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The Attorney General’s ban is ridiculous, untenable, and redolent of guilt. I do not like people to break the Official Secrets Act … we now have allegations of such severity, against the US President and his motives, that we need to clear them up.
If someone passes me the document within the next few days I will be very happy to publish it in The Spectator, and risk a jail sentence. .. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. If we suppress the truth, we forget what we are fighting for
I’ll go to jail to print the truth about Bush and al-Jazeera
It must be said that subsequent events have not made life easy for those of us who were so optimistic as to support the war in Iraq. There were those who believed the Government’s rubbish about Saddam’s Weapons of Mass Destruction. Then the WMD made their historic no-show.
Some of us were so innocent as to suppose that the Pentagon had a well-thought-out plan for the removal of the dictator and the introduction of peace. Then we had the insurgency, in which tens of thousands have died.
Some of us thought it was about ensuring that chemical weapons could never again be used on Iraqi soil. Then we heard about the white phosphorus deployed by the Pentagon. Some people believed that the American liberation would mean the end of torture in Iraqi jails. Then we had Abu Ghraib.
Some of us thought it was all about the dissemination of the institutions of a civil society - above all a free press, in which journalists could work without fear of being murdered. Then we heard about the Bush plan to blow up al-Jazeera.
Some of us feel that we have an abusive relationship with this war. Every time we get our hopes up, we get punched by some piece of bad news. We yearn to be told that we’re wrong, that things are going to get better, that the glass is half full. That’s why I would love to think that Dubya was just having one of his little frat-house wisecracks, when he talked of destroying the Qatar-based satellite TV station. Maybe he was only horsing around. Maybe it was a flippant one-liner, of the kind that he delivers before making one of his dramatic exits into the broom-closet. Perhaps it was a kind of Henry II moment: you know, who will rid me of this turbulent TV station? Maybe he had a burst of spacy Reagan-esque surrealism, like the time the old boy forgot that the mikes were switched on, and startled a press conference with the announcement that he was going to start bombing Russia in five minutes. Maybe Bush thought he was Kenny Everett. Perhaps he was playing Basil Brush. Boom boom.
Who knows? But if his remarks were just an innocent piece of cretinism, then why in the name of holy thunder has the British state decreed that anyone printing those remarks will be sent to prison?
We all hope and pray that the American President was engaging in nothing more than neo-con Tourette-style babble about blowing things up. We are quite prepared to believe that the Daily Mirror is wrong. We are ready to accept that the two British civil servants who have leaked the account are either malicious or mistaken. But if there is one thing that would seem to confirm the essential accuracy of the story, it is that the Attorney General has announced that he will prosecute anyone printing the exact facts.
What are we supposed to think? The meeting between Bush and Blair took place on April 16, 2004, at the height of the US assault on Fallujah, and there is circumstantial evidence for believing that Bush may indeed have said what he is alleged to have said.
We know that the administration was infuriated with the al-Jazeera coverage of the battle, and the way the station focused on the deaths of hundreds of people, including civilians, rather than the necessity of ridding the town of dangerous terrorists. We remember how Cheney and Rumsfeld both launched vehement attacks on the station, and accused it of aiding the rebels. We are told by the New York Times that there were shouty-crackers arguments within the administration, with some officials yelling that the channel should be shut down, and others saying that it would be better to work with the journalists in the hope of producing better coverage.
We also recall that the Americans have form when it comes to the mass media outlets of regimes they dislike. They blew up the Kabul bureau of al-Jazeera in 2002, and they pulverised the Baghdad bureau in April 2003, killing one of the reporters. In 1999 they managed to blow up the Serb TV station, killing two make-up girls, in circumstances that were never satisfactorily explained.
To be fair to the Americans, we must also accept that they had good grounds for resenting al-Jazeera. The station is hugely respected in the Arab world, has about 35 million viewers, and yet it gives what can only be described as a thoroughly Arab perspective of current affairs. It assists in the glorification of suicide bombers; it publishes the rambling tapes of Bin Laden and others among the world’s leading creeps and whackos; it is overwhelmingly hostile to America and sceptical about the neo-con project of imposing western values and political systems in the Middle East.
And yet however wrong you may think al-Jazeera is in its slant and its views, you must accept that what it is providing is recognisably journalism. It is not always helpful to the American cause in Iraq, but then nor is the BBC; and would anybody in London or Washington suggest sending a Tomahawk into White City? Well, they might, but only as a joke. Exhausted Western leaders, living in the nightmare of a media-dominated democracy, are allowed to make jokes about blowing up journalists. I seem to remember that when I was sent to Belgrade to cover the Nato attacks, Tony Blair told the then proprietor of The Daily Telegraph that he would “tell Nato to step up the bombing!” Ho ho ho.
But if there is an ounce of truth in the notion that George Bush seriously proposed the destruction of al-Jazeera, and was only dissuaded by the Prime Minister, then we need to know, and we need to know urgently. We need to know what we have been fighting for, and there is only one way to find out.
The Attorney General’s ban is ridiculous, untenable, and redolent of guilt. I do not like people to break the Official Secrets Act, and, as it happens, I would not object to the continued prosecution of those who are alleged to have broken it. But we now have allegations of such severity, against the US President and his motives, that we need to clear them up.
If someone passes me the document within the next few days I will be very happy to publish it in The Spectator, and risk a jail sentence. The public need to judge for themselves. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. If we suppress the truth, we forget what we are fighting for, and in an important respect we become as sick and as bad as our enemies.
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A bombing nation
Mirror - Bush planned to bomb Arab TV station al-Jazeera BBC - Bush al-Jazeera ‘plot’ dismissed: The White House has dismissed claims George Bush was talked out of bombing Arab television station al-Jazeera by UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. The…
From an American visitor, bully for your willingness to insist that these concerns be addressed on the basis of evidence and critical analysis, rather than innuendo and reactionary secrecy.
If I may I would wish also to add a general note of thanks, on this holiday in a former British colony, for the many excellent examples of investigative journalism accessible across the ocean via the wonder of the internet.
With respect and regards,
New Labour were always bleating on about freedom of information. It’s about time we had some when it mattered.
