British Official: Wanted to bomb al-Jazeera during Iraq invasion

BRITISH CABINET MEMBER ADMITS HE URGED AL-JAZEERA BOMBING

Former British Home Secretary David Blunkett has acknowledged that he urged Prime Minister Tony Blair to bomb the Baghdad facilities of the Arab news channel al-Jazeera shortly after the invasion of Iraq. As reported by today's (Thursday) London Daily Mirror, Blunkett was asked on the Channel 4 program Dispatches whether he was worried that such an attack would be considered "outside the rules of engagement." He replied: "There wasn't a worry from me because I believed that this was a war and in a war you wouldn't allow the broadcast to continue taking place." The Mirror observed that two weeks later, the station's Baghdad studios were bombed by the U.S., killing journalist Tareq Ayoub. Asked about the attack, Blunkett replied, "I think there's a big difference between taking out the transmission and taking out journalists - even if you don't agree with them."

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