutes in a symbolic protest over this week's report in the Daily Mirror that Bush had to be talked out of bombing the station at a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the White House in April 2004, said the station's editor-in-chief, Ahmed el-Sheik.

The Mirror, which did not identify its sources, said Blair persuaded Bush not to attack the channel, which the United States has frequently accused of anti-American bias.

The British paper quoted one official as saying Bush's threat was ``humorous, not serious," but another said "Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair."
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