If Boris is happy to be tied to the stake Jean of Arc style in the cause of freedom, who are we to get in his way? He is a man of substance and will provide plenty of fuel for the flames of truth to rise up and consume one Anthony Blair.
D-Notice served, Boris says he’ll publish anyway
According to CounterPunch (thanks Jonny), HMG has served a D-Notice preventing further discussion of the memo in the press. Fortunately, Boris is no coward … I hope he does, and moreso, I hope the Govt prosecutes, that would be a peice of political…
If the Americans seriously wanted to bomb Al Jazeera, then it makes a mockery of their claim not to be at war with Islam. If they are indeed ‘at war’ with the Arab world in general, then Al-J would be a legitimate target wouldn’t it? I think this faux-pas by the Yanks simply confirms their unstated mindset.
Well done, Boris … stirs the blood to see someone willing to stand up and be counted in this way.
Have I got News for You?
We have just returned from tonight’s recording of the BBC’s ‘Have I Got News for You’. There have been rumours that Boris Johnson would soon appear. I didn’t know about these rumours so it was a pleasant surprise when Boris walked out. Merton and Hislo…
Hopefully, Mr. Bush’s remark was simply some black humor, as Mr. Johnson offers. If the remark was serious, then there isn’t any humor at all.
But if the C.I.A. is actually operating secret internment camps in Eastern Europe, then we freedom-loving Americans on the center-right are going to see it as the final straw in Mr. Johnson’s long list of disappointments we have experienced in Mr. Bush’s conduct of the war.
I completely agree with you Borris, I hope you can take this debate into the Common. We need to know the truth, nothing but the truth.
“New Labour were always bleating on about freedom of information. It’s about time we had some when it mattered.”
Yeah, right. Look at the way Labour choose their leaders, the way they kow-tow to the unions (even now). Since when was openness a part of the Labour arsenal? It’s a strange alliance: a hawkish US Republican r駩me and a supposedly left-centre UK Labour government.
The CP has not always been transparent, but this leadership campaign has been the most open and best managed of any party that I can think of.
May it be a harbinger of a CP government to come.
We’re Prepared To Pay The Price Of Freedom, Are You?
After Blair’s threat to jail any editor who reports the Bomb Al-Jazeera memo, we thought there would be an outcry. Who would stand up for press freedom, or at least the freedom not to be bombed to buggery?
One man has come out fighting. Boris Johnson:
The
We’re with you Boris. Here’s the deal. If you get it, send it to us and we will also publish it. We will also risk jail.
Would any other bloggers like to join us in this pledge?
I’ve no idea of what GB and TB talk about together but I guess I might be in hot water for
musing aloud on plans to murder certain of my colleagues
offering to mail the feet of some of my son’s noisier friends to the ceiling
planning to manacle Ken Livingstone in one of his bloody buses and let him travel around on public transport for a day
I ask for numerous other offences involving plotting dangerous crimes and unprofessional behaviour to be taken into account.
Come to that a number of comments on the thread about the Conservative Party leadership could be seen as threatening.
I’ve no idea of what GB and TB talk about together but I guess I might be in hot water for
musing aloud on plans to murder certain of my colleagues
offering to mail the feet of some of my son’s noisier friends to the ceiling
planning to manacle Ken Livingstone in one of his bloody buses and let him travel around on public transport for a day
I ask for numerous other offences involving plotting dangerous crimes and unprofessional behaviour to be taken into account.
Come to that a number of comments on the thread about the Conservative Party leadership could be seen as threatening.
The ‘Bomb Al-Jazeera’ memo
Boris Johnson: If someone passes me the document within the next few days I will be very happy to publish it in The Spectator, and risk a jail sentence. BlairWatch: We’re with you Boris. Here’s the deal. If you get…
We’re Prepared To Pay The Price Of Freedom, Are You?
After Blair’s threat to jail any editor who reports the Bomb Al-Jazeera memo, we thought there would be an outcry. Who would stand up for press freedom, or at least the freedom not to be bombed to buggery?
One man has come out fighting. Boris Johnson:
The
Jack -
Right - one has to ask what stupid A hole wrote all that stuff down. But I think is why Boris has got this issue right. He should offer himself up as a martyr because I think he will at least go down in the history books as the man who thereby brought to an end the Blair premiership. My reasoning is slighlty more convoluted than those circulating in the media at the moment.
My take is that:
It probably was all black humour, but the minute will show Tony Blair tolerating this discourse and humouring Bush, even if trying to dissuade him from the suggested course of action, and it will make him appear (a) stupid (b) immoral (c) weak. No politician likes to be thought of as all three at any one time! In other words the reason we are being prevented from reading the document is not that it contains state secrets or would embarrass George Bush - it’s because it would reveal Blair in such an unfavourable light that he woudl have to resign.
Streamtime concentrates on networking with Iraqi bloggers and on journalism and stories from inside Iraq, or involving Iraq. If the document will be published we will take it over and repost it immediately.
Field
OK so you have a purely instrumentalist reason and none the worse for that.
As a point of principle, should we, the general puntertariat, be privy to all converstaions between our (temporary) rulers? For example I imagine some of the conversations between Churchill, Roosevelt and (non-temporary) Stalin might be pretty damning. I hear that Martin Gilbert’s lates book might show that. Yet Chirchill and Roosevelt went along or were dragged along in WSC’s case, because **in general** there was no real alternative. At the time would it have been useful for these conversations to be publicly broadcast?
If Comrade Johnson is prepared to face the rigours of the law in this matter then he is an honourable man. Let us hope that they are not as rigourous as those dispensed by assorted Scouse scallies with a sense of humour bypass.
Since we are talking of suppression etc.. what do folk make of the decision to drop part of a play by Christopher Marlowe because it featured a Koran burning? No doubt this in the spirit of respect for other religions. This is allied with that other great artisitic principle of providing challenging stuff like Jesus in a nappy in the Jerry Springer Opera thing.
Or, since I at least am on the subject, should it be the case that since the ArchBish of Canterbury has apologised for the Crusades that there might be slight acknowledgement of the unpleasantness at the walls of Vienna in 1529 and 1683.
