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"Propaganda TV tower"?

I don't suppose you think it would be ok for the US to bomb Al Jazeera in Qatar?

BBC: Al-Jazeera seeks 'US bomb' talks (25 November 2005)

A senior al-Jazeera executive is in the UK to demand publication of a memo in which George Bush allegedly discusses bombing the TV station's HQ.

Wadah Khanfar, al-Jazeera's director general, is hoping to meet UK government officials to press its case.

A spokesman for al-Jazeera told the BBC News website that the channel only wanted the record set straight.

The Guardian: How smart was this bomb? (November 19, 2001)
Did the US mean to hit the Kabul offices of Al-Jazeera TV? Some journalists are convinced it was targeted for being on the 'wrong side'. Matt Wells reports

When World Service correspondent William Reeve dived under his desk in Kabul to avoid shrapnel from the US missile that had landed next door, some think it marked a turning point in war reporting.

The US had scored a direct hit on the offices of the Qatar-based TV station Al-Jazeera, leading to speculation that the channel had been targeted deliberately because of its contacts with the Taliban and Osama bin Laden. If true, it opens up a worrying development for news organisations covering wars and conflicts: now they could be targeted simply for reporting a side of the story that one party wants suppressed.

I don't care what the military say, a TV station is not a legitimate military target.

Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Nov 2nd, 2006 at 05:58:18 AM EST
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I'm sure you realise Sargon was only sarcastic.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Thu Nov 2nd, 2006 at 06:04:32 AM EST
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This is an important point, though, sarcasm or not. If TV stations can be bombed because they are propaganda outlets, what to make of "embedded journalists"?

The designers of airial bombing campaigns like to bomb anything and everything on the flimsiest excuses.

Those whom the Gods wish to destroy They first make mad. -- Euripides

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Nov 2nd, 2006 at 06:07:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I was just reminding some of the arguments made at the time or later to justify the bombing, definitely not endorsing them. I'm too opposed to this bombing campaign in general to even start distinguishing between legitimate and not targets.
by Sargon on Thu Nov 2nd, 2006 at 07:27:24 AM EST
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