Aljazeera's Baghdad office closed

BAGHDAD, August 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi ordered Saturday, July 7, pan-Arab television channel Al-Jazeera to close its offices in Baghdad for a month only one day after US Secretary Donald Rumsfeld launched a fresh bitter attack on the all-news Arab channel.

“This is a decision taken by the national security committee to protect the people of Iraq, in the interests of the Iraqi people,” Allawi told a press conference in Baghdad.

He said an independent committee was assigned for the last four weeks to monitor the Doha-based channel and found out that it “incited hatred and racial tension”.

Allawi said the ban could be renewed should Al-Jazeera fail to change its editorial policy.

Earlier this month, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari criticized Al-Jazeera, the Saudi-funded Al-Arabiya and other Arab and Iranian stations for their coverage of Iraq and threatened to close their Baghdad offices.

Zebari said Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, Hizbollah's Al-Manar television and Iran's Al-Alam were “channels of incitement working against the interests, security and stability of the Iraqi people”.

“We will no longer tolerate this in the future,” said Zebari.

Disappointing

Nidal Mansour, the head of the Amman-based Movement for Protecting Journalists, said the Iraqi government should rather target “terrorists” instead of media outlets.

“It is indeed a disappointing move as we expected that this government will set itself up as a role model in the region for protecting freedom of expression since it parrots every now and then about democracy,” he told Al-Jazeera.

Gamal Fahmi, the head of Freedoms Committee with Egypt’s Journalists’ Syndicate, said if the all-news channel has committed any wrongdoings or distorted facts, the Iraqi government should then resort to litigation, but not to close it.

The Secretary of the Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicate, Yahia Qallash, said the move was expected.

He hit out at the “blatant” interference of the Iraqi government into the inner workings of media and press offices in Iraq, citing the outcome of a fact-finding mission by the Arab Journalists’ Union in a recent visit to the war-torn country.

Damaging US Image

The decision came one day after remarks made by Rumsfeld, accusing Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya of harming the image of the United States in the Arab world.

Speaking at the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations Friday, Rumsfeld said that Al-Jazeera coverage of Iraq has damaged US initiatives in the Middle East, the Pentagon said on its website.

For example, he said, “they have persuaded an enormous fraction” of people that the United States is in Iraq as an occupying force, “which is a lie”.

Or, he added, they have persuaded people that US soldiers “are randomly killing innocent civilians, which is a lie”.

He further claimed that some of Al-Jazeera reporters in Baghdad have been in the past on the payroll of the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Rumsfeld claimed on November 25 he has seen reports suggesting Al-Jazeera have cooperated ( http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2003-11/26/article02.shtml ) with Iraqi resistance fighters attacking US troops.

“They are hurting us,” Rumsfeld was quoted as saying on Al-Jazeera and the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya station.

Relations between the channel and Washington have been always running on a collision course.

Last April, the United States asked Al-Jazeera team to leave the restive Iraqi town of Fallujah as one of conditions for reaching a settlement to the bloody stand-off that claimed the lives of 700 peoples, mostly women and children ( http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-04/12/article05.shtml ).

On April 8, 2003, US forces hit with missiles ( http://www.islamonline.net/english/news/2003-04/08/article01.shtml ) Al-Jazeera office in Baghdad, killing its correspondent Tariq Ayyoub just a few hours before rolling into the capital.

The channel officials charged the missile attack was a "deliberate" strike, recalling that the office of the station had been hit in November 2001 during the US-led assault on the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

Al-Jazeera website was also downed by hackers a few days after Washington and London blasted the station for its footages ( http://www.islamonline.net/english/News/2003-03/23/article14.shtml ) of dead US and British soldiers and captured PoWs.

http://islamonline.org/English/News/2004-08/07/article05.shtml

As Salaam Alakum!

It is only understandable that the illegitimate regime currently ruling the american population cannot stand for Al Jazeera
reporting factual evidence regarding their by definition criminal aggression in Iraq;

stupid Arabs, don´t they understand the "American Way" yet?
We tell you what is fit to print, when to print it, and how to say it. That is what we mean by freedom of the press...

our freedom to dictate to you regarding your right to print, whatever we choose, whenever we choose.

That is why all those so called american and other western "journalists" are so evidently lacking in your streets;

they get all their "news" from US military stooges for hire who don´t bother to do any thinking on their own.