By all means keep on biffing at governement secrecy but I can’t help feeling that self-suppression of views, as opposed to being courteous, respectful or tolerant as the situation demands, is in many respects a more insidious cancer in an open society. The politicians can be fired but it is less easy to restore what is lost by the giving up of our right to say or write particular things because of fear of a section of society.
I’m not surprised that B&B discussed bombing Al-J. However, like Field says, it’s the stupidity of the note-taker that draws attention. Then, inept news management has just compounded the situation! Once it’s public knowledge, you should try to manage the media a little better than Blair’s office has until now, instead of slapping a D notice on it … That simply ensured that interest in the case wouldn’t go away! And I thought Labour were good at spin?!
Don’t bomb us
Nadat bekende raakte dat de Amerikaanse president George Bush overwoog om Al-Jazeera te bombarderen, is
Right behind you on this one Boris - it’s good to see a politician placing his gonads between the bricks for the sake of democracy and freedom.
Not that I particularly want to see Boris ‘doing bird’, but if he does publish and is convicted, and does time, then I think it would ensure Labour’s defeat at the next election! It’s the kind of opportunity that comes along once in a generation … Suddenly, in one fall of the judges gavel, the roles would be reversed in the Labour - nice / Tories - nasty game.
You surprise me sometimes, Boris. You really do.
I’ve come to this one late, having been away on business, but if you get any evidence that Bush did propose such a thing, then you’re welcome to bung it over to my blog for publication too.
Would somebody please provide to Cryptome at http://www.cryptome.org the contents of the disputed memo? John Young there explicitly asks for the Blair-Bush five-page document so that he may publish it in defiance of the Official Secrets Act. As a Texan born in Dallas, I am deeply ashamed of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the whole war-mongering crowd.
My “trust” list places Boris well above Bush or Blair. However, Boris is still well behind Menzies Campbell, John Humphrys, Jon Snow, Glenda Jackson, Diane Abbott, Clare Short and George Galloway. Keep working at it Boris…
Publish the Al-Jazeera memo and be damned
It must be said that subsequent events have not made life easy for those of us who were so optimistic as to support the war in Iraq. There were those who believed the Government’s rubbish about Saddam’s Weapons of Mass Destruction. Then th…
Dave McA
Having surveyed your trust list, and noted the estimable Diane Abbott who has at least the bottle to say by her actions that years of egalitarianism have ruined education, nevertheless you seem to have chosen a majority of people of character such that I would like to show you a few card tricks. We could have a little bet on whether you can guess the next card…
Dave McA:
Your list of “People of Trust”, is to say the least , not one to which I would subscribe. I suspect the card which Jack Ramsey’s entry mentioned would be the same colour as the ensign which the interfering A… holes in Brussels now say we should ditch in favour of a flag fit to grace an ice cream parlour.
I suspect that Jack’s card would also be the same colour as the politics
followed by the majority of the members of that list.
( Perhaps excluding Menzies plus two others, but I am not certain about them.)
OK, this is probably the first time I’ve ever said anything nice to a Tory.
But well done, Boris. You’ve said what every daily newspaper editor should have said.
(I’ve put my blog on the list to publish the memo too - why not, eh?)
The ‘Bomb Al-Jazeera’ memo
Boris Johnson: If someone passes me the document within the next few days I will be very happy to publish it in The Spectator, and risk a jail sentence. BlairWatch: We’re with you Boris. Here’s the deal. If you get…
As an American who despises our lunatic boy-king, I say bully for you, Boris! I hope you get your wish. As you can imagine, those of us Americans who don’t worship this cretin we call our president would also very much like to know the truth about this.
Hello, Boris-
Please continue this important effort, the sensible numbers in America are increasing and we are seeing evidence of rather large cracks in the Bush veneer. We believe this happened, and I personally believe it was no joke; these criminals are as hateful as the day is long. For a laugh, visit
http://firedoglake.blogspot.com/
where our fearless leaders have offered Judy Miller (formerly of the NYT and Metropolitan jailhouse) a job if she can get a copy of the document.
We must do everything we can to spread the sunshine and end this nightmare.
It’s important to distinguish the bombing of the Serb TV station from other charges in this current discussion - the comment above that suggests the station was providing “moral support” to the Serbs in their genocidal actions is an understatement - the station was a prime actor in the atrocities, much like the media in Rwanda, whose leaders (those of certain media outlets in Rwanda)were put on trial for war crimes in the Hague in the time since. Whatever the truth or falsehood of the current allegations in regard to Bush, Blair and the Al-Jazerra situation, the Serb example was, sadly, a much clearer case in terms of the role the station was playing in encouraging, motivating and organizing the violence.
Bush’s ‘Bomb Al Jazeera’ Timebomb
At 8:55pm Friday night an email arrived offering The Antagonist yet another opportunity to antagonise Tony B Liar, his cabinet of cronies and the underlying administration and establishment which has, with the full complicity, collusion and support o…
I used to think that the British were more civilized than we Americans are. No longer. You keep Blair in office, just as we continue to tolerate Bush, rather than throwing his mangy ass (excuse me, arse) into the Tower, or the Thames.
You disappoint me.
ANOTHER BAD JOKE
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE in war between my propaganda and yours? Mine becomes the truth if I win the war. Or so it would seem. As previously noted, the Bush administration doesn’t believe truth is enough to win a
Bravo Mr. Johnson. Someone must have a copy of the documents somewhere. Please for the love of god click send!
Don’t be so silly Boris, you now that there is not the slightest chance anyone is going to go to jail over the memo, no jury is ever going to convict.
Mr. Johnson, I hope this information will be made public - and if you end up in prison for being involved, I have a wonderful cake-and-file recipe I’ll be only too happy to pull out.
You have a lot of support, within Britain and without. The truth must come out.
Thank You for helping us here in America! We need to know EVERY piece of truth! Then we can decide if it matters!
Boris
I would just like to offer my thanks and respect to you for putting pursuit of the truth ahead of personal considerations. I am a British citizen living in the US, and its refreshing to see some honesty and decency, instead of the sycophantic “yes men” we’re used to in American politics.
Respect to you, Sir.
If you visit http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage, what you’ll find is a serious journalistic endeavor, devoid of extremist and radical rhetoric. This is why Bush is so afraid of Al Jazeera. They can’t be written off as just a “bunch of whacko’s,” and they can’t be brought under the control White House.
