Al Jazeera and Eason Jordan's vindication

[TexasLawyer]

The leaked report on Bush's insane desire to bomb Al Jazeera sheds just a tad bit of light on Eason Jordan's remarks, and on many suspicious incidents in which journalists appeared to be targeted by the US military.

Are there any doubts now? Our government has a lot to answer for-- not only to the world, but to its own people.

I am thankful, today, that these stories are coming out. I am thankful that people are starting to wake up.

Peace. Happy Thanksgiving!!!


CNN Exec Resigns Over Iraq Remarks

NEW YORK., Feb. 12, 2005




"I have decided to resign in an
effort to prevent CNN from being
unfairly tarnished by the controversy
over conflicting accounts of my recent
remarks"
Eason Jordan
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


(AP) CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan quit Friday amid a furor over remarks he made in Switzerland last month about journalists killed by the U.S. military in Iraq. Jordan said he was quitting to avoid CNN being "unfairly tarnished" by the controversy.

During a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum last month, Jordan said he believed that several journalists who were killed by coalition forces in Iraq had been targeted.

He quickly backed off the remarks, explaining that he meant to distinguish between journalists killed because they were in the wrong place when a bomb fell, for example, and those killed because they were shot at by American forces who mistook them for the enemy.
"I never meant to imply U.S. forces acted with ill intent when U.S. forces accidentally killed journalists, and I apologize to anyone who thought I said or believed otherwise," Jordan said in a memo to fellow staff members at CNN.

But the damage had been done, compounded by the fact that no transcript of his actual remarks has turned up. He was the target of an Internet and Web site campaign that was beginning to rival the one launched against CBS's Dan Rather following the network's ill-fated story last fall about President Bush's military service. A Web site, Easongate.com, was created and distributed a petition this week calling on CNN to find a transcript and fire Jordan if he said the military had intentionally killed journalists.

<snip>
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/07/world/main672070.shtml



And don't forget:

Abducted Reporter Shot by U.S. After Release
Run Date: 03/03/05
By Clara Park
WeNews correspondent



The abduction, and now wounding by U.S. forces, of Giuliana Sgrena, a foreign correspondent at the Italian daily Il Manifesto and specialist on issues for Arab women, has roused public opinion around the world.


ROME (WOMENSENEWS)--The kidnapped Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, wounded by American soldiers in Iraq just after her release Friday, has galvanized public attention in Italy and around the world on the war in Iraq and its toll on women.

Italian and U.S. officials confirmed that Friday Sgrena was shot and an Italian intelligence agent was killed at a Baghdad checkpoint by U.S. soldiers who fired on her car shortly after her release.

President Bush expressed his regrets }(to the Italian government. The U.S. State Department's statement said the soldiers did not know that a hostage was in the car and tried to shoot the the engine block.

<snip>
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/2208/context/archive

[G_j]

1. "Dead Messengers: How the U.S. Military Threatens Journalists."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/022505A.shtml

This is Exhibit A in support of "Dead Messengers: How the U.S. Military Threatens Journalists."
Part I | Hearing What Eason Jordan Said
Part II | Army Failed to Probe Its Attack on Palestine Hotel
Part III | Targeting the Media the American Way
Part IV | But What About Al-Jazeera?


..more..

[The Magistrate]

2. Actually, Ma'am

A statement of desire that is not followed through on is insufficient to demonstrate that a thing has been done previously. This reported statement does not prove the U.S. military has deliberately kiled journalists.

[NMDemDist2]

3. Felicitations Sir!

on this festive day. :hi:

[TexasLawyer]

4. Of course it's not proof

But Bush's desire to bomb Al Jazeera makes a strong rebuttal to those who say we would NEVER even THINK of doing such a thing. Obviously we WERE thinking of doing such a thing.

And the bold desire to carry out the bombing in Qatar, the allies' best friend in the region and the headquarters for CentCom, is mind boggling.

It would certainly be known to the world that the US did the bombing, and that it was on purpose and was pre-meditated. And the military case for bombing Al Jazeera is very, very weak. Anyone who watched the documentary "Control Room" knows that Al Jazeera is not an Al Qaeda sympathizer. They just show pictures of war's aftermath along with their news reports. To Rummy, et al, that's unforgivable. These people obviously have a hair trigger and are ready to shoot for ridiculous reasons.

It's not too big a leap to figure that Rummy and gang might take revenge and/or forewarn pesky journalists by instead targeting them in Iraq. Unlike an in-your-face bombing in Doha, Qatar, the war and chaos of Iraq would cover tracks and make charges of deliberately targeting journalists very deniable.

Those charges are still deniable, but the denials are much less believable.

[Catrina]

5. That is true, however

Spain has asked that the US troops involved in the killing of one of their reporters, be extradicted for trial because they believe it was deliberate (he was killed in the Palestine Hotel along with the Al Jazeera journalist)

Italy has made a similar request, charging that their reporter was targeted by the US military, and the agent who rescued her, who is a hero in Italy, was killed in that incident.

A Knight Ridder reporter was killed a few months ago, and allegations about that death have been made, that it too was deliberate.

Another US reporter was shot at and killed around the area of Abu Ghraib and charges were made that too was deliberate.

More than 19 Iraqi reporters have been killed since this war began, and in protest over what other Iraqi journalists claimed was deliberate targeting of their colleagues, all Iraqi reporters walked out on a speech (no doubt about democracy) by Colin Powell about two years ago.

And of course there were the bombings of Al Jazeera in Afghanistan and Baghdad.

Added to these and other incidents are the detentions of reporters who stated that they were abused while in custody, some from Al Jazeera.

When Eason Jordan made the comment that people suspected that the US was targeting journalists, he was obviously expressing a general opinion among the press that did not come about without cause.

Al Jazeera has been banned from Iraq. Why?

It was the closing down of Al Sadr's newspaper that sparked the violence that erupted and resulted in so many deaths several years ago.

Reporters Without Borders have been asking for an investigation into all these 'accidents' for a long time, but with no cooperation from the US, who usually claim they have 'investigated' the incidents and found no cause for suspicion. This has not inspired much confidence nor has it in anyway allayed the concerns of those who have asked for proper investigations.

When all the 'incidents' are added up, and long before this latest revelation (which has not been denied) the perception has been and many are convinced (the Italians, the Spaniards and many in the Muslim world) that the US has indeed been controlling the press, even to the extent, as Eason Jordan reported, of believing that reporters have been deliberately targeted.

Therefore, if there is no truth to the allegations, why would the US not cooperate with other countries, or allow Al Jazeera into Iraq, eg? And now, this memo will only confirm for many around the world (we are not too popular these days) that while spouting off about democracy, the US is far from being interested in any form of a free, democratic press.

More reporters have died in this war than in any other so far, and in a relatively short period of time, I have read.

Personally, I believe that Al Jazeera was targeted. That is my opinion. Their site was hacked, their reporters roughed up many times, detained, killed and their headquarters bombed twice. If I'm wrong, then I'll apologize. Meantime, the preponderance of the evidence so far, is not on Bush's side.

[Karenina]

6. BINGO!

All squares covered!