According to a leaked transcript of talks at a White House summit on April 16 2004, between George Bush and Tony Blair, Bush told the British Prime Minister that he wanted to target Aljazeera even if it meant "military action" on the television channel's headquarters in Doha, Qatar. The summit took place as US forces in Iraq were launching a major assault on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah that was later described as a massacre of civilians and involved the use of chemical weapons.
LINK: See our report on Fallujah
In a panic reaction, the UK government has ordered the British newspaper that disclosed the transcript to cease publishing further details from the allegedly top secret memo. Britain has also warned other media organizations they are breaking the law if they publish details of the document.
Reporters' rights groups called on the United States and Britain to promptly give clarification of the report.
"This is a very serious charge with grave implications for the safety of media professionals," said Ann Cooper, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. "Refusing to address these reports in a substantive way only fuels suspicions."
Reporters Without Borders said: "We find it hard to believe that
President Bush really discussed this possibility. This would be extremely serious and would constitute a major and unprecedented violation of the right to information.
"If this report turns out to be true, it offers a new insight into the motives of the U.S. forces, which have already bombed Al Jazeera offices twice, in Afghanistan and Iraq."
Aljazeera "maintains a set of journalistic practices built on being fair, impartial, and balanced, and as is the standard practice with every story, Aljazeera is going through a due diligence process of verifying the details of the Daily Mirror report," the Doha-based network said.It added: "Before making any conclusions Aljazeera needs to be absolutely sure regarding the authenticity of the memo and would hope for a confirmation from Downing Street as soon as possible.
"If the report is correct then this would be both shocking and worrisome not only to Aljazeera but to media organisations across the world."
In 2001, the station's Kabul office was hit by U.S. bombs and in 2003 Al Jazeera reporter Tareq Ayyoub was killed in a U.S. strike on its Baghdad office. The United States has denied deliberately targeting the station.
The Mirror said Bush told the British Premier Tony Blair, at a White House summit on April 16 last year, that he wanted to target Aljazeera. The summit took place as US. forces in Iraq were launching a major assault on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
The paper quoted an unnamed government official suggesting Bush's threat was a joke but added another unidentified source saying the US. president was serious.
SO WHERE DID THE DOCUMENT COME FROM?
The memo came from Blair's Downing Street office and turned up in May last year at the local office of Tony Clarke, then a member of parliament for the town of Northampton. Clarke handed the document back to the government.
Leo O'Connor, who used to work for Clarke, and civil servant David Keogh were charged last Thursday under Britain's Official Secrets Act with making a "damaging disclosure of a document relating to international relations."
Both Keogh and O'Connor are due to appear in court next week on charges under the Act. It will be interesting to see how far the legal action goes if both the US and UK want the entire story buried.
Clarke, who opposed the invasion of Iraq and who lost his seat at the last election, returned the memo to Downing Street.
AL JAZEERA staff have started an online photo album showing pictures of the staff protest at George Bush's desire to bomb them. See it here:
LINKStaff photos.
LINK: ALJAZEERA HAS ITS SAY
Tags: Morocco, Aljazeera, Jihad, Terrorism,
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