NEWS: Report Gagged By Britain Alleges Bush Planned To Target Arab Television

Britains Attorney General Lord Goldsmith has reportedly told The Daily Mirror not to publish further details from a leaked government memo that stated George Bush considered bombing the Arab satellite Television network Al Jazeera. The paper responded by announcing that it has essentially agreeed to comply with the gag order. Two people have been charged by the British Government with violations of the official secrets act over the incident. It is understood the British Prime Minister Tony Blair dissuaded George Bush from carrying out the bombings which were to target Al Jazeera headquarters in Doha Qatar in 2004. The Bush administration at the time viewed Al Jazeera as being hostile to USA interests. USA senator John mcCain recently said that nothing can hurt the USA more that he can think of than the ABU Ghraib Torture and abuse photos that were run on the Al Jazeera network 24/7



The screws tighten, the media is gagged. This may not seem an important issue but it is. It show that mainstream media is not free speech and that media is controlled with what they can and can't publish.

This is an important story that people do deserve to know about it seems that Bush has tried to stop the other side of the story being told and to control the actual stories coming out of the Iraq conflict to those with with pro USA views only.

There is two sides of every story and the people have a right to hear both sides and make up their own minds on matters.

Related News Links:
toda y.reuters.co.uk
www.mercurynews.com
www.csmonitor.com

[edit on 24-11-2005 by John bull 1]

This is a very big story.

Of course Al Jazeera are freaking out. Link to their story below.

Al Jazeera

And I think they have a right to be upset. The U.S military have already killed one Al Jazeera journalist and another is in Guatanamo, apparently being coerced into making false statements about the network, according to his British lawyer.

What is interesting is that the other unreleased details appear to be so incriminating that the UK government have pulled out all the stops to keep them from being released.

The UK media is basically being forced into shutdown concerning this memo. I hope and expect that the internet will cut through this censorship.

I just wanted to speculate that perhaps the rest of the censored memo might be talk about the killing of the journalist maybe planning.

That would be devastating for Blair and I'm that the American people would hold Bush to account too.

[edit on 23-11-2005 by John bull 1]

It show that mainstream media is not free speech and that media is controlled with what they can and can't publish.

After listening to Bush for five years I'd have to say he was just joking. If he upsets Al Jazeera, all the better in his eyes.

Edit to delete my bad

[edit on 23-11-2005 by jsobecky]

If he was joking then releasing the entire text of the memo would be the smart move. I doubt that will happen though just because it I think that it wasn't a joke.

In the context of two other US military attacks on Al Jazeera personel it's very hard to see it in any other way than as a serious proposal.

[edit on 23-11-2005 by John bull 1]

In a statement, al-Jazeera said it needed to be sure of the report's authenticity before reaching any conclusions and urged Downing Street to confirm its status as soon as possible.

BBC: Bush al-Jazeera 'plot' dismissed

I would like to see a transcript of the alleged conversation to be published.


[edit on 23-11-2005 by Riwka]

I don't really think that the president of the United States of America, AKA the leader of the free world should even joke about such a matter. The people have a right to know just how sick their leaders sense of humour is if it is a joke and a big right to know if he was serious.

I think the people should now ask for the release of the remainder of the memo in it's unaltered form so they can judge this "sense of humour" for themselves.

Big deal, so a sleazy tabloid newspaper got the info from an unidentified source and suddenly it becomes fact. I do not think so, given the way tabloids operate in this day and age. Everyone knows they will say anything they can get away with just to sell a few more papers. Take the lawsuit by Prince Charles against one of those papers recently and use that as another example. Nuff said.

Here's another example of GWB's sense of humor:

GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH (R-TX), PRESIDENT-ELECT: I told all four that there were going to be some times where we don't agree with each other. But that's OK. If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator.

Humor
And this was before he had even been sworn in.

There's another thread going on right now, proposing that the Republicans lighten up a bit.

Originally posted by shots
Big deal, so a sleazy tabloid newspaper got the info from an unidentified source and suddenly it becomes fact. I do not think so, given the way tabloids operate in this day and age. Everyone knows they will say anything they can get away with just to sell a few more papers. Take the lawsuit by Prince Charles against one of those papers recently and use that as another example. Nuff said.

If the AG didn't put a gag order on it, then you might be right.

But they did and with it confirm the validity of the story.

Just like the secret prisons the CIA runs were primeraly verified by the fact that the CIA filed a lawsuit against revealing any more information about this and to find out who leaked the information.

Below is a list of some of the journalists that have been killed in Iraq, the full list can be found by following the link. For my part, I think it's clear that perhaps some journalists were targeted but this memo which is being gagged indicates that the order came from the very top (is this an executive order or is that different ?)

Anyway, it's an interesting list in this new context and this is only the journalists killed in Iraq.

Tariq Ayoub,

8 April 2003, Aljazeera TV channel correspondent; killed in a US air strike at Aljazeera office in Baghdad. ........CENTCOM spokesman Vincent Brooks' statement seem quite ironic: "We bomb locations with precision, and we pay attention to locations where journalists are present."

Taras Protsyuk,

8 April 2003, Reuters cameraman; killed when a US tank opened fire on Palestine hotel. Protsyuk is survived by his wife and an eight-year-old son. Taras, a Reuter's journalist from Ukraine, died instantly when a US tank shelled the Baghdad hotel where he was staying on April 8 2003.