If Bush can justify bombing Al-Jazeera for giving aid and comfort to Islamic Arab terrorists, I can justify bombing Fox News Channel for giving aid and comfort to Christian American terrorists.
Right on, Boris! We non-compromised Yanks are with you! Yours would be a geniune worthy sacrifice for principle, not like the BullshCo coverup enablement of Queen Judy.
Good on you. If enough people stand up and count themselves as willing to go to jail for this, they won’t be able to jail us all.
Bloody good piece, sir, and of course the remark made by Bush was no comical blustering: since when do comical remarks make it into Top Secret memos? By the way, over here in the United States we have university professors coming out and saying that the collapse of the World Trade Center (1, 2 and 7) was an inside job accomplished through thermite charges placed in the buildings, and not Arabs in planes. The planes were merely decoys (and no plane hit WTC 7?). So if Bush and company will kill 3,000 Americans to get at the oil in the Middle East, you think they’d think twice about destroying al-Jazeera headquarters in Qatar? Not likely.
Did Bush Want to Bomb Al Jazeera?
Simple answer in my view is Yes. It would be very convient for Bush and Blair not to have an TV station that they have no control over to be silenced. The US bombed the Al Jazeera Ooffice in both Bagdad and Kabul these were according to the US, an acciden
There goes your Christmas card from Mr Bush. No crudely hand-drawn nativity scene, featuring the infant Christ procliming his desire to ban gay marriage, for you this year
Greetings from Chicago. [Guy]-
If the Americans seriously wanted to bomb Al Jazeera, then it makes a mockery of their claim not to be at war with Islam. If they are indeed ‘at war’ with the Arab world in general, then Al-J would be a legitimate target wouldn’t it? I think this faux-pas by the Yanks simply confirms their unstated mindset. - [/Guy]
- Dear Guy,
I think it’s way more sinister than that. This cabal is so callous that they’re not really concerned whether a religious war is conflagrated by their actions, as long as it brings them and their associates money and power and (in some of their minds) glory. Some of these thugs have made a career of burning companies to the ground and being pulled out unscathed by their relations and friends (and leaving the “little people” holding the bag), some put the security of Israel before that of the U.S., some are hare-brained idealogues who actually think that “democracy”, as they perceive it (governments that are favorable to the U.S.) can be spread by force. They all came together under the black cloud of the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) some time ago. These nasties have pretty much made a fiery wreck of our nation and others and refuse to claim any responsibility for it. And it’s all very complicated and sick living here now.
Yes, the leadership here tries to play up the “religious war” theme here with their hayseed base using “code words” (and they’re actually probably delighted that this memo has come to light–sends the right message to their base), but it’s just another tool in their moneypower belt. They just don’t give a leaping wank at a bouncing crumpet about the average American, much less people outside the U.S.
Peace,
Scott
We need your help to get rid of Bush and co. I’m sure we will all take up a collection for a good lawyer for you…. They are bluffing….
Boris Johnson MP - The Courage To Report
Boris…we support you…we’ll publish it forward with you. Here is an entry from the blog of Boris Johnson MP,the outspoken member of Parliament that set it off by pledging to publish the banned Blair/Bush/Al Jezeera memo:=============================…
Dear Boris:
A few phone calls will bag you the memo:
David Keogh, a former Cabinet Office official, has been charged under the secrets act with sending the memo on the Blair-Bush conversation to Leo O ‘Connor, researcher to the former Labour MP Tony Clarke.
Bravo from Canada. In some situations ’secrets’ like this one simply must become public. We all, Americans included, need to appreciate how much trouble we are all in for at least the next three years. The open advocacy of torture and use of white phosphorus is enough for most civilized people, but I think it is time for the leaders of many nations to be unable any longer to avoid calling this madness by its real name.
I hope Bush was making a sick joke, but I would be surprised if that turned out to be the case.
Thankyou from Canada for wanting for truth.
If the story is not true Bush and Blair have nothing to worry about and they should release the transcripts otherwise why would the unwashed masses not think they were lying?
The damage to the reputation of the US and Britain continues with talk in the Kuwait governing body about moving away from pricing oil in euros rather than dollars.Is Qatar and the UAE far behind?
I can’t help but feel that publishing or even publicising this memo is playing into the Bliar’s hands.
After all it is a way he can demonstrate that he has succeeded in moderating the Whacko Dubya. That he’s not the passive poodle at the beck and call of a drunken coke fiend, who doesn’t know which way is up and which way is the bar.
The official secrets stuff is just to mollify the BushCo heavy hitters right at the time he needs to put a little daylight between himself and those now proven loonies. After all when the Mirror first contacted No10 they didn’t say a dickie bird almost as if they wanted the thing published. Hmmm?
Controversy Over Bush Bomb Al-Jazeera Claim Snowballs Even More
Call it the controversy that won’t go away…the controversy that has gotten attention here in the United States but is snowballing in Great Britain.
Was President George Bush merely joking when he is reported to have suggested bombing Alj…
I as a Be-American is not surprise about this new Memo. I believe it has an attack on Al Jazeera has occurred before. It is a channel that is available on cable in some part in this country on cable.
What you are doing is great. Our corporate Medias are imbedded with the military we hear nothing about what is really happening in our illegal war. I have always check your new on the internet because our is an administration mouth piece. Fox is a dangerous joke but the others are not much better. I did find one that is not available all over this country call Free Speech TV. It is one who is independent of corporation control, that is
Wow! What a response from accross the pond!
Well I shall add my support Boris, get that memo published so that we can end this.
I don’t think it will play into Blair’s hands, people would take it for granted that he would try and talk Bush down on such an absurd measure, although I am mildly surprised that he succeeded. I think the bigger impression would be something more along the lines of “who on earth are we allying ourselves with??”. For those who weren’t already opposed to Guantanamo Bay, the white phosphorus, the torture in Iraqi prisons and possibly elsewhere, and the use of WMD by AMERICAN forces, when that was one of the main reasons they gave for going into Iraq in the first place!!!
“I’ll go to jail to print the truth about Bush and al-Jazeera”
But would you go to jail to print the truth about Al Jazeera and the “resistance” in Iraq? I didn’t think so.
