Al Jazeera correspondent in Spain arrested as Al Qaeda member

[rooboy]

just breaking on CNN International. Tayseer Allouni was arrested on suspicion of Al Qaeda links. Arrested in Spain, wife says charges are not true.

Link will turn up soon I suppose.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

1. this is truly disgusting....

[StandWatie]

2. no shit..

I'm sure he does. He interviewed bin Ladin. They need to arrest Peter Arnett and Robert Fisk I imagine.

[Catholic Sensation]

3. I'm all for this

Al Jazeera is a disgusting news organization, maybe even as sickening as Fox News Channel. They broke Geneva convention laws by airing footage of Prisoners of War taken by the Iraqis. They had the audacity to try to make the Jews seem responsible for September 11, and they continue to deny what everyone else accepts, which is that the 19 men who crashed the planes into the Pentagon, WTC, and western PA were Muslims. This is great, because Al Jazeera is nothing but a Muslim version of Roger Ailes' channel.

Edit, here's a link: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=564&e=1&u=/nm/20030905/ts_nm/security_spain_jazeera_dc

[StandWatie]

4. so?

I hate Bill O'Reily to death but I wouldn't start wishing him to get locked up in Gitmo over a witchhunt.

[Catholic Sensation]

5. Excuse me

This guy has been singled out by captured Al Qaeda that he's got ties to them. If it turns out not to be so, then free him, if it turns out to be true, keep him in jail.

Nowhere in my post do I say arrest all of al jazeera, but I have no pity for people who celebrate the murder of 3000 people, who lie about the collateral damage of war, who fucking air video of captured american soldiers, and who treat people like Saddam and Usama like heroes of some kind. Fuck al jazeera is basically my point.

[StandWatie]

7. and we are so pure..

Rules of Engagement came out well before the WTC fell and there were reports of crowds cheering the scene where US Marines massacred unarmed Yemeni protestors.

[Breezy du Nord]

29. How about we all just admit we're jerks?

I mean, I can see some definite faults in the way the US dealt with 9/11 but you can also defintely see that Al-jazeera is a more biased source than Faux.

[StandWatie]

31. I wouldn't say that is true at all..

I watch it and I would say it is less biased than Fox and much more like CNN. It's the same formula, you give both talking heads equal time you make pretensions at being balanced (though CNN is clearly pro-US if you miss the flag flying in the corner, and Al-Jazeera is clearly anti-US without the everpresent graphic in the corner to remind you). Then if you are CNN you run some puff peice about grateful Iraqi's but if you are Al-Jazeera you show angry or dead Iraqi's.

[bpilgrim]

8. lol

you sound familiar... rummy, is that you?

ah... who celebrated the murder of 3000 people?

got a link? this ain't fox ya know ;->

peace

[Cocoa]

9. Che would be honored that you are using his avatar

he was big on labelling journalists as terrorists as I recall.

[JasonBerry]

13. Hummmm... So just what IS a "Neo-Progressive?"

Since your website isn't up yet - could you tell us what a "Neo-Progressive" actually is? I have a feeling it makes a mockery of Che. To use the term "collateral damage" in your post (which is what the PENTAGON uses to describe CIVILIAN DEATHS) really bothered me. It doesn't sound very Che-like OR very "progressive." Neo - or not.

[Classical_Liberal]

24. Maybe it is Naderite branch of the PNAC?LOL!

Pnacers in the Democratic Party call themselves neoliberal. Pnacers in the republican party call themselves neocons ect.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

15. You can't have it both ways, transparent one

In your first post in this thread, you made the reporter guilty by association with al Jazeera. In your second post, the one I'm replying to, you try to backtrack and say you're not interested in a general indictment of al Jazeera. Then, of course, you mortar the whole thing with this ridiculous and jingoistic crap about al Jazeera and Muslims in general.

If you want to learn to play in GD, you may wish to sit back and study it awhile. Coming here and posting stupid crap like you have is not a very sustainable position for you. You'll end up crying all the way back to Fresno.

