Ah, The Military Genius of Chimpie the Chimperor

One of the countries used for staging US forces prior to the invasion of Iraq was tiny Qatar. As I recall, a number of the press briefings by the military were done in Doha, and Qatar was and is our ally in the "war against terrorism," such as it's called. So then, what do you make of this little tidbit?

US President George Bush planned to bomb Arab broadcaster Aljazeera, British newspaper the Daily Mirror has reported, 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.

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

We all know how terrified Chimpie is of words and the media, even when they're as compliant and comfortable on their kneepads before him as the American mainstream media has been until recently. But this is truly something else. It brings back to mind Crazy Ann Coulter's comment about wishing Timothy McVeigh had targeted the New York Times.

Seeing as they were the target of this idea, and since Aljazeera offices in both Afghanistan and Iraq were indeed struck by US missiles, let's let them have the last word. Please take it with a grain of salt, since all media outlets are suspect; some of this fellow's rhetoric may be a bit overblown, but his final paragraph hits the nail on the head, and that's tragic for us. Clearly, Chimpie and his band of criminals know nothing of winning hearts and minds.

Speaking to Aljazeera from London on Monday, Abd al-Bari Atwan, chief editor of the London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, said: "The issue of Bush's plan to bomb Aljazeera's headquarters in Doha will be widely discussed in Washington and London.

"Reporters in the US and Britain are enraged by reported US plans to use force against media organs.

"Arab and international media organs are now under a terrorist campaign launched by the US as it does not want the truth to be revealed.

"This [US] administration has been disgraced as it has used immoral and illegal ways to occupy and tear out a country, kill more than 100,000 and wound more than 400,000 of its people.

"The results of the war, being revealed now in Iraq, have forced reporters to ask why they have been misled.

"New York Times has apologised, saying it has misled public opinion when it did not accurately investigate the objectives of the US administration.

"I believe that considering use force against a media station is the worst kind of media terrorism practised by a country which pretends to lead the free world, democratic values and media freedom."