Jarhead sunset

It was a Jarhead sunset looking out from an old Saddam palace yesterday in Raq'.
A beautiful sight to see.

Exclusive: Bush Plot To Bomb His Arab Ally
Madness of war memo
By Kevin Maguire And Andy Lines

11/22/05 "The Mirror" -- -- PRESIDENT Bush planned to bomb
Arab TV station al-Jazeera in friendly Qatar, a "Top Secret"
No 10 memo reveals.
But he was talked out of it at a White House summit by Tony
Blair, who said it would provoke a worldwide backlash.

A source said: "There's no doubt what Bush wanted, and no
doubt Blair didn't want him to do it." Al-Jazeera is accused
by the US of fuelling the Iraqi insurgency.

The attack would have led to a massacre of innocents on the
territory of a key ally, enraged the Middle East and almost
certainly have sparked bloody retaliation.

A source said last night: "The memo is explosive and hugely
damaging to Bush.

"He made clear he wanted to bomb al-Jazeera in Qatar and
elsewhere. Blair replied that would cause a big problem.

"There's no doubt what Bush wanted to do -- and no doubt
Blair didn't want him to do it."

A Government official suggested that the Bush threat had
been "humorous, not serious".

But another source declared: "Bush was deadly serious, as
was Blair. That much is absolutely clear from the language
used by both men."

Yesterday former Labour Defence Minister Peter Kilfoyle
challenged Downing Street to publish the five-page
transcript of the two leaders' conversation. He said: "It's
frightening to think that such a powerful man as Bush can
propose such cavalier actions.

"I hope the Prime Minister insists this memo be published.
It gives an insight into the mindset of those who were the
architects of war."

Bush disclosed his plan to target al-Jazeera, a civilian
station with a huge Mid-East following, at a White House
face-to-face with Mr Blair on April 16 last year.

At the time, the US was launching an all-out assault on
insurgents in the Iraqi town of Fallujah.

Al-Jazeera infuriated Washington and London by reporting
from behind rebel lines and broadcasting pictures of dead
soldiers, private contractors and Iraqi victims.

The station, watched by millions, has also been used by bin
Laden and al-Qaeda to broadcast atrocities and to threaten
the West.

Al-Jazeera's HQ is in the business district of Qatar's
capital, Doha.

Its single-storey buildings would have made an easy target
for bombers. As it is sited away from residential areas, and
more than 10 miles from the US's desert base in Qatar, there
would have been no danger of "collateral damage".

Dozens of al-Jazeera staff at the HQ are not, as many
believe, Islamic fanatics. Instead, most are respected and
highly trained technicians and journalists.

To have wiped them out would have been equivalent to bombing
the BBC in London and the most spectacular foreign policy
disaster since the Iraq War itself.

The No 10 memo now raises fresh doubts over US claims that
previous attacks against al-Jazeera staff were military errors.

In 2001 the station's Kabul office was knocked out by two
"smart" bombs. In 2003, al-Jazeera reporter Tareq Ayyoub was
killed in a US missile strike on the station's Baghdad centre.

The memo, which also included details of troop deployments,
turned up in May last year at the Northampton constituency
office of then Labour MP Tony Clarke.

Cabinet Office civil servant David Keogh, 49, is accused
under the Official Secrets Act of passing it to Leo
O'Connor, 42, who used to work for Mr Clarke. Both are
bailed to appear at Bow Street court next week.

Mr Clarke, who lost at the election, returned the memo to No 10.

He said Mr O'Connor had behaved "perfectly correctly".

Neither Mr O'Connor or Mr Keogh were available. No 10 did
not comment.

*****

U.K. charges official with leaking Blair memo
Document allegedly says PM dissuaded Bush push for attack on
Al-Jazeera
NBC News and news services
Nov. 22, 2005

LONDON -- A civil servant has been charged under Britain's
Official Secrets Act for allegedly leaking a government memo
that a newspaper said Tuesday suggested that Prime Minister
Tony Blair persuaded President Bush not to bomb the Arab
satellite station Al-Jazeera.

The Daily Mirror reported that Bush spoke of targeting
Al-Jazeera's headquarters in Doha, Qatar, when he met Blair
at the White House on April 16, 2004. The Bush
administration has regularly accused Al-Jazeera of being
nothing more than a mouthpiece for anti-American sentiments.

