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November 29, 2005
Bush and the Attack on al-Jazeera: A Perspective
Jihad el Khazen, proprietor of the provocative blog Khazen & Co., takes a critical look at the Daily Mirror's November 22, 2005 report that President George W. Bush had to be persuaded by British Prime Minister Tony Blair not to bomb al Jazeera, which is based in Qatar, a staunch U.S. ally. Writing in the November 28, 2005 edition of Dar Al-Hayat, he opined: I will start at the beginning. The item about George Bush's considering an attack against al-Jazeera in Qatar, an allied country, is very true. The British government did not deny the news, but prevented newspapers from publishing a secret memorandum about a discussion between Bush and Tony Blair on the topic on 16 April 2004. The government wants to charge the state official who leaked the document and the aide to a British MP who received it.
Bush was not joking, as it is said in his defense. I think this joke adds insult to injury, as they say, and there were those who announced that the American president didn't need a military strike; he could have sent two soldiers to close the station.Two soldiers closing a television station in Qatar? I hope that Prince Hamad bin Khalifa read what I did, and reconsiders the hosting of US troops in its largest military base in the Middle, since they are unaware of the requirements of hospitality.Khazen said, "The topic of George Bush has killed debate in the Arab press; dozens of men and women would have been killed if Blair had not dissuaded Bush from his criminal determination." For more, please see "Bush and the Attack on al-Jazeera."
Posted by Munir Umrani at November 29, 2005 04:42 AM
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