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Photo: al-Jazeera
Al-Jazeera vows find out the truth
Photo: al-Jazeera

Al-Jazeera demands memo of bombing plot

Pan-Arab television broadcaster al-Jazeera urges British prime minister to publish leaked document that suggests U.S. president planned to bomb the station's headquarters in Qatar

A senior Al-Jazeera executive urged Prime Minister Tony Blair in a radio interview Saturday to publish a leaked document that allegedly suggests U.S. President George W. Bush wanted to bomb the headquarters of the Arabic television station in Qatar.

 

In an interview with BBC radio, the executive, Wadah Khanfar, said he would deliver a letter to Blair's office also demanding a meeting with the prime minister to discuss the document.

 

"Al- Jazeera is in

the foremost of free form and democracy in the Arab world, and therefore this news that we have heard is very concerning," Khanfar told British Broadcasting Corp. Radio. "So we demand a proper explanation, and we would like to know the facts about this letter."

 

The document, which has been described as a transcript of discussions between Bush and Blair, was leaked to the Daily Mirror tabloid newspaper.

 

Earlier this week, Attorney General Lord Goldsmith warned editors they could face prosecution under the Official Secrets Act for disclosing the contents of the document.

 

The Daily Mirror claimed the document was a transcript of a meeting in April 2004 between Bush and Blair in which Bush spoke of attacking Al-Jazeera's headquarters in Doha, Qatar.

 

The newspaper, which cited

unidentified sources, said Blair argued against an attack. It quoted its sources as disagreeing about whether Bush's alleged comment was a joke or was meant seriously.

 

The White House, which has accused Al-Jazeera of being a mouthpiece for al-Qaida, has dismissed news reports about the Bush-Blair conversation regarding the Arabic TV station as "outlandish and inconceivable."

 

"We need to know if this discussion has taken place or not ... If this document exists or not," Khanfar said.

 

"By banning this document from being published it does cast a lot of concerns about this issue. When we are talking about bombing a TV station like that, I think it is of historical value to know what's happened."

 

Blair's office has refused to comment on the document, but said Friday that it is as willing to talk to Al-Jazeera as it is with other broadcasters.

 

Khanfar also said Al-Jazeera has asked the White House for an explanation.

 


פרסום ראשון: 11.26.05, 13:32
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