Is this a good time to remind everyone that the US bombed Al Jazeera twice?

[dorkulon]

I understand that film has a visceral impact the printed word cannot match, but if you're surprised by the murder of journalists, you haven't been paying attention.

1. A leaked April 2004 memo details a conversation between Bush and Tony Blair, in which Bush expresses his desire to blow up Al Jazeera HQ in Qatar. Blair manages to talk him out of it. Here's the Daily Mirror article that broke the story: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2005/11/22/exclusive-bush-plot-to-bomb-his-arab-ally-115875-16397937/

2. In two separate “accidents,” in Iraq and Afghanistan, two years apart, Al Jazeera's local bureaus were bombed by US forces. In both cases, Al Jazeera had provided the Pentagon with the coordinates of their local bureaus, just so, you know, they wouldn’t accidentally bomb them. links: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0408-03.htm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1653887.stm

Of course, along with the UK memo, the already flimsy story that the US military accidentally bombed two different Al Jazeera outposts is stretched to the point of disintegration.

As I've pointed out in other threads, it is ludicrous to think that the mere presence of a gun is evidence of anything in the context of Iraq. Every mildly important person in that country travels with armed guards, including Western journalists. I'm not saying definitively that these guys were deliberately targeted and not killed by mistake, but it is naive to think such things don't happen and haven't regularly, and it saddens me that these Al Jazeera episodes didn't seem to stir much outrage at the time. The Daily Mirror piece quotes a source as calling the memo "hugely damaging to Bush." But it wasn't really, was it? It hardly got any notice at all. Do we really have to see the events in question for them to mean anything to us? If so, that's pretty sad.


edited to add links

[truedelphi]

1. Your entire post has excellent points to consider.

And yes, almost anyone having to go anywhere in Baghdad needs to carry armaments with which to protect one's self. At one point in time, 400 people a day were being kidnapped and held for ransom.

Have you seen the documentary "Baghdad Heavy Metal"? Great film, even if you are only mildly interested in the heavy metal music scene.

[dorkulon]

8. Haven't seen it, I'll see if I can find it.

Thanks

[Make7]

2. If you haven't seen it, you should check out the documentary 'Control Room'.

 

A chronicle which provides a rare window into the international perception of the Iraq War, courtesy of Al Jazeera, the Arab world's most popular news outlet. Roundly criticized by Cabinet members and Pentagon officials for reporting with a pro-Iraqi bias, and strongly condemned for frequently airing civilian causalities as well as footage of American POWs, the station has revealed (and continues to show the world) everything about the Iraq War that the Bush administration did not want it to see.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0391024/plotsummary

 

[dorkulon]

4. Thanks for reminding me of that movie. I've been meaning to watch it for some time

and keep forgetting. :toast:

[Turborama]

14. Interestingly, Ex Marine Captain Josh Rushing ended up working for Al Jazeera English

About Josh Rushing
A 14-year veteran of the United States Marine Corps who held the ranks private through to captain, Josh Rushing gained prominence in the major motion picture documentary Control Room, which features his struggles as the United States military's lead spokesperson to the Arab world during the invasion of Iraq. Josh's outspoken and conscientious nature in this sensitive role - his conflicts with the Pentagon and his subsequent resignation from the Marines - as well his regular appearances as a fresh, non-partisan, critical voice in broadcast and print media have made him among the most recognisable young media voices in America today.
http://english.aljazeera.net/aboutus/2006/11/2008525173152492436.html

I had seen several of his shows on AJ English, namely http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/faultlines/">Fault Lines, and didn't realize his background until seeing the documentary late last year.

It's available to watch online, here: http://www.freedocumentaries.org/film.php?id=233

A very belated thanks to azurnoir for reminding me to watch it and providing that link, http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6848728&mesg_id=6854394">here.

[TexasObserver]

3. It's time to remind everyone that "supporting troops" doesn't include supporting atrocities.

I was in the military when My Lai happened.

We heard the same "don't attack the troops" nonsense then.

When troops commit an atrocity, the proper action is to call it what it was.

[Fleshdancer]

5. color me shocked

I honestly have never heard about this before. :wow:

Thank you for posting this btw.

[dorkulon]

6. My pleasure, so to speak

It's easy to miss stuff like this, thanks to that darned "liberal" media. ;-) Maybe if we could actually get AJ English we might have heard about it.

