Al-Jazeera boss demands to see 'bomb' memo

[MelissaB]

Al-Jazeera boss demands to see 'bomb' memo

(Filed: 26/11/2005)


Lord Goldsmith has warned
against publishing details
of the memo


Al-Jazeera's director general is demanding talks with Tony Blair over a memo that reportedly details George Bush, the American president, discussing the idea of bombing the television station's headquarters.


Lord Goldsmith has warned against publishing details of the memo
Wadah Khanfar has delivered a letter to 10 Downing Street calling for the memo to be made public.

According to press reports, the memo includes a transcript of the Prime Minister attempting to persuade Mr Bush not to take military action against the al-Jazeera headquarters in Qatar.

Mr Khanfar earlier told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The letter will say that al-Jazeera has been working for the last nine years, it is the foremost forum of democracy in the Arab world, and therefore this news that we have heard is very concerning.

"So we demand a proper explanation and we would like to know the facts. We have demanded an urgent interview .

"It concerns not just al-Jazeera journalists but concerns journalists all over the world.

"We need to know if this discussion has taken place or not, if this document does exist or not. Banning this document from being published does prompt a lot of concern and doubts.


More: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/26/ujaz.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/11/26/ixportaltop.html

[Athame]

1. This may be **'s "expletive deleted" moment

If the transcript is published and people see how ** actually talks about bombing a news agency, I think they will turn. They will see him as the callous, banal, vengeful, despicable jerk he really is.

This was one of the big ones for Nixon, when the transcripts of the White House tapes were published, filled with "expletive deleted" censors in Nixon's conversation. Then the public began to believe that he was not a good man. (the public that had been hanging on to that illusion as they do with **, the rest of us knew it all along.)