“Sunlight is the best disinfectant.”
How about taking a whack at the Al Jazeera opinion piece detailing how Iraqi civilians are legitimate targets for terrorist attacks?
“If we suppress the truth, we forget what we are fighting for”
True. So when are you going to start digging into Al Jazeera’s background and operations to find out the truth? Is it more of a Muslim brotherhood allegance as has been rumored, or just a general rooting for the Baathist insurgents a la Reuters?
I’m glad the British journalists and bloggers are braving it out for the truth too. I would publish the memo on my [American] blog in a minute and to hell with what Tony Blair said. I suspect he’s just scared of Bush and the truth. In fact I’d bet any American blogger including me would be glad to put the memo on their blog. Blair couldn’t do a thing about it. Bush could, but he’ll be impeached in the next two years so that’s the longest anyone here would have to sit in jail.
If anyone wants more info. on how Bush really feels about Al Jazeera, [he wants them obliterated] see the documentary “Control Room.”
Ask Italian journo Giuliana Sgrena if she believes Bush was joking. The US opened fire on her car on March 4 while on US-approved route to the airport. Agent Nicola Calipari is dead and Giuliana survived only by a miracle.
Giuliana was one of the few reporters — maybe only reporter — to have the story about the US use of banned chemical weapons on Fallujah.
Some say her “kidnapping” before the shooting was by US interests and not so-called insurgents, too.
But, all just coincidence, said the White House. Hmmm.
Question?
Should Al Jazeera be able to prove that this Administration was responsible for the earlier attacks and the deaths of their reporters… Could they file war crimes charges against this embarrassment of a president?
also
Would you agree that the best thing that can come out of this is that we…as a free people…illustrate to the world how a democracy truly works! We will hold our representatives accountable! And by the letter of the law!
Cog-
I’m afraid I don’t think it really matters whether or not Al-Jazeera are biased, what matters is that the USA has no right to bomb them, and especially not at a location in Qatar rather than Iraq. Contrary to what Bush seems to think, by any modern standard the USA does not have the right to simply bomb anyone who speaks out against them. The war in Iraq had no UN backing, and was justified by (false) allegations of WMD, a dubious claim about Saddam’s immoral regime, and I believe in the USA also a (false) claim about ties to Al-Queda. Even with the first two relatively strong reasons, one of which was unproven either way at the time, the UN still resolved against the use of force. To suggest that they might support the use of force agaisnt a TV station, for no real reason at all, is completely absurd!
Even if I wasn’t interested in the clear attempts to limit free speech by bombing property in a strongly allied country, the only reason I can see for this (suggested) military action is that the USA doesn’t like what Al-Jazeera say! That’s not really enough reason to take any action at all, let alone a military one.
Blogging from behind the Republican Curtain … thanks for your help. Bring them down. Enough is enough.
Many people also doubt the “suicides” in the past year of famed American reporters Gary Webb and Hunter S. Thompson.
Thompson had partied with Dubya and reportedly was uncovering explosive details about the 9/11 myth. Webb, who broke the story of Bush 41’s cocaine ring within the Iran/Contra scandal, was in present contact with CIA sources who are in the wilderness because of its implosion.
More coincidences, or a neocon war on truth, war on journalists who don’t toe their line?
Thank you to the foreign press-if it weren’t for them most Americans would have not a clue what Dubya and friends were doing .
The neocon cabal has a tendency to kill what it cannot control.
Note to neocons-Al-Jazeera, unlike FOX, has a “code of ethics”. FOX could learn something from that.
Thanks Brits, help us return to a Democracy!
Sincerely,
One Angry American
I add my voice to the chorus of support for your stand on the memo.
But I beg you, when you list the catalog of atrocities, make the distinction between the Bush administration and Americans. It’s not “America,” or worse, “Americans” who are doing these things. The vast majority of us are totally opposed to all this stuff and horrified by much of it.
Please remember that Bush and his Republican Party storm troopers are in control of our government not because Americans support what they stand for, but through tricks and lies and cooking the election results.
Here it comes… I think
A tory Member of Parliament, which means he’s probably a bastard the other 364 days of the year, has offered to go to jail if that’s what it takes to get the Al Jazeera memo into the public eye. If…
To the comment that it isn’t Americans, but only their leaders, who are to blame, I must disagree. I’m an expatriot American who left because it was no longer possible to be part of what was going on.
The people elected Bush and Company. The people have chosen to put on blinders. Even now, when the majority have started to see the light, it isn’t because of any acknowledgement of their own complicity in matters. It is a continuation of their greed. They’re not upset at the loss of lives, devastation, and stolen resources in Iraq; it is the loss of American lives and the final realization that the losses may hit home. It is the increase in the cost of oil they care about, not the stolen futures of people all over the world to supply their oil addiction. It is still their greed that has resulted in the change of heart. So far, Americans have learned nothing.
Just take a look at how they don’t speak out about the abominable treatment of the displaced people of New Orleans, or the toxicity left in the city. Look at their complaisance as their rights are being stolen by the Bush administration.
Americans rise to the occasion for a symbolic moment of giving and caring - like sending money one time to whoever they’re told to after a catastrophe. But they don’t care on a daily basis. Else, how could they quietly accept the homeless on their streets - except to make sure they’re moved so that they don’t have to look at them? How could they stay quiet as their former coworkers lose everything and are unable to get medical care because they’ve been injured or become ill, can no longer work, and no longer have health insurance?
Americans may not really support what Bush and Co. are doing - but they don’t care enough to try to learn what’s really going on. They accept the ads and soundbites as truth. It’s so much easier that way. And when confronted with the truth, they refit their blinders to assure that no more of it gets through.
Perhaps this will change one day, but not until the vast majority of Americans realize that they’re all in it together. By then, I fear it will be too late for America. I just hope it won’t be too late for the world.
Boris Johnson, MP,
Could you bottle some of your courage and mail across the pond to us in America?
Our elected officials are still for the most part, afraid to stand-up to the great and powerful George Boooosh and admit their “YEA” vote to give him authority to go to war in Iraq was wrong.
