Bush Threatens to Bomb Media, Blair Gags It [1]
Submitted by Bob Burton [2] on
The British Government has warned media outlets against publishing further details of a leaked memo of an April 16, 2004 meeting at which George W. Bush [3] allegedly told Tony Blair [4] he wanted to bomb Al Jazeera [5]'s headquarters in Qatar. The Mirror quoted [6] an anonymous source who stated that Bush "made clear he wanted to bomb al-Jazeera in Qatar and elsewhere. Blair replied that would cause a big problem." At the time US forces were attacking the Iraqi town of Fallujah. "The No 10 memo now raises fresh doubts over U.S. claims that previous attacks against al-Jazeera staff were military errors," The Mirror reported. Following the original report, Attorney General Lord Goldsmith warned [7] news outlets that publication of any further details from the memo would be treated as a breach of the Official Secrets Act.