Blunkett urged Blair to bomb al-Jazeera

Remember this from last year?

"Tony Blair yesterday branded as a "conspiracy theory" claims that a leaked memo has revealed plans by President George W Bush last year to bomb the Arabic television station al-Jazeera."

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/27/njaz27.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/11/27/ixportal.html

Once again we see an insight into the true nature of this vicious individual. Meanwhile, 'The Guardian', just as they did following Blunkett's first resignation, have been running a series of snow-job articles with the aim of rehabilitating him. The mendacity of this campaign beggars belief: It seems that Blunkett was not forced to resign TWICE because of his corruption and dishonesty, but because he was suffering from stress or feeling a bit poorly. The lies now being told about this self-pitying, but ruthless politician are worthy of Orwellian fiction in their audacity and scale. I suspect that behind Blunkett's snivelling we have only seen the tip of the truth in terms his amorality. And I note that nobody has yet explained the point I made in my '4 Homes For Blunkett' piece - If David Blunkett's Handsworth "home" is valued at £60,000, how did he get away with claiming £54,000 in maintenance for it over just 3 years?

What's even worse, not only did they destroy two Al Jazeera stations, they also routinely targeted Western journalists, who dared to report outside of the "in-bed"ing process.

Al Jazeera was *not* an Iraqi state propaganda channel, but a relatively independent broadcaster who gave airtime to comical ali alongside comical dubya. their crime was not unashamedly broadcasting coalition propaganda - remember the real rules of engagement - "you're either with us, or you're with the terrorists"

amazingly, the state is worse than i thought, i asssumed they just avoided talking about this stuff rather than brazenly stating that civilians are expendable in the fight against terrorism, which is bad, because it considers civilians expendible!

is that really what you think?

No, Plant, I mean that worse than simply planning to do this, they actually targeted the media who wouldn't play their game.

What's even worse, not only did they destroy two Al Jazeera stations, they also routinely targeted Western journalists, who dared to report outside of the "in-bed"ing process.

I'd like to know what the reporters murdered by US troops saw.

US Murdered ITN journalist

(Filed: 13/10/2006)

The widow of the ITN reporter Terry Lloyd has called for a murder trial after a coroner ruled that he was unlawfully killed by US troops.

Terry Lloyd
Terry Lloyd was shot in 2003

Andrew Walker, Oxfordshire's assistant deputy coroner, said he would write to the Attorney General and Director of Public Prosecutions "to see whether any steps can be taken to bring the perpetrators responsible for this to justice".

Mr Lloyd, 50, was killed, together with a Lebanese interpreter, Hussein Osman, and French cameraman, Fred Nerac, near the Shatt al Basra Bridge outside Basra on March 22, 2003, the coroner said.

Mr Lloyd was shot in the back after his vehicle - clearly marked "Press" - was caught up in US and Iraqi crossfire, then shot in the head by American forces as he was taken away in a minibus for medical treatment.

Mr Walker said: "I have no doubt that it was an unlawful act to fire on this minibus."
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During the inquest footage of the attack, filmed by a cameraman attached to the American unit said to have fired on Mr Lloyd, was shown in public for the first time.

The film shows US tanks and soldiers inspecting the smouldering wreckage of Mr Lloyd's 4x4. It was released to the Royal Military Police by American authorities.

Speaking after the inquest, Mr Lloyd's family described his death as a "despicable and deliberate" act carried out by "trigger happy cowboys".

In a statement read by solicitor Louis Charalambous, the reporter's widow, Lynn, said: "This was a very serious war crime."

She said the soldiers involved should be brought to trial "under the Geneva Convention" for murder.

Mr Lloyd's daughter Chelsey said: "The killing of my father would seem to amount to murder, which is deeply shocking."

Among those who gave evidence at the inquest was Sir Trevor McDonald, the ITV news anchor and a long-standing friend of Mr Lloyd.

Close to tears, he said his colleague was not a risk-taker but a thorough professional anxious to get first-hand reports from the fighting.

The Pentagon has rejected the ruling, saying US troops in Iraq were following their rules of engagement when Mr Lloyd was killed.

"The Department of Defense has never deliberately targeted non-combatants, including journalists," the Pentagon said in a statement.

"We have always gone to extreme measures to avoid civilian casualties and collateral damage."

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/10/13/ulloyd.xml