DINO (D.emocrat I.n N.ame O.nly) Senators like Joe Biden (D-DE), Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Joe Lieberman (D-CN) refuse to admit they were wrong and they find themselves at odds with their political base.
Keep up the good work and hold Poodle Blair’s widdle, feet to the fire. He needs a good cockpunch to knock some sense into him.
And to think, I once thought him to be one of the good guys?
Cheers,
Dartanyon
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Boris,
Thank you for saying the things that the US’ media is afraid to. Over here in the states, we are working as hard (or even harder!) to expose the Bush Administration for what they are. To the bloggers on this site, PLEASE don’t lump us together with the likes of Bush and his ilk! 64% of our country is solidly against the Bush cabal. He has embarrased the principals this country was founded on and caused irreversable diplomatic damage. Unfortunately for us, the administration’s lies & manipulation lead half of the country to re-elect him in ‘04. People here have finally caught on, however. The tide is turning, please be patient with us! We do so appreciate all the help we can get in fighting the good fight against Bush, et al.
Dartanyon. I agree with your analysis ,100%. Blair and Bush( or if you really care , the other way round) have hoodwinked too many people for too long, and it is high time for us to prepare for payback.
Politically they may now be in the wilderness, but until the duly appointed opportunity for the masses to speak out comes round, we are all in Schtuck. Both Peoples picked the wrong horses in the last race.We lost our collective shirts.
You ROCK! Bless you for fighting for the truth, as many Americans have tried in vain to know since Bush stole the 2000 AND 2004 elections, but we feel powerless. Please DO NOT GIVE UP, and know that well over half of Americans want this idiot impeached, along with half of the Republican party!!!
I don’t disagree with Spider Woman’s contention that Americans “have chosen to put on blinders.”
Over the past many decades, we have come to accept the primacy of the military-industrial complex in our society, to the detriment of our educational, health-care, and social welfare systems. Moreover, we have acquiesced in the takeover of our government by corporate interests that have no room in their plans for social uplift except as it may benefit us peons incidentally or by accident.
All this has been abetted and enabled by a mass media enterprise that is far more beholden to those same corporate interests than to popular ones.
There will always be a small percentage of Americans–neo-Nazis, Christian dominionists, the most elite social classes–who harbor deep antipathies toward American democracy. However, as others have suggested here, the large majority of Americans do, I think, live by egalitarian, democratic values and many of those who once supported the Crawford Cretin are beginning to see the light.
As Bush himself might say, Seein’ yer leaders fer what they are is hard work.
So, tell me again what’s wrong with taking out Al Jazeera? I keep missing that part. Seems that if the US were to decide to do it, it would mostly be a service to humanity. And - make no mistake about this - if they wanted to take out that terrorist-enabling rag, it would already have happened, regardless you and your phony indignation.
Good on you, Boris - and a fine post.
A question: what’s to stop instant, anonymous online publication? Surely that’s the best way to go, if someone is scared of the consequences, but is in possession of the document?
Bravo, Boris. It’s time for an ‘I Am Spartacus’ approach. If every editor of the British dailies published the memo, would Blair and the AG really have the spine to prosecute all of them?
message form the “new” world…
Please keep in mind, Bush’s rise to power in the USA is not the product of the free market of ideas nor any democratic process.
He and the “new” right are part of a movement driving our once great nation right and theocratic, a movement molded and funded with billions of dollars Sun Myung Moon swindled form others. The USA is NOT the “America” you once knew.
Go here: http://www.cellwhitman.blogspot.com/
and you will see some of why Sun Myung Moon has more to do with our nation’s political climate than anyone.
Moon owns all the major TV production facilities in DC. The TV media is afraid to tell the people how involved he has been in forming the new right because they have worked with him also.
The USA is no more. The UK is also BLIND to what Moon is doing and recently let the head swindler back into your country. Read how Moon made hundreds of millions and by Japanese estimates, billions of dollars swindling the Japanese, targeting widows, here:
http://tinyurl.com/39ejt
I wonder if Bush, whose family has decades long ties to Moon, pressured the UK into letting the guy Bush’s dad called “the with the vision” into your country?
If you are one of those who laughs at Moon maybe you should check out his list of front groups found here: http://tinyurl.com/2nyhm
It’s not just the USA, the world has NO CLUE.
“the with the vision”
should read “the man with the vision.”
Read more on who is driving the USA bus here:
caramia, don’t you think that our Arab allies, Qatar, might object just a little to our bombing al-Jazeera, since it’s on their soil?
Or do you think we should just bomb them if they object?
Do you even think at all? I doubt it. Which would put you firmly in with the 34% of American nitwits who still support Emperor C+ Augustus.
oh, caramia, did you also know that US military headquarters are in Qatar as well? They might ask us to leave if we start bombing on their soil.
You are a ****ing idiot who doesn’t think through the consequences of actions, just like our boy king.
Thank you so much for agreeing to print the leaked documents, and risking jail time for your trouble. Somebody, eventually, has to tell the truth about Bush–in the States, our press has rolled over for him and never asked tough questions about anything he’s done. As someone already pointed out, BushCo is setting up the “military industrial complex” that Eisenhower warned us about. Us activists try telling it to the editors of our local papers, and they tell us we’re “conspiracy theorists,” even when we present them with all the facts we have. Someone has to speak up and tell the truth. Good for you.
MP Johnson:
Rest assured, sir, that this story is getting a lot of play on liberal blogs here in the United States. I’m mentioning it on my own blog tomorrow night.
Sorry, Spider Woman, you are wrong. The People did not elect Dumbya. The SCOTUS put him in the WH in 200, and Diebold did the deed in 2004.
Thank you, Mr Johnson, for your willingness to get to the bottom of yet another scandal that this WH seems to have no end to creating.
Since our own media have been carrying water for the mis-administration throughout the past 5 years,it is refreshing, indded, to find journalists brave enough to ask the hard questions and demad real answers.
Today, FOX (FAUX?) News announced that Dumbya’s approval rating is now at 28% and still falling. The American Sheeple are finally waking up.
Many Thanks from one very tired Anerican.
Boris. Yes, publish please, If you go to jail over this i`m sure that you will be sharing a cell with a lot more of us incl. Ian Hislop.