[L0oniX]

7. No doubt ...they kill journalists intentionally. The truth is or can be their enemy.

[lostnfound]

9. Tareeq Ayoub -- a man with a young kid at the time - Rest in peace

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://www.flickr.com/photos/foulla/page2/&usg=__hZ6qnXFlsHae9R55c7P03fIkzsc=&h=151&w=190&sz=14&hl=en&start=3&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=56rIeer1WBKcNM:&tbnh=82&tbnw=103&prev=/images%3Fq%3DTarek%2BAyoub%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rlz%3D1T4ACGW_enUS341US341%26tbs%3Disch:1

His child and mine were about the same age and all I could think was how a kid that age would cry and wouldn't understand the words "Daddy isn't coming home". I haven't forgotten him. I felt sorry to think of the little kid who is growing up without his dad, of the mother trying to explain. Tareeq Ayoub always wore his helmet and jacket because he wanted to come home to his family.

[chill_wind]

10. F.A.I.R. April 2003.... lest we forget.

Is Killing Part of Pentagon Press Policy?

April 10, 2003

The Pentagon has held up its practice of "embedding" journalists with military units as proof of a new media-friendly policy. On April 8, however, U.S. military forces launched what appeared to be deliberate attacks on independent journalists covering the war, killing three and injuring four others.

In one incident, a U.S. tank fired an explosive shell at the Palestine Hotel, where most non-embedded international reporters in Baghdad are based. Two journalists, Taras Protsyuk of the British news agency Reuters and Jose Couso of the Spanish network Telecino, were killed; three other journalists were injured. The tank, which was parked nearby, appeared to carefully select its target, according to journalists in the hotel, raising and aiming its gun turret some two minutes before firing a single shell.

Journalists who witnessed the attack unequivocally rejected Pentagon claims that the tank had been fired on from the hotel. "I never heard a single shot coming from any of the area around here, certainly not from the hotel," David Chater of British Sky TV told Reuters (4/8/03). Footage shot by French TV recorded quiet in the area immediately before the attack (London Independent, 4/9/03).

Earlier in the day, the U.S. launched separate but near-simultaneous attacks on the Baghdad offices of Al Jazeera and Abu Dhabi TV, two Arabic-language news networks that have been broadcasting graphic footage of the human cost of the war. Both outlets had informed the Pentagon of their exact locations, according to a statement from the Committee to Protect Journalists. As with the hotel attack, Pentagon officials claimed that U.S. forces had come under fire from the press offices, charges that were rejected by the targeted reporters.

The airstrike against Al Jazeera killed one of the channel's main correspondents in Iraq, Tareq Ayoub, and injured another journalist, prompting Al Jazeera to try to pull its remaining reporters out of Baghdad for fear of their safety (BBC, 4/9/03). Personnel at Abu Dhabi TV escaped injury from an attack with small-arms fire.

Al Jazeera, which the Bush administration has criticized for airing footage of American POWs, has been attacked several times by U.S. and British forces during the war in Iraq. Its offices in Basra were shelled on April 2, and its camera crew in that city fired on by British tanks on March 29. A car clearly marked as belonging to Al Jazeera was shot at by U.S. soldiers on April 7 (Reporters Without Borders, 4/8/03).

more at the link: http://www.fair.org/press-releases/iraq-journalists.html

[Duppers]

11. K & R

[Greyhound]

More inconvenient facts.

IBTL

But a :kick: & R while I can.

[Greyhound]

More inconvenient facts.

IBTL

But a :kick: & R while I can.

[Greyhound]

12. More inconvenient facts.

IBTL

But a :kick: & R while I can.

[Turborama]

13. I posted a lot of details on this last October

Here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6848728">Bushco Bombed 2 Foreign Offices of an Ally's TV News Channel & Planned to Bomb its Head Office!

Unfortunately, the bombings and propaganda campaign by Busch and Rumsfeld only resulted in Americans believing to this day that Al Jazeera is a "Terrorist TV" channel.


ETA thanks for taking the time to remind everyone and for keeping this story alive.

[EFerrari]

15. YES.

Kicking for my brother Sami al Haj who managed to survive BushCo,

:kick:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_al-Hajj

[dorkulon]

17. This kind of thing has to stop.

I've watched AJ English and their news is far more objective than anything you can see in the US. And hell, even if they were pro-Muslim porpagandists, that's no excuse for killing and imprisoning them.

[EFerrari]

18. AJ is constantly accused of being al qaida here and CIA over there.

They're very good, imo.

[bananas]

19. He's your brother?

[slipslidingaway]

16. knr nt