Blair talked Bush out of bombing al-Jazeera

[kpete]

Blair talked Bush out of bombing al-Jazeera: report Tue Nov 22, 2:39 AM ET

LONDON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush planned to bomb pan-Arab television broadcaster al-Jazeera, British newspaper the Daily Mirror said, citing a Downing Street memo marked "Top Secret".

The five-page transcript of a conversation between Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair reveals that Blair talked Bush out of launching a military strike on the station, unnamed sources told the daily which is against the war in Iraq.

The transcript of the pair's talks during Blair's April 16, 2004 visit to Washington allegedly shows Bush wanted to attack the satellite channel's headquarters.

The Mirror said the memo turned up in the office of then British lawmaker Tony Clarke, a member of Blair's Labour Party, in May 2004.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051122/wl_uk_afp/qatarusbritainmediajazeera_051122073919

[marylanddem]

1. Do you think he was on his knees while doing the "talking"? nt

[Marr]

2. My god.

Can you get any more stupid? Let's tell eveyone in the middle east, including the secular, moderate sorts- that we will kill them whenever we consider it convenient. Let's find a few faces that are on Middle Eastern televisions every day, just reporting news, and murder them in a big public display. Brillaint.

The only move I can think of that would be more criminal and stupid would be bombing Mecca. And I believe Duncan Hunter advocated that.

These guys are so intensely fucking stupid. It's no wonder Iraq is a mess.

[orwell]

3. Ho Hum...

...why does this come as a surprise? The Bushiveks have shown outright hostility toward the press from day one.

How many reporters have already died "by accident" in Iraq.

Sounds like "strategery" to me.

[CottonBear]

4. Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse...

<snip>

The Mirror said such a strike would have been "the most spectacular foreign policy disaster since the Iraq war itself."

The newspaper said that the memo "casts fresh doubt on claims that other attacks on al-Jazeera were accidents". It cited the 2001 direct hit on the channel's Kabul office.

Blair's former defense minister Peter Kilfoyle challenged Downing Street to publish the transcript.

"I hope the prime minister insists this memo be published," he told the Mirror.

more...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051122/wl_uk_afp/qatarusbritainmediajazeera_051122073919

You can't fucking bomb Qatar just because you don't like the reporting of a foreign news agency. :grr:
If I remember correctly, Al Jazeera was founded by former BBC Middle East staffers. It is a fine source of news. I am just appalled. Apparently, Bu$h* already bombed Al JAzeera's Afghan office in 2001. :(

Here's a link to the Al Jazeera story on the leaked memo:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FA5DC791-B0D3-418E-9946-87162E6C6EC1.htm