Page 254 - Mass Media, Mass Propoganda Examining American News in the War on Terror

244 Chapter 9

The Demonstration Effect

Many throughout the Middle East and the world felt that the U.S. intentionally
assaulted A1 Jazeera and its journalists in Iraq and Afghanistan in order to make
an example of the station. Journalists from A1 Jazeera have been detained by
American forces and charged with collaborating with terrorists. Sami Muhyi al-
Din al-Hajj, a cameraman for A1 Jazeera in Iraq, was detained by the U.S. and
held at Guantanamo Bay. It was reported in September of 2005 that U.S. inter-
rogators promised Sami would be released if he spied on fellow reporters at A1
Jazeera. The interrogators claimed that such surveillance was necessary since A1
Qaeda members had infiltrated A1 ~azeera.'~'
Evidence has also surfaced suggesting that the Bush administration may
have considered bombing the A1 Jazeera headquarters in Qatar. The Daily Mir-
ror of London reported in November 2005 about the contents of a leaked memo
from Downing Street that allegedly described a conversation between George
Bush and Tony Blair (in April 2004) in which Blair attempted to convince the
President not to bomb A1 ~azeera.'~~ One source for the Mirror report alleged
that the conversation was "humorous, not serious," while White House Spokes-
person Scott McClellan answered the charge by claiming that, "we are not inter-
ested in dignifying something so outlandish and inconceivable with a re-
Of
~~onse."'~~ course, McLellan's response did not amount to definitive proof
that the Bush administration had not considered targeting A1 Jazeera. Short of a
declassification of the Blair administration's memo, little will probably put this
controversy to rest in terms of confirming or demolishing the charges that the
Bush administration was intent on bombing A1 Jazeera.
Rather than working to promote transparency in government planning (by
declassifying the document in full), the British government moved to punish the
individual suspected of leaking it, leading many to wonder if the Bush and Blair
administrations had something to hide. Cabinet Office civil servant David Ke-
ogh was charged under Britain's Official Secrets Act with the leak, as the memo
was considered a "damaging disclosure" for the Blair government.'34 Likewise,
all other British papers were threatened under the gag order not to publish the
contents of the memo.'35
The government's refusal to declassify the document was met with skepti-
cism by some political officials, as the question of whether the Blair and Bush
governments were deceiving their respective constituencies became more and
more pertinent. Peter Kilfoyle, former Defense Minister under the Blair gov-
ernment called for the declassification of the document, maintaining that: "I
think they ought to clarify what exactly happened on this occasion. . . . If it was
the case that President Bush wanted to bomb A1 Jazeera in what is after all a
friendly country, it speaks volumes and it raises questions about subsequent at-
tacks that took place on the press that wasn't embedded with coalition forces."'36
Regardless of whether the U.S. bombings of the network offices in Af-
ghanistan or Iraq were deliberate or accidental, the implications of the attacks on
independent media are the same for any news outlet contemplating critical re-
porting of the United States outside of embedded positions. When asked by re-