Leaked British Memo Reveals Plot to Bomb Aljazeera

[XXPANTHAXX]

US, UK asked to explain Jazeera memo

Thursday 24 November 2005 5:50 AM GMT

Aljazeera says it is investigating the authenticity of the
report

Journalists' rights groups are urging the United States and
Britain to provide clarification of a report that suggests US
President George Bush sought to bomb Aljazeera.

The controversy surrounds details of a leaked British
government memo published by a UK newspaper, the Daily
Mirror, earlier this week.

"This is a very serious charge with grave implications for
the safety of media professionals," said Ann Cooper,
executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The Mirror said Bush told UK Prime Minister Tony Blair at a
White House summit on 16 April 2004 that he wanted to launch
military action on Aljazeera's headquarters in Doha, Qatar.

Blair is reported to have talked the American president out
of any such action, but the British government has refused to
give any comment on the truth of the Mirror's story.

'Unprecedented violation'

Instead British media have been warned that they face legal
action under the Official Secrets Act if they report any
further details from the memo.

The Mirror's report quoted an unnamed government official
suggesting Bush's threat was a joke but added another
unidentified source saying the US president was serious.

Another media advocacy group, Reporters Without Borders
said: "We find it hard to believe that President Bush really
discussed this possibility. This would be extremely serious
and would constitute a major and unprecedented violation of
the right to information.

"If this report turns out to be true, it offers a new insight
into the motives of the US forces, which have already bombed
Aljazeera offices twice, in Afghanistan and Iraq."

Aljazeera staff in Doha and overseas bureaus planned to stage
a symbolic protest over the report on Thursday.

"The staff of Aljazeera have decided to organise on Thursday
a symbolic sit-in in front of the headquarters of the channel
in Doha and its overseas bureaus to protest against this
news," said Aljazeera journalist Youssef al-Shouli, who is
also vice president of the Arab Association for the Defence
of Journalists.

Petition signed

About 100 of the channel's journalists and employees have
signed a petition calling on the broadcaster's board of
governors to hold an official inquiry into the allegations.

They also demanded an immediate end "to attacks and
incitement against Aljazeera and its employees" and called
for "the opening of an inquiry into the bombing of
Aljazeera's offices in Kabul and Baghdad".

Aljazeera offices have twice been hit by US military action.

In April 2003, Aljazeera journalist Tariq Ayub died when the
broadcaster's Baghdad bureau was struck during a US bombing
campaign.

And in November 2001 Aljazeera's bureau in the Afghan
capital, Kabul, was hit by a US missile.

On Wednesday, the British government's top lawyer, Attorney-
General Lord Goldsmith, warned media organisations they would
be breaking the law if they publish details of the leaked
document.

Kevin Maguire, the Daily Mirror's associate editor, said
government officials had given no indication of any legal
problems with the story when contacted before publication.

Fresh revelations fear

"We were astonished, 24 hours later, to be threatened with
the Official Secrets Act and to be requested to give various
undertakings to avoid being injuncted," Maguire told BBC
radio.

Aljazeera said in a statement that, if true, the Mirror's
story would raise serious doubts about the US
administration's version of previous incidents involving the
station's journalists and offices.

The Guardian on Thursday reports that fears of fresh
revelations about disputes between Bush and Blair on the Iraq
conflict could damage the two nations' relations, prompted
the unprecedented gagging of the media.

Senior MPs, Whitehall officials and lawyers were agreed that
Lord Goldsmith had "read the riot act" to the media because
of political embarrassment caused by a sensitive leak of face-
to-face exchanges between the two leaders, reports The
Guardian.

There were UK anxieties that US bombing in civilian areas in
Falluja would unite Sunnis and Shias against British forces,
adds the report.

Downing Street, the newspaper continued, stressed that the
decision to take action was "entirely up to the attorney-
general" and was intended to "draw a line in the sand" on
further leaks.

[Im The Truth]

These europeans will do anything to avoid the truth from being told.