Neither apparently do the rank and file so called "citizens" of the US itself either, as witnessed by their sustained disregard for the thousands upon thousands of innocent Iraqis who have been murdered or worse by their own "representative" government.

Who don´t even blink when they are served the news that their bogus administration LIED to them in order to send over 11,000 and counting of their sons and daughters to die or worse defending that LIE...

These are clearly not the people that will bring this earth "peace and freedom". They will probably build a nice new McDonalds for you soon, though. ONE of you can get rich as a franchisee (until the place is firebombed).

I can only extend the greatest respect for Al Jazeera, an organization of journalists dedicated to providing both sides of the issues, the entire substance of the social scenario, as it were. Which naturally includes the evidence regarding american and other corporate mercenaries disregard for common rules of war, The Geneva Convention, The UN, as witnessed by their illegal invasion itself, their deliberate targeting of civilians, their deliberate open rape and torture of prisoners...their deliberate installation of an illegal domestic regime with no mandate whatsoever to tell as an example, Al Jazeera, anything at all...

If it were not for Al Jazeera and other journalists such as John Pilger (a remarkable exception to the spineless and characterless individuals that normally constitute the so called "media establishment" of the western corporate powers), we would probably not know much about the actualities of the situation in Iraq. We would only "know" what the american military chose to spew.

Your efforts and predicament are truly the essence of journalism, and are so easily distinguished from the propaganda tripe served up to the ignorant by the likes of today´s self serving version of fascist &, racist supporters pretending to be journalists while they are easily recognized as nothing more than willing whores.

It will be interesting to see how many western "journalists" rally to your demand for freedom of the press. You and I both know they will not respond, they are more interested in their paycheck than defending your universal rights.

The truth is evident for all to behold, and the die has long since been cast.

Aljazeera has expressed outrage after the interim Iraqi foreign minister attacked its coverage of events in Iraq saying the interim government is considering closing down the channel's Baghdad bureau.


Hoshyar Zibari accused Aljazeera, along with other Arabic language satellite channels, of "incitement" and hiding behind media freedoms.

Zibari said the channel's coverage of Iraq was "one-sided" and "distorted".

He made the comments in an interview with an Aljazeera correspondent during an offcial visit to Moscow on Sunday.

"They [Aljazeera and other Arabic channels] have all become incitement channels which are against the interests of security, the Iraqi government and the Iraqi people," Zibari said.

He added "the new Iraqi government will not tolerate these kinds of intentional breaches and violations".

Aljazeera condemnation

However, shortly after the interview Aljazeera issued a statement condemning Zibari's comments, calling them "tantamount to incitement against the channel and its staff working in Iraq".

"Aljazeera would have hoped that the Iraqi government would embark on its new term with initiatives to lift media restrictions, not add new ones that would certainly not be conducive to freedom of the press and expression."

The statement added "these kind of allegations will not prevent the channel from pursuing its long cherished editorial independence, and it reiterates its adherence to its professional principles and internationallly recognised media practises."

Aljazeera has been regularly criticised for its coverage of Iraq by foreign occupation forces as well as different Iraqi groups.

They have been particulalry upset by its coverage of anti-occupation violence and Iraqi resistance groups.

But Aljazeera, which is perhaps the most influential media organisation among Iraqis, says the fact it is being attacked from all sides proves its commitment to editorial balance and fairness.

Aljazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A3BF4F15-97CC-4B0B-BAFE-55A1CB3D859F.htm

Aljazeera has no place when it comes to honest reporting of facts. Only Socialist and Leftist anarchists want Aljazeera's news as it satisfies their appetite for anarchy. Aljazeera's supporters should be tried under the Sedition Act for aiding the enemy.
Of course this logical comment will be dismissed by wacko nutjobs that populate these boards. Thank goodness they will never have responsible positions anywhere except on meaningless boards where they preach to themselves

By Daoud Kuttab
August 09, 2004
NO one is indifferent to Al-Jazeera, the "CNN of the Arab world".

US officials have castigated the Qatar-based satellite network, and yesterday Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi closed down its Baghdad bureau, accusing the Arabic-language broadcaster of inciting violence in Iraq.

To be sure, in the context of the dream of all Arabs being united and independent of foreign control, Al-Jazeera is undeniably partial to Arab aspirations.

But that does not make its news reporting untruthful. In fact, Al-Jazeera, which US Secretary of State Colin Powell calls "horrible" and "slanted", is a pivotal vehicle for reform and change, for which genuinely democratic Arab activists and the international community alike have been calling.

