More on Al Jazeera Interview

Someone--surely not you, dear computer--doesn't want me to do this. I wrote a good careful one yesterday and was told to republish it 10 minutes later, then more ten minutes later, etc.etc. until I gave up. So it's gone.
What I was doing was correcting and adding to the one from the day before. The name of the Managing Director of Al Jazeera is Waddah Hanfar. The correct title of what I called the Security Secrecy Act is the Official Secrets Act; it's a UK document.
Waddah Hanfar was, as noted before, very impressive--knowledgeable, very fair, very professional. He said a former reporter for Al Jazeera has been held at Guantanamo for more than 3 years, without charge, and another reporter was convicted in Spain and sentenced to 7 years. All of the reporters speak English. And they have no hatred of the US, as alleged. The media could bridge the gaps.
He also said that Al Jazeera had reported live from Fallujah, and that made Bush very angry. They were the only news media there. Rumsfeld said repeatedly that they were telling lies.
We'll see if I can publish this. All for now.

More on Al Jazeera Interview

I listened again to Amy Goodman's Democracy Now broadcast from Al Jazeera's Hq (Feb. 3, 2006) and can add some info. Waddah Khanfar is the name of the managing director. The name of the Act that Bush wanted to use to get back at whoever leaked or printed the Downing St. Memo (April 1, 2004) is the "Official Secrets Act" of the UK. It was either the Guardian or the Daly Mirror that printed the story initially; I heard reference to each at different times. No one in the US would carry it, but, as I mentioned yesterday, bloggers did on the Internet.
One thing that made the president so angry was that Al Jazeera was reporting live from Fallujah, the only news medium that did so. Rumsfeld repeatedly said that Al Jazeera repeated lies about the US and called the story about the Downing St. Memo outlandish but didn't deny it. Waddah Khanfar said that Al Jazeera has never compromised its independent reporting. All of its reporters speak English. They have no hatred for the US. But they are constantly attacked and are classified as enemies. One has been held at Guantanamo for more than three years without being charged. (His name sounded like Sommi Ohage.) Another has been convicted in Spain and sentenced to seven years.
Again, Waddah Khanfar impressed me as being progessional, very able, and very fair.
There must be much more info on the Internet but I haven't tried to access it.

Al Jazeera Interview

This morning (Feb 3, 2006) Amy Goodman on Democracy Now broadcast her third program from Al Jazeera Hq in Doha, Qatar. It consisted mostly of an interview with the Managing Director of Al Jazeera, and that consisted largely of a report on the Downing St Memo--which, you will remember, was about Bush and Tony Blair manipulating CIA info to let them invade Iraq. But what they focused on this morning was Bush wanting to bomb Al Jazeera Hq because he didn't like their reporting, and Colin Powell and Blair talking him out of it. There was a lot more, much about a newspaper in London reporting this, the way I understood it, and then a whole lot of bloggers getting it on the Internet. Bush wanted to sue for violation of the Security Secrecy Act (I'm not sure this title is right) but not doing it because then the whole story would come out. I didn't get the name of the Managing Director of Al Jazeera, nor could I understand all he said although his English is excellent. He was very persuasive, very professional.
In any case, I heartily recommend that one and all listen to this broadcast/telecast. It can be heard/seen on both radio and TV, depending on where you are. I get it on KGNU Radio, 1390FM in Denver. I intend to listen to it again this afternoon when it's repeated, at 4:30pm.
All three of Amy Goodman's programs from Al Jazeera have been just outstanding. You should catch all of them. Al Jazeera came off sounding quite professional and believable. They spend, they said, at least 5 hours broadcasting Bush's stuff compared with Osama bin Laden's.