The Guardian: They bombed al-Jazeera's reporters. Now the US is after our integrity

[Horse with no Name]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/dec/10/al-jazeera-us-integrity-wikileaks

A lot can change in five years. In December 2005 the Guardian opened its pages for me to respond to a leak – the Bush-Blair memo in which both leaders discussed the possibility of bombing Al-Jazeera's Qatar HQ, where more than 1,000 people work. While those who leaked the memo were imprisoned, its detailed contents were never disclosed. Earlier this year I learned from a senior US official that the discussions had indeed taken place.

I was not surprised. Our bureaus in Kabul and Iraq had previously been bombed by the US in an attempt to stifle the channel's independence; one of our journalists in Iraq was killed. But this did not deter us from our mission to provide "the opinion and the other opinion" – our motto; to give a voice to the voiceless; to hold centres of power to account; and to uphold our editorial independence no matter what the cost. We maintained these values even as the US bombed our offices, continuing our coverage of both sides of the story.

>>snip
Those who lobby against al-Jazeera seek to delegitimise the work of dedicated and courageous journalists who put their lives on the line. For 14 years we have committed ourselves to safeguarding our editorial independence. Our audiences rely on us for this, and we will not be affected by pressure from regimes, states, media or other centres of power. We have full confidence in our mission as journalists.

[EFerrari]

1. Bombed Al jazeera *twice* and tortured journalists at Gitmo.

Bombed the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad. Turned a blind eye to journalists being tortured and killed in Colombia and Honduras. We have some record going there.

And we're hosting Wold Press Freedom Day next year.

You really can't make this sh!t up.

[Horse with no Name]

2. Disgusting, isn't it?

:hug: Miss you.

[EFerrari]

3. So good to see you.

:hug:

[QC]

6. Please, we must look forward. n/t

[Kaleko]

10. Does WikiLeaks confirm that the US deliberately bombed the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad?

I remember seeing footage at the time of the air assaults on the journalists cooped up inside and thinking that it was no accident as the US claimed in the following days.

[EFerrari]

11. Amy Goodman did when she had on the NSA worker

that was working that day, who saw what was going to happen, told her sup and was told it was above her pay grade. I think it was NSA although I might be getting my acronyms mixed up.

But the thing is, a person literally was alert enough to see this building being targeted, tried to stop it and was told to shut up.

And since, the government tried to stop the investigation in Spain.

[Kaleko]

12. So there it is. A repeat of the same strategy used to make 9/11 happen

and then precipitate the series of events that the public is told were justified because of 9/11.

Rinse and repeat the world over.

[Robbien]

4. Al Jazeera is one of the best news shows on PBS

Much much better than BBC or Newshour.

I can see why the US wants people not to listen to them.

[L0oniX]

7. I'll bet the war against Wikileaks has taken some of the focus off of Al Jazeera.

They are both under attack for the spreading the truth. I though the USA was supposed to stand for the truth, instead it's all about lies. It's no wonder they call the USA ...The Great Satan.

[Catherina]

5. Something to do with freedom? Oh yes, freedom of the press in China. Rec'd. n/t

[Solly Mack]

8. k/r

[formercia]

9. K&R

Orwell was a visionary.