Jose Couso,

8 April 2003, cameraman for Spain's Telecinco TV; killed along with fellow journalist Taras Ayoub, when a US tank opened fire on Palestine hotel. Couso,

Duraid Isa Muhammad,

27 January 2004, producer and translator for CNN; killed in an ambush carried out by unknown assailants outside Baghdad.

Ahmad Shawkat,

28 October 2003, editor of the Iraqi weekly Bilah Ittijah killed by unknown gunmen in the city of Mosul.

Mazin Dana,

18 August 2003, a Palestinian cameraman with Reuters; shot dead by US soldiers while filming outside Baghdad's Abu Gharaib prison.

Ali Abdul Aziz,

18 March 2004, cameraman for Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV channel; shot dead by US troops in central Baghdad.

Ali al-Khatib,

18 March 2004, al-Arabiya TV channel journalist in Iraq; shot dead by US troops in central Baghdad.

www.kirkbytimes.co.uk...

[edit on 23-11-2005 by John bull 1]

Originally posted by thematrix


If the AG didn't put a gag order on it, then you might be right.

But they did and with it confirm the validity of the story.

I doubt that. they probably blocked the leak bexause it contained what is considered as priviledged information between two leaders of the major word. What goes on behind Closed doors belongs there and not in main stream media. Even if he did say it, whats the big deal they are after all human and I am sure just as any other humans they exchange jokes some might even be racey yet the general public should not be privy to that kind of information.

I see this as nothing more then tabloid trash. This is similar to the note passing incident at the UN where Bush wrote a note to Condi asking for a break, they are just trying to sell papers based on nothing.

Good list on journalists killed in Iraq. Lest we forget, there have been journalists killed during this time period in other countries:

Daniel Pearl

According to published reports, when Daniel Pearl's throat was first slashed, a technical error caused it not to be captured on film. In the video Pearl's corpse is shown naked from the waist up, laying on a blanket; a man's arm is holding his head forward so that his cut neck cannot be seen. With the knife in his other hand, the man proceeds to cut deeper into Pearl's neck, from the back to the front. There is little blood. The man holding the knife is now strongly believed to have been Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, then the chief of military operations for al Qaeda.

I doubt he died instantly, however.

Firstly, the story is not really a story. Bush was making a joke. Secondly, Britain has some strict laws regarding journalism and national security. The best thing about this whole thing is that al Jazeera is busy filling sandbags.

dnaindia.com...

[edit on 2005/11/23 by GradyPhilpott]

wow so if it were a joke that makes it ok ?

I don't think so and I don't buy into this whole question of it's "authenticity", if Ud on't believe he is capable of this then you're quite the naive one.
There have been charges laid and it is so serious it has been taken to court and now this, how is this not enough proof that this is real ? Or is the law/court system not being taken seriously just because it pertains to G W Bush ?? give me a break, I am finding it hard that people are indeed that dumb and that the President of the USA is even in this position right now ... oh wait, no that part isn't hard to believe at all


Frankly, I won't be mad at all if there is a retaliation to this.

I'll tell you why I think it was not a joke and if anyone can explain it then I'll be very surprised.

If it was a joke then it's clear Tony Blair wasn't in on it. The reports are very clear that Bush wanted to bomb Al Jazeera and Tony Blair spent some time to talk him out of it.

If it was a joke then why was it included in an official memo ? A memo isn't a transcript.

If those who accept it was a joke can explain these two points away then I'll laugh along with them.

Originally posted by John bull 1

and Tony Blair spent some time to talk him out of it.

There is one question:

Mr Clarke - who voted against the Iraq War and lost his Northampton South seat in this May's election - said he returned the document to the government because of fears British troops' lives could be put at risk if it became public. (BBC)

If "Tony Blair spent some time to talk Bush out of it" - why does Mr. Clarke should fear for the British troops lives if the document becomes public?


[edit on 23-11-2005 by Riwka]

The "joke" doesn't seem to be the only information in the memo.
There are probably other things included in the report that are actualy ongoing and directly under National Security restrictions for both UK and US.

Things that would jeapordize current operations ongoing who knows where agianst who knows who.

That would also explain the swift intervention by the AG in the UK to not release any further information in the memo.

If this is real, which we could find out if they released the rest of the document, I'd really have to question Bush's sanity (even more). If it wasn't a joke and he was actually considering an airstrike on a news network, albeit one that's biased against the US, that's just... The truly crazy thing about it is that the HQ is in a "friendly" country. I'd think blowing up something in the middle of a Qatari city would be akin to declaring war on them.

No one, especially GW Bush, thinks that bombing al Jazeera would be a good idea. There are all kinds of actions that could be taken against al Jazeera that would be far more effective and a lot less inflammatory than an air strike. Bush has all of those actions at his disposal. I don't doubt that we have people here who are not sure what hyperbole is, but I doubt that there is anyone here who has not used it at one time or another.

[edit on 2005/11/23 by GradyPhilpott]

Originally posted by thematrix
The "joke" doesn't seem to be the only information in the memo.
There are probably other things included in the report that are actualy ongoing and directly under National Security restrictions for both UK and US.

Things that would jeapordize current operations ongoing who knows where agianst who knows who.

No doubt other "plots" and "jokes" to kill more people.
And I seriously don't doubt it seeing as they are doing all they can to stop this getting out. No prizes for guessing what they have to hide


[edit on 23-11-2005 by ImJaded]