Easongate

Ken AshfordBush & Co., Iraq, War on Terrorism/TortureLeave a Comment

Back in February, CNN executive Eason Jordon made comments to the effect that the U.S. military targeted journalists.  The rightwing blogosphere went ballistic, decrying Jordon’s comments as absurd and unsubstantiated.  The whole thing was dubbed "Easongate", and within days, Eason Jordon resigned.

Turns out Eason Jordon wasn’t far off the mark:

US President George W. Bush planned to bomb pan-Arab television broadcaster al-Jazeera, British newspaper the Daily Mirror said, citing a Downing Street memo marked "Top Secret".

The five-page transcript of a conversation between Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair reveals that Blair talked Bush out of launching a military strike on the station, unnamed sources told the daily which is against the war in Iraq.

The transcript of the pair’s talks during Blair’s April 16, 2004 visit to Washington allegedly shows Bush wanted to attack the satellite channel’s headquarters.

Blair allegedly feared such a strike, in the business district of Doha, the capital of Qatar, a key western ally in the Persian Gulf, would spark revenge attacks.

It should be noted that journalists are civilians, even journalists who (arguably) are sympathetic to our enemies.  They are not combatents or soldiers.  And attacking civilians is, in a word, terrorism.

Besides, I don’t know how you win the hearts and minds of the Arab nations by blowing up journalists.