Blair threatens Brit newspapers with Official Secrets Act

[WilliamPitt]

Warning over Jazeera bombing report

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain has warned media organizations they are breaking the law if they publish details of a leaked document said to show U.S. President George W. Bush wanted to bomb Arabic television station Al Jazeera.

The government's top lawyer warned editors in a note after the Daily Mirror newspaper reported on Monday that a secret British government memo said British Prime Minister Tony Blair had talked Bush out of bombing the broadcaster in April last year.

Several British newspapers reported the attorney general's note on Tuesday and repeated the Mirror's allegations, which the White House said were "so outlandish" they did not merit a response. Blair's office declined to comment.

Al Jazeera, which has repeatedly denied U.S. accusations it sides with insurgents in Iraq, called on Britain and the United States to state quickly whether the report was accurate. "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," the Qatar-based station said in a statement.

The story would also be a shock for Qatar, a small Gulf state which cultivates good relations with Washington. The Mirror said 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."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051123/ts_nm/britain_usa_jazeera_dc

[tx_dem41]

1. Its always good to look at Britain as a counter-example of how...

cherished Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press are here.

[asjr]

2. "Official Secrets Act" is just another phrase for Cover-up.

[movonne]

3. "If the report is correct then this would be both shocking and

worrisome not only to Al Jazeera but to the media organizations across the world"...Is there any doubt???

[lonestarnot]

4. So email the document to someone in U.S. We don't have the

"Official Secrets Act," and someone here can release it... Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah heh heh heh heh heh heh.:think:

[Gidney N Cloyd]

5. In the age of the Internets, seems pointless to try to stifle local

news outlets with a law like that.

[Supersedeas]

6. when accuracy collides with dirty little secrets

[shraby]

7. If it isn't a true document, why is Blair threatening

the newspapers with the Official Secrets Act? To me, that means it's a true story.

[yellowcanine]

8. I thought this report was "outlandish". An "outlandish" secret?

[PDJane]

9. Does anyone but me

Think that this is tempting a backlash from both the public and the newspapers in Britain?

I don't somehow think that the Brits will be as complacent as the US seems to have been.

[AX10]

10. Blair needs to be ousted now!

He's nothing but a lowly scumbag tyrany.