Al Jazeera: From Network, to a Bush Target, to Courts -from the NYT

[stop the bleeding]

LONDON, Jan. 10 - A British civil servant and a former researcher appeared in court on Tuesday in the latest skirmish of an unfolding legal battle over claims that President Bush proposed bombing Al Jazeera's television headquarters.

Mr. Bush's reported remarks were disclosed in a leaked document, the contents of which were published in a British newspaper late last year. The comments raised questions here about whether Britain might be drawn into questionable military operations as a result of its alliance with Washington.

<snip>

The document was described last fall by The Daily Mirror as a transcript of a conversation in the White House on April 16, 2004, in which Mr. Blair dissuaded President Bush from bombing Al Jazeera's headquarters in Qatar, in the Persian Gulf.

<snip>

The leaked document has raised questions about whether Mr. Bush was joking or serious if he made the reported suggestion. Al Jazeera has said that, if genuine, the document would cast "serious doubts" on American assertions that the military had not made targets of Al Jazeera's offices and employees in Iraq and Afghanistan.

read more here:
01/11/06 Al Jazeera: From Network, to a Bush Target, to Courts -ALAN COWELL-nytimes.com

[HuffleClaw]

1. "whether Mr. Bush was joking or serious"

that is their SOLE defence, that it was 'all a joke'.

[hang a left]

2. Well it seems that the murder of one of their journalists

is not discouraging their reporting.

[PatGund]

3. Joke or not.....

....People here in Doha are taking this VERY seriously. And this is one of the US's strongest supporters in the region to boot. This has got to have not just Qatar, but the rest of the gulf states going "If he can suggest doing this to an ally........."

*Sigh*

[rodeodance]

4. joking?--that is the defence? um...

[acmavm]

5. um... is right. bush** has been one obscene and bad jokester since

college.

Whatta guy.

[EuroObserver]

6. Read carefully what The Guardian has to say

in ths story today: Lawyer denies leak of al-Jazeera bomb plot harmed security (apparently not linked from any of their main internet pages):

Richard Norton-Taylor
Wednesday January 11, 2006
The Guardian

A document revealing that President George Bush wanted to bomb the Arabic satellite TV station, al-Jazeera, would cause the government no embarrassment if it was disclosed, claimed the lawyer representing a former MP's aide who is accused of breaking the Official Secrets Act.

Neil Clark, solicitor for Leo O'Connor, a former Commons researcher, said he had read the four-page document, stamped "Secret", for the first time yesterday.

<snip>

The document at the centre of the case allegedly also refers to British concern about US military tactics in Iraq, particularly in the assault on the Iraqi city of Falluja in 2004.

It is said to be a report of a face-to-face meeting between Tony Blair and Mr Bush in Washington in April 2004 when the prime minister, with the help of Colin Powell, the then US secretary of state, opposed the bombing of al-Jazeera's headquarters in Doha, capital of the Gulf state of Qatar.

<snip>

Mark Stephens, representing al-Jazeera, said after yesterday's hearing: "Hopefully it will be revealed for all to see in court in due course so people can make an assessment of the real risk of what took place.

"Obviously if there was a suggestion that journalists be killed that would be counselling and procuring a war crime."

(No embarrassment to the British government, that is).

[stop the bleeding]

7. yeah if I read the stories right Neil Clark says the document is evidence

of Bush and Blair joking about it, like it was no big deal.

[Little Star]

8. What would happen to an average Joe

joking about killing people? That Joe would probably be labeled a terrorist. No wonder other countries think * is a terrorist! He sure acts like one. Can you imagine the terror those journalist feel? It must be hard for them to overcome fear and go to work every day. * and B-liar are playing games over something that serious...They are sick!

[EuroObserver]

9. I think 'joking' is the coverup story:

"the prime minister, with the help of Colin Powell, the then US secretary of state, opposed the bombing of al-Jazeera's headquarters in Doha."

ed. I doubt mere 'joking aside' would get into a set of minutes?

[stop the bleeding]

10. good point about the minutes.. n/t

[EuroObserver]

11. Most people who seem to have read the 4-page document

don't seem to think it was a joke.

There's the angle on Brit criticism of US military behavior, esp. re. Fallujah April 2004, also.