A big ten gallon hat tip goes to
Corpus Callosum for this blockbuster. It appears there is a new Downing Street memo in circulation
that details the wishes of president Bush to
bomb the headquartersof Al Jazeera in Quatar.
The five-page transcript of a conversation between Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair reveals that Blair talked Bush out of launching a military strike on the station, unnamed sources told the anti-war-in-Iraq daily.
The transcript of the pair's talks during Blair's April 16, 2004 visit to Washington allegedly shows Bush wanted to attack the satellite channel's headquarters.
Blair allegedly feared such a strike, in the business district of Doha, the capital of Qatar, a key western ally in the Persian Gulf, would spark revenge attacks.
The Mirror quoted an unnamed British government official as saying Bush's threat was "humorous, not serious".
Al-Jazeera's perspectives on the war in Iraq have drawn criticism from Washington since the US-led March 2003 invasion.
The station has broadcast messages from Al-Qaeda terror network chief Osama bin Laden and the beheadings of Western hostages by insurgents in Iraq, as well as footage of dead coalition servicemen and Iraqi civilians killed in fighting.
A source told the Mirror: "The memo is explosive and hugely damaging to Bush.
"He made clear he wanted to bomb al-Jazeera in Qatar and elsewhere. Blair replied that would cause a big problem.
"There's no doubt what Bush wanted to do -- and no doubt Blair didn't want him to do it."
Another source said: "Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair. That much is absolutely clear from the language used by both men."
My oh my. This certainly puts a different outlook on the question
raised back in 2003 as to whether or not Al Jazeera was being targeted by our military. As quoted in the above link:
November 19th, 2001 The Guardian reported about the bomb that destroyed Al-Jazeeras offices in Kabul, Afghanistan. The reports states, Al-Jazeera certainly believes it was a target. Speaking on the telephone to News World from Qatar, its chief editor, Ibrahim Hilal, said he believed that it's Kabul office had been on the Pentagon's list of targets since the beginning of the conflict.
The same report quotes spokesman, US Col. Brian Hoey as saying, "The US military does not and will not target media. We would not, as a policy, target news media organisations - it would not even begin to make sense."
Well it is beginning to make sense in hindsight Col. Hoey. The article has a series of events that tend to show that the military was actively targeting Al Jazeera and other independent news organizations.
So now we may begin to comprehend why it was that American media simply rolled over and played dead for the first 4 1/2 years of this administration. They made an example of Al Jazeera when it came to news coverage that did not kow tow to the administration. Thank god Mr. Blair has the sense to talk him out of it. Bomb Qatar... now thats a real doozy.
Cross posted @ Club Lefty