The Daily Mirror attributed its information to unidentified
sources. One source, said to be in the government, was
quoted as saying that the alleged threat was "humorous, not
serious," but the newspaper quoted another source as saying
that "Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair."

"We are not interested in dignifying something so outlandish
and inconceivable with a response," White House spokesman
Scott McClellan told The Associated Press in an e-mail.

Blair's office declined to comment on the report, stressing
it never discussed leaked documents.

Al-Jazeera said in a statement that it was investigating the
report. "If the report is correct then this would be both
shocking and worrisome not only to Al-Jazeera but to media
organizations across the world," it said.

In Qatar, Al-Jazeera said it was aware of the report, but
did not wish to comment. The U.S. Embassy in London said it
was making no comment.

The document was described as a transcript of a conversation
between the two leaders.

Court appearance next week

Cabinet Office civil servant David Keogh is accused of
passing it to Leo O'Connor, who formerly worked for former
British lawmaker Tony Clarke. Both Keogh and O'Connor are
scheduled to appear at London's Bow Street Magistrates Court
next week.

According to the Crown Prosecution Service, Keogh was
charged with an offense under Section 3 of the Official
Secrets Act relating to "a damaging disclosure" by a servant
of the Crown of information relating to international
relations or information obtained from a state other than
the United Kingdom.

O'Connor was charged under Section 5, which relates to
receiving and disclosing illegally disclosed information.

According to the newspaper, Clarke returned the memo to
Blair's office. Clarke did not respond to calls from The
Associated Press seeking comment.

Press Association, the British news agency, said Clarke
refused to discuss the contents of the document. PA quoted
Clarke as saying his priority was to support O'Connor who
did "exactly the right thing" in bringing it to his attention.

Peter Kilfoyle, a former defense minister in Blair's
government, called for the document to be made public.

"I think they ought to clarify what exactly happened on this
occasion," he said. "If it was the case that President Bush
wanted to bomb Al-Jazeera in what is after all a friendly
country, it speaks volumes and it raises questions about
subsequent attacks that took place on the press that wasn't
embedded with coalition forces," the newspaper quoted
Kilfoyle as saying.

Worrying memo?

Sir Menzies Campbell, foreign affairs spokesman for the
opposition Liberal Democrats, said Tuesday that, if true,
the memo was worrying.

"If true, then this underlines the desperation of the Bush
administration as events in Iraq began to spiral out of
control," he said. "On this occasion, the prime minister may
have been successful in averting political disaster, but it
shows how dangerous his relationship with President Bush has
been."

Al-Jazeera offices in Iraq and Afghanistan have been hit by
U.S. bombs or missiles, but each time the U.S. military said
they were not intentionally targeting the broadcaster.

In April 2003, an Al-Jazeera journalist was killed when its
Baghdad office was struck during a U.S. bombing campaign.
Nabil Khoury, a State Department spokesman in Doha, said the
strike was a mistake.

In November 2002, Al-Jazeera's office in Kabul, Afghanistan,
was destroyed by a U.S. missile. None of the crew was at the
office at the time. U.S. officials said they believed the
target was a terrorist site and did not know it was
Al-Jazeera's office.

Meantime, NBC News analyst Bill Arkin says that while there
is no military order to bomb any media outlet, the U.S.
Strategic Command in Omaha has been given responsibility for
exploiting and disrupting the communications and computer
systems of news media outlets worldwide.

Arkin says the center of this effort is the Network Attack
Support Staff, which while assigned to Stratcom, is
headquartered at Ft. Meade, Md.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10153489/

*****

Memo: Bush wanted Aljazeera bombed
Tuesday 22 November 2005 5:56 AM GMT

The memo has been described as 'hugely damaging to Bush'

US President George Bush planned to bomb Aljazeera, British
newspaper the Daily Mirror has reported, citing a Downing
Street memo marked top secret.

The five-page transcript of a conversation between Bush and
British Prime Minister Tony Blair reveals that Blair talked
Bush out of launching a military strike on the station,
unnamed sources told the daily.

The transcript of the pair's talks during Blair's 16 April
2004 visit to Washington allegedly shows Bush wanted to
attack the satellite channel's headquarters in Doha, Qatar.