So incensed has the US been, however, that it created its own Arabic-language mouthpiece in the form of satellite station Al-Hurra ("the free one"), which is funded by the US taxpayer and based in Virginia.

Arabs do not trust Al-Hurra, and it demonstrated its lapdog status by never broadcasting images of prisoners being abused inside Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison. In this respect, at least, Al-Hurra fits perfectly within the tame tradition of Arab state broadcasters.

The US is not alone in challenging Al-Jazeera head-on. The BBC, which briefly ran its own Arabic-language news station in the mid-1990s - before closing it down because its Saudi funders were unhappy with its reporting - has flagged plans for a relaunch.

But instead of bashing or seeking to undermine Al-Jazeera, politicians should encourage this bastion of free expression, recognising that Arabs will need to endure a messy process on the way to democracy.

Along that tortuous route, the world's major powers are bound to be offended, probably quite regularly. Television in the Arab world has been for years the mouthpiece used by ruling presidents, kings, and emirs to propagate their official opinions and nothing else.

Elite military units usually protect radio and television stations, because they have often been the first targets in military coups.

Given this history, and the storm of calls for reform in the Arab world, it is a tragic irony that the US and the West have paid so little attention to the terrestrial Arab monopoly television channels.

Indeed, US criticism of Al-Jazeera sounds more like special pleading because of the US's inept bumbling in Iraq than a genuine desire for free, open and critical Arab media.

If democracy means giving people a free choice, then there is no doubt that the choice of most Arabs is for a television broadcaster that reflects their aspirations. In this sense, Al-Jazeera is clearly biased, because it is run by Arab patriots and reflects Arab sentiment. But this is no more a crime than the fact that the US media reflects American aspirations and in times of war behaves like a cheerleader for US forces.

The key issue here is whether Al-Jazeera, as well as US TV stations, are truthful in what they say.

Al-Jazeera is certainly professional. Its leading journalists are Western-trained, many having worked for years at the BBC.

Al-Jazeera's motto, "opinion and opposing opinion", has galvanised Arab viewers, because clashing opinions are rarely heard on terrestrial Arab television stations.

Of course, when covering the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the US-led war on Iraq, Al-Jazeera has not been objective.

How could it be? But it did not make up facts; it merely reflected majority Arab opinion. On such fundamental issues of Arab consensus, it is simply illogical to expect an Arab broadcaster to be even-handed.

Moreover, Al-Jazeera has not been dumb to complaints about it. In July, it became the first Arab TV station to create a professional code of ethics. According to the BBC, the code defines with absolute clarity and transparency how Al-Jazeera journalists are to behave, and sets clear divisions between news, analysis and commentary.

As for Al-Jazeera's journalistic performance, it is past time that the station be judged by respected professional journalists, not by US or other officials with a policy axe to grind.

A major university department of journalism working with Arab media critics, for example, could provide a much more honest analysis of its work.

If American, British, and other Western officials are serious about reform in the Arab world, they must support reform-minded Arab individuals and organisations, even if those organisations make them uncomfortable at times.

If that becomes the West's standard, Al-Jazeera will rightly be seen as part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Daoud Kuttab is director of the Institute of Modern Media at Al-Quds University in Ramallah.
Project Syndicate

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10383650%255E2703,00.html

"...as it satisfies their desire for anarchy..."

"...this logical statement..."


Your comments are as ludicrous as logically retarded ;

1. Anarchy and a complete disregard for common law and
international statutes is exactly what exists now in Iraq
and is the direct result of the unelected US
administration´s deliberate, unwarranted, and criminal
aggression against a sovereign state. I personally
have every confidence that this criminal policy will only
continue under the incoming "Democratic" version of
lawless corporate american imperialism based on the
public statements of the wealthiest individual in the
Senate.

2. Far more qualified professionals than I have long since
called for the impeachment of, and trial by war crimes
tribunal thereafter, of the current american regime. They
have also extensively demonstrated the basis for such
demands.

For you to propose that a former Attorney General of the
United States (as only one American professional
example) is an anarchist and/or enemy of the people is to
openly demonstrate the level of civic ignorance that
apparently exists in your mind.

It matters not a whit; it is self evident that the despot corporate oligarch is going to lose this social war for the planet irregardless of the uninformed opines of the logically and ethically challenged.

The only question is how many innocents, abroad and domestically, have to die or worse before the peoples of the US come to their senses and reject the rule of corporate lunacy.