Welcome to Democratic Underground.

[The Stranger]

39. Can you provide any support whatsoever for these statements?

I have no pity for people who celebrate the murder of 3000 people, who lie about the collateral damage of war, who fucking air video of captured american soldiers, and who treat people like Saddam and Usama like heroes of some kind. Fuck al jazeera is basically my point.

Your statements are worse than false. No one at Al Jazeera celebrated the murder of 3000 people -- nearly every fucking country on Earth sent messages and diplomats expressing condolences and solidarity with the U.S. against the terrorists.

[bpilgrim]

6. what will you say when they start loocking up ABC, NBC, CBS, FAUX folks?

hmmm...

peace

[Catholic Sensation]

10. You people are ridiculous sometimes

They arrest one reporter who was fingered by AL QAEDA THEMSELVES as having ties to them, supporting them, or being an actual member, and you're acting like some kind of Spanish gestapo is looking for people who report for Al Jazeera.

If there are members of ABC, NBC, or any other American media outlet with ties to Al Qaeda, they should be arrested too. You seem to forget, much like Ann Coulter (who said that the left has a ridiculous fixation with bin Laden) of what these people have done and could do. Christ, is this some kind of meeting of the conspiracy theorists of America or something?

Once again: THIS MAN WAS NOT PICKED UP FOR BEING A REPORTER FOR AL JAZEERA, HE WAS FINGERED BY AL QAEDA AS HAVING SOMETHING TO DO WITH THEM.

Why is that so difficult to understand? Once again, because you people seem to be ignoring this fact, even though I fucking explicitly say so, I AM NOT SAYING WE SHOULD ARREST AL JAZEERA REPORTERS FOR BEING AL JAZEERA REPORTERS, I'M SAYING I HAVE NO RESPECT/PITY FOR THEM. God damn it people.

[StandWatie]

12. yeah, right..

no one from "AL QAEDA" fingered him. This is Spain you are talking about, it's not the human rights capital of the globe.

[TeeYiYi]

14. "You People"? Who exactly is 'you people' . . .

. . . that defines us but not you? Who are we that you are not?
Do you talk to everyone with that condescending rotton mouth?

TYY

[Cocoa]

16. but why would you believe it?

I think most people here are reacting the only rational way to this story, to be suspicious.

Why do you believe them and why are you insisting that we believe them?

THAT is what I don't understand.

[JasonBerry]

17. What IS a "Neo-Progressive?"

I really would like to know. I am still stunned somebody would come on DU and call civilian deaths "collateral damage," and call themselves a progressive - neo or otherwise.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

18. Might I point out that YOU'RE WRONG?

You're about as consistent as W's attention span. Which post of yours shall I use as a baseline? Which hypocrisy of yours would you like addressed first?

[bpilgrim]

23. maybe they should lock 'us people' up, too?

would that make you feel better?

peace

[xchrom]

36. and where's the coroborating info

that al queada fingered this guy?
i'm guessing there are lots of people in certain middle east countries with ties to al queada -- that certainly means not a damn thing.
what we do know is that spain acts as the agent of the u.s. -- regardless of the wishes of the general population.
as far al jazeera being biased -- welcome to the real world. we ran out of unbiased 24/7 news channels of any ilk years ago.
cnn is as biased as faux -- simply a tad more sophisticated in it's approach. most here can see that.
so the middle east is welcome to it's own version of 24/7 biased news.... just like us and our on going bush/israel run world.

[tom_paine]

11. Ahh, that won't happen until AT LEAST the reign of Emperor Jeb

Perhaps it will hold off until the reign of Emperor Ahnold

It might even hold off until the Mad Reign of Emperor George P. Caligula.

And of course, those subversive terrosit "jounralists" will naturally be getting just what's coming to them, for being unpatriotic scum questioning George P. Caligula's Pronounecements.

[DrWeird]

25. So then you'll agree the US forces are war criminals?

By releasing footage of prisoners of war and those killed in action?