Go for it.
boris… go for it. hundreds of millions of people are rooting for you. the spectacle will be an informative and refreshing tonic, especially in light of the go-to-jail-for-no-reason-but-her-own-aggrandizement stunt pulled by that phony reporter (and shill for the bush administration) judith miller.
how in the world will the MSM spin your genuine journalistic martyrdom, after stopping just short of canonizing general judy?
Bloggers call for Al Jazeera memo publication
In the wake of Boris Johnson, Blairwatch and many other bloggers have have put themselves down as being prepared to publish the ‘Bush-Blair Al Jazeera memo’ should it become available. To join the growing call for disclosure and internet publication…
Spiderwoman: “Americans may not really support what Bush and Co. are doing - but they don’t care enough to try to learn what’s really going on. They accept the ads and soundbites as truth. It’s so much easier that way. And when confronted with the truth, they refit their blinders to assure that no more of it gets through. Perhaps this will change one day, but not until the vast majority of Americans realize that they’re all in it together. By then, I fear it will be too late for America. I just hope it won’t be too late for the world.”
Although you gave up on America by moving away. I stayed and have fought the war propaganda mentality of the neo-cons daily. Myself and the previous 49% minority of Americans against this Iraq War, and Bush for that matter, have managed to push documentation forward and question our Administration as to their policy and acts of unlawful detention, torture, propaganda and a laundry list of grievances I won’t go into here. If you’ve been paying attention, you know these grievances already. You’ll also notice that 67% of the U.S. population no longer supports Bush or this war. That is progress. It has felt like a lifetime to me and others, but slowly and surely, the truth and history, will prevail, regardless of the Bush-Cheney revisionism BS. These guys don’t live in a vacuum and they are finding that out these days.
(I’ll admit to being tempted to leave Texas and the U.S. myself after Nov. 2004. Just consider the mentality I have had to put up with in the overwhelmingly neo-con environment in Texas’ Bush Country.)
For Boris ‘You God’ Johnson: http://sinequanonblog.squarespace.com/journal/2005/11/26/-british...
“I’m afraid I don’t think it really matters whether or not Al-Jazeera are biased”
Tell that to the dozens murdered yesterday in a hospital, including many women and children. An interesting recent find by the Iraqi police? Terrorists with a stash of teddy bears rigged with explosives. Stuffed animals of the same make as those given out by the US military.
“what matters is that the USA has no right to bomb them, and especially not at a location in Qatar rather than Iraq.”
One, look at the source. If this was written, and that is a big if given the Mirror’s reputation, we also have no context. If it was a joke, albeit a stupid one, I have no doubt the Mirror would claim otherwise.
“Contrary to what Bush seems to think, by any modern standard the USA does not have the right to simply bomb anyone who speaks out against them.”
So you continue furthur on the road without proving the premise.
“The war in Iraq had no UN backing, and was justified by (false) allegations of WMD, a dubious claim about Saddam’s immoral regime, and I believe in the USA also a (false) claim about ties to Al-Queda.”
More of the same. If you cant be honest about this, including the mistakes that the US made in addition to those made by the UN, those countries involved with weapon sales to Iraq and the oil for food program, then you are not prepared to have a discussion about this.
“Even with the first two relatively strong reasons, one of which was unproven either way at the time, the UN still resolved against the use of force. To suggest that they might support the use of force agaisnt a TV station, for no real reason at all, is completely absurd!”
Again. Absurd.
“Even if I wasn’t interested in the clear attempts to limit free speech by bombing property in a strongly allied country, the only reason I can see for this (suggested) military action is that the USA doesn’t like what Al-Jazeera say!”
I dont like when they promote each successful attack by terrorists in Iraq. I dont like when they truck in anti-American protestors as a backdrop for their broadcast, I dont like when they pay people to protest, I dont like when they use stringers who coordinate their coverage with terrorists, I dont like when they allow Imams on who promote violence as a religous duty.
“That’s not really enough reason to take any action at all, let alone a military one.”
Well, I doubt you have even watched it. Al Jazeera has become hated in Iraq, besides being banned. Many of their stringers will not identify themselves.
On air, Al Jazeera has gone from hosts openly joking about describing those who work with the Americans and the Iraqi government as “collaborators”, to expressing outrage, albeit briefly when attacking Sunnis, over terrorists targeting civilians.
You don’t see any problem? Look up the op-ed piece detailing how Iraqi civilians were legitimate targets for terrorist, exuse me, “resistance” attacks using the flimsiest of rationales. Al Jazeera was paid to keep silent under Saddam, and now they are paid to distort and mischaracterize the current war in Iraq to stoke hatred and encourage more killing.
Some legacy.
Americans who know about this issue support getting the truth out. There are many bloggers here who would print it if they had it as well, I’m sure.
More journaliste have died in the 2 year conflict in Iraq than in the whole Vietnam war. I think that speaks for itself. Of course journalists have been deliberately targeted by someone under US control. Bush doesn’t believe in freedom of the press and there has been widespread intimidation and suppression of the media since he stole the 2000 election.
This story needs to get out. We need all the help we can get over here. Thanks for caring about the truth and justice.
Candidia and Al-Jazeera
Posted by Candidia Cruikshanks, CEO of Wealth Bondage Pony Boy, get your sweet little ass in here. I want those Al-Jazeera fuckers blown up! I want every last one of them tossed in a kennel. War is fucking Freedom and they had fucking well better say s…
Boris Johnson MP: Bush and Al-Jazeera
Blog entry from the Conservative MP and editor of the Spectator. Boris Johnson MP: Bush and Al-Jazeera…
As yank, I am deeply ashamed by the actions of that idiot bush and his “israel first” puppetmasters.
I am even more ashamed that most citizens of the USA are far too stupid to figure out that the 2004 election was fixed.
And what shames me most of all, is having to depend on foreign countries for accurate news.
Just bear in mind that at this rate, the USA will implode soon…
Relax everyone. Do you honestly think that GWB would do things the hard way by bombing Al-Jazeera, implying an aircraft or missile dispatched to do the job, when a faked Al Qaeda spectacular would be untraceable and achieve the same result. Is there such suspension of disbelief? Are people so stupid?
