Bombing Al-Jazeera - 'Outlandish' Indeed
arabnews Editorial: 'Outlandish' Indeed
It is not just Wadah Khanfar, Al-Jazeera's boss, whoyesterday demanded to know from Prime Minister Tony Blair if President Bush really considered bombing the channel's headquarters in Qatar in April 2004, who is keen to get an answer. Blair's own MPs are demanding the contents of the memorandum be published. In fact, the entire world is interested in the answer. Did Blair talk Bush out of it? A British memorandum with a transcript of a conversation between the two men appears to answer both questions in the affirmative and is at the center of a growing political storm.
Meanwhile, two officials have been charged under the Official Secrets Act with leaking the document to a newspaper. The attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, the man who changed his mind about the illegality of the Iraqi invasion without UN authorization, sternly demanded that newspapers publish nothing more about the memo. He later changed his mind about this as well, saying that he had not actually been trying to gag the press, merely seeking to ensure a fair trial for the two accused of leaking. The White House has dismissed the alleged contents of the memo as "outlandish" and it is indeed. It is utterly outlandish that the leader of the world's most powerful democracy, in which the freedom of the press is enshrined in its very constitution, should ever contemplate bombing the headquarters of a news outlet located in the capital of a friendly country. It was equally outlandish in 2001 when US jets "accidentally" bombed the Al-Jazeera office in Kabul before the overthrow of the Taleban. It was outlandish two years later when US jets again "accidentally" bombed the Al-Jazeera offices in Baghdad during the Iraq invasion. Outlandishness has been a hallmark of the Bush administration, which once it sets itself an aim, will go to any lengths, including turning the truth on its head, in order to achieve it.
Many regret the publicity Al-Jazeera has given to Osama Bin Laden and his minions. Errors of editorial judgment do not however constitute grounds for a bomb attack. Indeed such an attack, had it been carried out would have been almost as much of an enormity as 9/11. Certainly the effect on the Arab world would have been profound.
Bush, however, seems incapable of escaping the narrow neoconservative box and putting himself into the shoes or mind of anyone else. This has made him blind, not only to the feelings of America's friends but also to the honorable values which underpin the constitution of the country he leads. Because Al-Jazeera is an Arab station over which Washington exerts no influence and because it has stuck to an independent editorial line, it has been cast as a bogeyman, an enemy to be bombed "by accident" whenever the White House thinks it can get away with it. Because of this, the idea of bombing the station's Qatari HQ does not seem at all outlandish. Maybe when the White House issued its terse comment on the Downing Street memo, what it really meant was that it was "outlandish" that the document had been leaked. Link
It is not just Wadah Khanfar, Al-Jazeera's boss, whoyesterday demanded to know from Prime Minister Tony Blair if President Bush really considered bombing the channel's headquarters in Qatar in April 2004, who is keen to get an answer. Blair's own MPs are demanding the contents of the memorandum be published. In fact, the entire world is interested in the answer. Did Blair talk Bush out of it? A British memorandum with a transcript of a conversation between the two men appears to answer both questions in the affirmative and is at the center of a growing political storm.
Meanwhile, two officials have been charged under the Official Secrets Act with leaking the document to a newspaper. The attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, the man who changed his mind about the illegality of the Iraqi invasion without UN authorization, sternly demanded that newspapers publish nothing more about the memo. He later changed his mind about this as well, saying that he had not actually been trying to gag the press, merely seeking to ensure a fair trial for the two accused of leaking. The White House has dismissed the alleged contents of the memo as "outlandish" and it is indeed. It is utterly outlandish that the leader of the world's most powerful democracy, in which the freedom of the press is enshrined in its very constitution, should ever contemplate bombing the headquarters of a news outlet located in the capital of a friendly country. It was equally outlandish in 2001 when US jets "accidentally" bombed the Al-Jazeera office in Kabul before the overthrow of the Taleban. It was outlandish two years later when US jets again "accidentally" bombed the Al-Jazeera offices in Baghdad during the Iraq invasion. Outlandishness has been a hallmark of the Bush administration, which once it sets itself an aim, will go to any lengths, including turning the truth on its head, in order to achieve it.
Many regret the publicity Al-Jazeera has given to Osama Bin Laden and his minions. Errors of editorial judgment do not however constitute grounds for a bomb attack. Indeed such an attack, had it been carried out would have been almost as much of an enormity as 9/11. Certainly the effect on the Arab world would have been profound.
Bush, however, seems incapable of escaping the narrow neoconservative box and putting himself into the shoes or mind of anyone else. This has made him blind, not only to the feelings of America's friends but also to the honorable values which underpin the constitution of the country he leads. Because Al-Jazeera is an Arab station over which Washington exerts no influence and because it has stuck to an independent editorial line, it has been cast as a bogeyman, an enemy to be bombed "by accident" whenever the White House thinks it can get away with it. Because of this, the idea of bombing the station's Qatari HQ does not seem at all outlandish. Maybe when the White House issued its terse comment on the Downing Street memo, what it really meant was that it was "outlandish" that the document had been leaked. Link
posted by exoplanet at 1:11 PM
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