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WASHINGTON Oct 29, 2004 — The State Department on Friday asked the government of Qatar to discourage Al-Jazeera from broadcasting a videotaped speech by Osama bin Laden, a senior State Department official said.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the State Department spoke to officials in Qatar before Al-Jazeera showed a portion of the tape. In it, the al-Qaida leader said the United States can avoid another attack if it stops threatening the security of Muslims.
The request to the Persian Gulf government, which is considered an ally in the U.S. campaign to counter terror, was passed through the U.S. embassy in Doha, Qatar's capital.
Al-Jazeera spokesman Jihad Ali Ballout issued a statement saying his station "has established itself as maintaining an independent editorial policy" and based decisions on what to air on newsworthiness. "I don't think anybody would disagree as to the high news value of the bin Laden tape," he said.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=210442&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
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