Looks like our Keith is onto something:
Paper Says Bush Talked of Bombing Arab TV Network
By Kevin Sullivan and Walter Pincus
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, November 23, 2005; Page A14
LONDON, Nov. 22 -- President Bush expressed interest in bombing the
headquarters of the Arabic television network al-Jazeera during a White
House conversation with Prime Minister Tony Blair in April 2004, a
British newspaper reported Tuesday.
The Daily Mirror report was attributed to two anonymous sources
describing a classified document they said contained a transcript of the
two leaders' talk. One source is quoted as saying Bush's alleged remark
concerning the network's headquarters in Qatar was "humorous, not
serious," while the other said, "Bush was deadly serious."
<javascript:void(popitup('http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/postphotos/orb/asection/2005-11-23/index.html?imgId=PH2005112201919&imgUrl=/photo/2005/11/22/PH2005112201919.html',650,850))>
A frame grab from Abu Dhabi television shows people carrying Al-Jazeera
television correspondent Tareq Ayub in a blanket after he was killed in
a US missile strike on the station's Baghdad offices 08 April 2003.
Al-Jazeera's cameraman Zuheir al-Iraqi was hit in the neck by shrapnel
in what the Qatar-based Arabic news network charged was a deliberate
strike. AFP PHOTO/ABU DHABI TV
<javascript:void(popitup('http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/postphotos/orb/asection/2005-11-23/index.html?imgId=PH2005112201919&imgUrl=/photo/2005/11/22/PH2005112201919.html',650,850))>
A frame grab from Abu Dhabi television shows people carrying Al-Jazeera
television correspondent Tareq Ayub in a blanket after he was killed in
a US missile strike on the station's Baghdad offices 08 April 2003.
Al-Jazeera's cameraman Zuheir al-Iraqi was hit in the neck by shrapnel
in what the Qatar-based Arabic news network charged was a deliberate
strike. AFP PHOTO/ABU DHABI TV (Abu Dhabi Tv/via Afp)
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In Washington, a senior diplomat said the Bush remark as recounted in
the newspaper "sounds like one of the president's one-liners that is
meant as a joke." But, the diplomat said, "it was foolish for someone to
write it down, and now it will be a story for days."
"We are not interested in dignifying something so outlandish and
inconceivable with a response," White House spokesman Scott McClellan
told the Associated Press in an e-mail.
Al-Jazeera has frequently aired recorded statements from al Qaeda
figures. Bush administration officials have contended that through that
type of broadcasting the network often serves as a conduit for terrorist
propaganda.
In 2003, during the invasion of Iraq, a U.S. missile hit the network's
office in Baghdad, killing a correspondent. U.S. officials called the
incident an accident. In 2001, American bombs exploded in its bureau in
Kabul, Afghanistan. Washington said the targeting officers did not know
that the site was an office of the television service, believing instead
that it was used by al Qaeda.
A former senior U.S. intelligence official said that it was clear the
White House saw al-Jazeera as a problem, but that although the CIA's
clandestine service came up with plans to counteract it, such as
planting people on its staff, it never received permission to proceed.
"Bombing in Qatar was never contemplated," the former official said.
A spokesman for Blair's office declined to comment on grounds that the
document is part of a criminal investigation. Two civil servants have
been charged with violating Britain's Official Secrets Act for allegedly
disclosing the document.
According to a source quoted in the Daily Mail, Blair told Bush that
bombing al-Jazeera "would cause a big problem." The source was also
quoted as saying: "There's no doubt what Bush wanted to do -- and no
doubt Blair didn't want him to do it."
The network is based in downtown Doha, the capital of Qatar, a Persian
Gulf state that is closely allied with the United States and has allowed
U.S. forces to base their military headquarters there during the Iraq war.
Al-Jazeera, in a statement released Tuesday evening, said it was trying
to verify the newspaper's account and called on Blair's office to clear
up the issue.
"If the report is correct, then this would be both shocking and
worrisome not only to al-Jazeera but to media organizations across the
world," the statement said. "It would cast serious doubts in regard to
the U.S. administration's version of previous incidents involving Al
Jazeera's journalists and offices."
Former defense minister Peter Kilfoyle, a member of Blair's Labor party
who has strongly opposed the Iraq war, told the Press Association news
agency Tuesday that officials at Blair's office should make the
classified document public.
"If it was the case that President Bush wanted to bomb al-Jazeera in
what is after all a friendly country, it speaks volumes," Kilfoyle told
the agency. "And it raises questions about subsequent attacks that took
place on the press that wasn't embedded with coalition forces."
Kilfoyle could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening.
In the criminal case, Cabinet Office civil servant David Keogh is
accused of passing a classified document in May 2004 to Leo O'Connor,
formerly a researcher for Tony Clarke, then a member of Parliament from
Blair's Labor Party. Clarke told the Mirror he returned the document to
Blair's office immediately when he realized it was confidential. He said
O'Connor did "exactly the right thing" by bringing it to his attention.
Keogh and O'Connor are to appear in court next week.
/Pincus reported from Washington./
Appal Energy wrote:
>Hey Keith,
>
>Just let him stew over his own statement and mis-beliefs. You see,
>people who make such remarks generally have nothing to back up their
>words. But their hope is that others will say nothing and just let their
>words stand, allowing a little more "doubt" to be spread amongst the few
>gullible or uninformed people who might still remain.
>
>It's guerrilla tactics at best, knowing full well that the armory has
>been empty for a very long time and that the last roll of hard tack was
>just washed down with stale water.
>
>In this case, it's he who some sympathy should be extended towards. He
>knows a sinking, worm-ridden ship when he sees one. Unfortunately he's
>too proud to admit that he's been duped all along and still clings to
>some hope that if he keeps his eyes closed tight for long enough that
>reality will somehow be different.
>
>We should all wish him well with his folly on this holiday, as his rude
>awakening is inevitably just around the corner.
>
>Todd Swearingen
>
>
>
>
>>Michael Jones wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>And I feel sorry for anyone who believes this.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>Based on what, exactly? Anything more substantial than your opinion?
>>
>>Other list members have questioned you too. A response with some
>>substance to it is required please.
>>
>>Keith Addison
>>Journey to Forever
>>KYOTO Pref., Japan
>>http://journeytoforever.org/
>>Biofuel list owner
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>Keith Addison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>>
>>>http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11112.htm
>>>
>>>Exclusive: Bush Plot To Bomb His Arab Ally
>>>
>>>Madness of war memo
>>>
>>>By Kevin Maguire And Andy Lines
>>>
>>>11/22/05 "The Mirror" -- -- PRESIDENT Bush planned to bomb Arab TV
>>>station al-Jazeera in friendly Qatar, a "Top Secret" No 10 memo
>>>reveals.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>><snip>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
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>
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>
>
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