Friday, November 25, 2005

Don't Bomb Us - A blog by Al Jazeera Staffers


/ damage / collateral / press /
The staff of Al Jazeera have started a blog in reaction to recent leaks regarding the shrub's desire to bomb Al Jazeera offices in Qatar. That this was not simply an exaggerated version of events, the british government sought to swiftly confirm by a gag order prohibiting the british media from publishing any further details from the top secret memo - according to some sources, as a result of White House pressure.

What I'm impressed by is the fact that the memo has not leaked to non-British publications yet. Wasn't the Mirror supposed to have it (its contents anyway) in the first place? So, what are they waiting for? Send it to Al Jazeera, Xinhua, AFP, Counter Punch, Infoshop -heck send it to me, I'll publish it, make photocopies, fly to London and pass them around. I mean what's holding them? A proprietary attitude toward their sources? The British government is holding the Mirror staff's children hostage? Has the material been confiscated? What exactly did the Blair government want to conceal?

2 comments:

efpalinos said...

Using the threat of military action rather than action itself can in some cases be more productive and less costly.

The psychological fear and oppression at the hands of the aggravator can have a long-term effect compared to a direct action which, if taken against international law would have to bring forth a series of prevention measures and certain political cost.

The strategy of uncovering half the truth is often used to further enhance the innuendos and fear in the enemy and even helps widen the effective target audience.

In this specific case the message translates as such: A stray missile blowing up a television station even if that is located in a pro-western country is not out of the question. Perhaps this is yet another sign of an impending intervention in the area or to say the least a well groomed warning for the future.

Anonymous said...

These are the same planners that targeted and bombed news outlets in Yugoslavia. Not really a surprise.