Blair allegedly feared such a strike, in the capital of
Qatar, a key Western ally in the Gulf, would spark revenge
attacks.

Aljazeera has said in a news statement that it is
investigating the report and urged the US and British
governments to challenge it.

A British civil servant has been charged under the Official
Secrets Act for allegedly leaking the government memo.

Civil servant accused

Cabinet Office civil servant David Keogh is accused of
passing the memo to Leo O'Connor, who formerly worked for
former British lawmaker Tony Clarke.

Both Keogh and O'Connor are scheduled to appear at London's
Bow Street Magistrates Court next week.

According to the Daily Mirror, Clarke returned the memo to
Blair's office. Clarke could not immediately be contacted
for comment on Tuesday.

The Mirror on Tuesday quoted an unnamed British government
official as saying Bush's threat was "humorous, not serious".

Aljazeera's coverage of the war in Iraq had drawn criticism
from Washington after the US-led March 2003 invasion.

A source told the Mirror: "The memo is explosive and hugely
damaging to Bush.

"He made clear he wanted to bomb Aljazeera in Qatar and
elsewhere. Blair replied that would cause a big problem.

"There's no doubt what Bush wanted to do -- and no doubt
Blair didn't want him to do it."

Deadly serious

Another source said: "Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair.
That much is absolutely clear from the language used by both
men."

A spokesman for Blair's Downing Street office said: "We have
got nothing to say about this story. We don't comment on
leaked documents."

The US has criticised Aljazeera's coverage of the Iraq war

Clarke, the former lawmaker, told Britain's domestic Press
Association news agency that O'Connor had done "exactly the
right thing" in bringing it to his attention.

The Mirror said such a strike would have been "the most
spectacular foreign-policy disaster since the Iraq war itself".

The newspaper said that the memo "casts fresh doubt on
claims that other attacks on Aljazeera were accidents". It
cited the 2001 direct hit on the channel's Kabul office in
Afghanistan.

In April 2003, an Aljazeera journalist died when its Baghdad
office was struck during a US bombing campaign. Nabil
Khoury, a US State Department spokesman in Doha, said the
strike was a mistake.

In November 2002, Aljazeera's office in Kabul, Afghanistan,
was destroyed by a US missile. None of the crew was at the
office at the time. US officials said they believed the
target was a terrorist site and did not know it was
Aljazeera's office.

Downing Street challenged

Blair's former defence minister Peter Kilfoyle challenged
Downing Street to publish the transcript.

Blair is said to have talked Bush out of any attack on Aljazeera

"I believe that Downing Street ought to publish this memo in
the interests of transparency, given that much of the detail
appears to be in the public domain," Kilfoyle told the Press
Association.

"I think they ought to clarify what exactly happened on this
occasion. If it was the case that President Bush wanted to
bomb Aljazeera in what is after all a friendly country, it
speaks volumes and it raises questions about subsequent
attacks that took place on the press that wasn't embedded
with coalition forces."

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies
Campbell told the Press Association: "If true, then this
underlines the desperation of the Bush administration as
events in Iraq began to spiral out of control.

"On this occasion, the prime minister may have been
successful in averting political disaster, but it shows how
dangerous his relationship with President Bush has been."

Abd al-Bari Atwan's reaction

Speaking to Aljazeera from London on Monday, Abd al-Bari
Atwan, chief editor of the London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi
newspaper, said: "The issue of Bush's plan to bomb
Aljazeera's headquarters in Doha will be widely discussed in
Washington and London.

"Reporters in the US and Britain are enraged by reported US
plans to use force against media organs.

"Arab and international media organs are now under a
terrorist campaign launched by the US as it does not want
the truth to be revealed.

"This [US] administration has been disgraced as it has used
immoral and illegal ways to occupy and tear out a country,
kill more than 100,000 and wound more than 400,000 of its
people.

"The results of the war, being revealed now in Iraq, have
forced reporters to ask why they have been misled.

"New York Times has apologised, saying it has misled public
opinion when it did not accurately investigate the
objectives of the US administration.

"I believe that considering use force against a media
station is the worst kind of media terrorism practised by a
country which pretends to lead the free world, democratic
values and media freedom."

Aljazeera + Agencies

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/FA5DC791-B0D3-418E-9946-87162E6C6EC1.htm