Daily Mirror: Bush talked about bombing al-Jazeera
Qatar-USA, Politics, 11/23/2005

Reports said that the British authorities brought two senior employees to court under pretext of leaking a top secret memorandum issued by the government for a plan proposed by US President George W. Bush to bombard the headquarters of al-Jazeera TV channel in Qatar.

A report by the Mirror said "Bush disclosed his plan to target al-Jazeera, a civilian station with a huge Mid-East following, at a White House face-to-face with Mr Blair on April 16 last year. At the time, the US was launching an all-out assault on insurgents in the Iraqi town of Fallujah. Al-Jazeera infuriated Washington and London by reporting from behind rebel lines and broadcasting pictures of dead soldiers, private contractors and Iraqi victims."

The report said "Cabinet Office civil servant David Keogh, 49, is accused under the Official Secrets Act of passing it to Leo O'Connor, 42, who used to work for Mr Clarke (British labor representative at the house of commons Tony Clarke). Both are bailed to appear at Bow Street court next week."

The report said "A Government official suggested that the Bush threat had been 'humorous, not serious' But another source declared: 'Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair. That much is absolutely clear from the language used by both men.'"

For his party Clerk handed over the secret memorandum which included details to the source which the British daily "Daily Mirror" used in disseminating this memorandum.

The Qatari al-Jazeera TV satellite station said in a statement that it is investigating the report by the British daily Daily Mirror.

The statement read that "al-Jazeera embarks a set of criterion in the field of the press based on moderation, neutrality and balance in its news and coverage, so it is seriously investigating the details of the paper's report."

Before drawing any conclusion, al-Jazeera seeks to make sure ultimately of the credibility of the memorandum and its hopes that the British government will issue a confirmation to this effect as soon as possible.

The statement added that if it is found out that the report is correct: this will be then a great shock not only for al-Jazeera, rather to all media establishments in the world as whole and will drop real doubts on the justifications put by the American administration for previous incident targeting al-Jazeera pressmen and offices.

The Mirror report noted "The No 10 memo now raises fresh doubts over US claims that previous attacks against al-Jazeera staff were military errors. In 2001 the station's Kabul office was knocked out by two "smart" bombs. In 2003, al-Jazeera reporter Tareq Ayyoub was killed in a US missile strike on the station's Baghdad center."

Today the Daily Mirror said "THE Daily Mirror was yesterday told not to publish further details from a top secret memo, which revealed that President Bush wanted to bomb an Arab TV station. The gag by the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith came nearly 24 hours after the Mirror informed Downing Street of its intention to reveal how Tony Blair talked Bush out of attacking satellite station al-Jazeera's HQ in friendly Qatar."

Al-Jazeera urged the White House and the British government to respond to the report of the Daily Mirror. There are calls for the release of the report to find out the accuracy of what was said.

Previous Stories:
  Qatar's FM asks Washington to stay in Iraq   (5/5/2004)
  large scale condemnation for the American campaign against al-Jazeera TV, Qatar denies pressures   (5/1/2004)
  Powell meets with Qatar's peer, complains against al-Jazeera TV   (4/28/2004)

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