Friday, November 25, 2005

Bombing Al-Jazeera, a plot by Blair?

A leaked memo revealed a conversation between the Blair and Bush on a plan to bomb the headquarters of Al-Jazeera television station during a Whitehouse summit on April 16, 2004. The British government threatened to prosecute any news agencies who dared to reveal any more of that five page document under the Official Secrets Acts. Al-Jazeera is based in Doha of Qatar, a strategic ally of the US in the middle-east. In earlier events, Al-Jezzera's Kabul office was bombed by the US in 2001, and its Baghdad and Basra offices was attacked by the US in 2003.

Two officials linked to the leakage, Leo O'Connor and David Keogh, were charged under the aforementioned law with making a 'damage disclosure of a document relating to international relations'.

Blair could be taking advantage of this incident, if it were not them who created it in the first place. After suffering a catastrophic legislative defeat days ago, they are building a case before the British people and international community that the only way to contain the damaging power of the US president is to befriend him, as what Blair had been doing.

What the public has learned so far was a foggy scenario that Bush proposed the bombing, and Blair talked him out of the idea. Any further revelation could likely tell us more on the context, and that's probably what Blair does not want to share. The Daily mirror said government officials had given no indication of any legal problems with the story when contacted before publication. In a way, Bush might be victimised this time, although we have no way of knowing if no further information could be attained.

Those who were outraged by the simple fact that some people put more confidence in The Daily Mirror over the current administration, think about why.

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