Candidia and Al-Jazeera
Posted by Candidia Cruikshanks, CEO of Wealth Bondage Pony Boy, get your sweet little ass in here. I want those Al-Jazeera fuckers blown up! I want every last one of them tossed in a kennel. War is fucking Freedom and they had fucking well better say s…
Of course, Little Boots will never admit defeat — at least on his watch. He is so egocentric (aren’t all sociopaths?) that he’d rather sit on his hands while the death count in Iraq climbs (2,107 US casualties as of today) and the budget deficit soars ($6.5 billion U.S. per month) and then finally, hand the entire mess over to the next noncom to occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to end U.S. troop involvement in Iraq.
Of course, there are many who believe Bush’s Iraq war is a 100 years war. The goals and agenda of the PNAC gang intends to maintain an American presence in Iraq throughout the 21st century.
For those of us on this side of the pond who never voted for Bushco in either 2000 or 2004, we feel helpless, deeply ashamed and very angry at this son-of-a-bitch for what he’s done.
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The Bombing Jazeera Memo and What’s at Stake
Sunday Times: “…part of the discussion also revealed information about British and American intelligence sources in Iraq and military strategies. It is this material that the government is most concerned to prevent leaking into the public domain.”
The Bombing Jazeera Memo and What’s at Stake
Sunday Times: “…part of the discussion also revealed information about British and American intelligence sources in Iraq and military strategies. It is this material that the government is most concerned to prevent leaking into the public domain.”
Juan Cole on al-Jazira bombing plan
Juan Cole here comments on GW Bush’s imbecilic idea of bombing al-Jazeera, which we are led to believe Saint Anthony Blair talked him out of. (Hat tip: Ginny. Update: Spectator editor Boris Johnson is threatening to go public with the…
Dear All
If the mass of comments from our American friends are representative then maybe I have been wrong all along and Americans really are stupid!
There was an election in 2000 and a dispute about chads. This went to a legal process which found the result was OK. We have similar disputes in this country when counting votes and, traditionally, after 3 recounts a coin is tossed. If any of the officials took bribes etc. then let’s have the facts about that.
In 2004 there was another election. Again it was close but George Bush won.
Where is the lack of democracy, the totalitarian state, the Nazi menace?
Now some of you headbangers may be disappointed - “it’s so unfair”. I suspect your rage is like that of a child who hasn’t got their own way rather than your feeling about democracy.
It is strange that all the Americans that I meet, except one, of various political persuasions, don’t seem to have such a doom laden view of things. Maybe I should get out more? Or maybe you chaps should get your noses out of Michael Moore? You mustn’t believe everything that a bloke resembing a mobile cheeseburger tells you?
None of my previous remarks should be taken as being critical of people who, through no fault of their own, resemble mobile cheeseburgers. I myself have been taken for a giant kebab in a low light.
“jon said:
November 26, 2005 12:30 AM | permalink”
hello jon. it is important that those people were civilian. not to count mistakes made by airforce and other civilian casulties. what genocide? please don’t make mockery of what genocide realy is and compare kosovo with what happend in rwanda. its cheap and smells like hipocrisy. you could also say in the same manner that three year old girl killed during one attack is justfied since she was daughter of one of members of socialist party if you need to.
I am surprised Boris but I completely agree with your comments on Iraq and hope you can discover the truth re: al Jazeera. Have you read the fantastic book by Dilip Hiro: `Secrets and Lies` ? We have been lied to over and over. Make them pay Boris, make them pay hard.
—If the mass of comments from our American friends are representative then maybe I have been wrong all along and Americans really are stupid!
After reading your comment I no longer think that most brits had the sense to see through all the blatant lies fed us by Bush and his poodle.
–If any of the officials took bribes etc. then let’s have the facts about that.—
We have a judiciary increasingly taken over by extremists who don’t belive in the basics of our constitution.
But mainly my point is you are just not very well informed. They are tossing republicans in jail over here every time you look up. Try googling “coingate” or “new hampshire phone jamming republicans” or “abramoff scanlon” or “delay texas indictment” just to get you started.
The Republican Party in the USA is NOT what you knew it to be 25 years ago. It is not “conservative” either. I thought “conservatives” in the UK, unlike those in the US, could see past three inches in front of their noses. I guess not. Turns out they throw out “Micheal Moore” like the trained cult here.
Netwon
Always on the lookout for information. Are these extremists the judges throwing republicans into jail?
I suppose I had better let my fellow UK bloggers off the hook. Unlike most of them I’m not a conservative. Having examined my position in the political wasteland I find I am still something of a socialist. So please don’t label them as you see me.
Most of the US anti-Bushites sound very much like the characters we get in the so called Anti-war coalition. Various trotskyists and communists cosy up to Islamacist group to attempt to hijack the movement. The Islamacists ignore the atheism of the trots and comms, who for their part have suddenly cut back on talking about gay rights and have even ordered, in the case of the SWP, female members to wear headscarves as a mark of solidarity with their Muslim sisters at demos.
The most vocal of the non-communist, non-Islamacist are not concerned about their fellow coalitionists records in Soviet Russia, China or in the treatment of Muslims in most of the Middle East and elsewhere, as long as they are against Bush.
I respect the views of, what I hope is, the majority of this movement but I have nothing but loathing for the trotskyist, communist and Islamacist would be hijackers. For those who preach self-loathing of the West and screen these others I have nothing but contempt.
I understand one of the great slogans of the opposition in the US is Anybody But Bush. To raise your political opponent to the status of a Satan is perhaps going a little far don’t you think. There is the whiff of ‘mass movement’ with a ’simple slogan’ much loved by Lenin in that I feel.
Perhaps you could organise Hate Days?
“In 1999 they managed to blow up the Serb TV station, killing two make-up girls, in circumstances that were never satisfactorily explained.”
17 people got killed on that occasion. Reason behifs is conclusion that Serb TV Station is too much of moral support to Serbs. On the other side Serb authorities were informed that day about mombing and yet decided not to act upon information they have received. I have never found out why. Have they made sacriface of those poor people or as it was told to me or is it TV CEO who was to drunk to pass the note to appropriate instances. Ever since I believe in former. However it does not make difference in question: Is it or Is it not, media of our enemy legitimate military target?