Left In Lowell

I don’t know if over the holidays you heard about this new Downing Street memo that was (almost) leaked. This story might even be bigger than the original Downing Street Memo (the one that showed Bush wanted to go into Iraq even if it took fixing the intell). Because this one involves British PM Tony Blair talking Bush out of bombing the free press of another country, a US ally no less:

PRESIDENT Bush planned to bomb Arab TV station al-Jazeera in friendly Qatar, a “Top Secret” No 10 memo reveals.

But he was talked out of it at a White House summit by Tony Blair, who said it would provoke a worldwide backlash.

A source said: “There’s no doubt what Bush wanted, and no doubt Blair didn’t want him to do it.” Al-Jazeera is accused by the US of fuelling the Iraqi insurgency.

The attack would have led to a massacre of innocents on the territory of a key ally, enraged the Middle East and almost certainly have sparked bloody retaliation.

I love, love, love this line:

A Government official suggested that the Bush threat had been “humorous, not serious”.

Ha ha, joke’s on you, you thought I was serious! Too bad it’s a flimsy and not credible explanation. According to another official, “Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair. That much is absolutely clear from the language used by both men.”

Blair is taking a page out of Bush’s book and threatening the press against releasing the memo. Britain is known for having a less free press than we do, but such prosecutions are rare.

The Republican Congress in the 90’s was pissed at Clinton for wanting to bomb Al Quada targets in Afghanistan, you know, that illegal government we never even acknowledged the existence of who was supporting terrorist activities. IOKIYAR (It’s OK If You Are Republican), though! Bombing al-Jazeera in Qatar. I don’t care how much you don’t like someone else’s media, you do not bomb non-combatants at a TV station. Of course, all indications are that Bush would love to do the same to the US media. Pesky do-gooders askin’ all those questions about his run up to the war. It was much better when the reporters were on the government payroll, no?