[LeighAnn]

35. You still believe that?

Neo Progressive says,
"...they continue to deny what everyone else accepts, which is that the 19 men who crashed the planes into the Pentagon, WTC, and western PA were Muslims."

My friend, you sure have some reading to do! Here's an article
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1559151.stm
"Hijack 'suspects' alive and well"

Click the link below for more of that sort of thing. Pay particular attention to "The Carlyle Group".

[The Stranger]

38. Progressive? Don't make me laugh.

Not to bother you with the facts, but it was Fox, CNN, ABC, NBC and CBS that were parading Iraqis on television long before Al Jazeera showed anyone captured by the Iraqis. Worse, the American networks showed footage of fucking dead bodies massively mangled -- something not even Al Jazeera seems to be able to do -- and then began to show the bodies altered in sick and perverted ways in the days after they were killed.

Want to talk about Geneva Conventions? Maybe Al Jazeera will actually provide coverage for the ongoing War Crimes being committed at Guantanamo, the War for Terrorism that American News Organizations support without question., and the fact that American news organizations have abandoned journalism for being the administration mouthpiece. But don't worry, we're just getting started here.

[DuctapeFatwa]

19. If a single writer in a country is in chains

then there are some links of that chain that binds us all

Vaclav Havel

[demdave]

20. Free tje unibomber????

Didn't he have a manifesto published:)

[StandWatie]

21. writers that don't blow shit up

I don't even think Spain is alleged that he blew anything up, it's hard to tell what they are alleging but it seems that his crime was talking to people connected with "al-Qauda" (whatever that means anymore) and that would to me be him doing his job.

[0007]

26. Just like the folks that got blackballed

because they knew someone that had read the "Daily Worker" once.

[Gingersnap]

22. makes me wonder what they think he knows

I don't buy that he has "links" to al queda other than being a journalist who had access to them for interviews. Do journalists who interview mob members have "links" to the mafia?
I wonder what he knows that Bush et al. don't want him to be free to talk about...Yes, I am wearing my tinfoil hat.

I'm remaining suspicious until I hear more about this. It's not like the current admin has a great record for truthfulness, you know?

[toopers]

27. If I remember . . .

The last reporter without links to try and get an interview is dead - Daniel Pearl. This guys link must be pretty strong!

[StandWatie]

28. is Peter Arnett "al-qauda" to?

[toopers]

30. No, but . . .

he did believe that 9-11-01 was justified and understandable.

[StandWatie]

32. of course he did..

:crazy:

[kimchi]

33. Link

(snip)
Alouni had worked at Efe's Arab-language service in Granada for several years until 2000.


His friend, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said during that time Alouni became acquainted with Mohamed Zaher Asade, who was arrested along with seven others in November 2001 and charged with being part of a Madrid-based al-Qaida cell that was directly linked to the preparation and carrying out of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.


Several of the suspects, including Zaher, remain in custody.


Alouni later left Spain for the Mideast to work for Al-Jazeera.


Alouni's wife, Fatima, told radio station SER that her husband "is a very peaceful man. ... My husband is not a member of al-Qaida."

(end snip)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030905/ap_on_re_eu/spain_al_jazeera_detention_2

So far, it seems that there is a friend saying he was friends with a terrorist. I'd like much more information before deciding anything. And in my patriotic American mind, he's innocent until proven guilty.

[Robin Hood]

34. An attack on Al Jazeera just days after they get their English site up.

http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage


How convenient. If they don't tow the party line, they will be gotten rid of. It's either FOX or nothing.

[bvar22]

37. Dan Rather has links to Al Qaeda...

I've seen the films of him joining Al Qaeda guerillas on a mission against the Russians. Back then they were called mujahidin.

bush*, the whistle ass himself, has close ties to Al Qaeda through his family's long term business and personal friendships with the Bin Laden family. Look for more juicy information on this link over the next few days.

Yet to be confirmed is the allegation that, even though Osama was technically exiled, he continued to receive millions from his family and Saudi connections....even after he was publically recognized as the head of a terrorist network.