You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Arabia
'Al Jazeera not to bow to pressure'
2005-01-10
ABU DHABI — The boss of Al Jazeera TV has vowed that his channel would, under no circumstances, bow down to any external pressure and continue to render its duties in the same manner. "We will never be influenced by any criticism whether internal or external. We respect our profession and will never give up on principles and ethics under any circumstances," Waddah Khanfar, Director-General of the Qatar-based channel told Khaleej Times yesterday.
"Please don't kill us!"
The channel was threatened to be closed down by occupation forces after being accused of inciting violence in Iraq. "We are not a political party or a mobilising power. We carry out our duty without any external control. We will listen and respond to criticism; but if it is based on an unprofessional perspective, we will not surrender to it, guided by the ethics of our profession," said Khanfar, who is taking part in a three-day conference on Arab media which began here yesterday.
Professionalism from an Arab broadcaster? What next, charity from an Arab banker?
He said Al Jazeera does not take any instructions from a ministry of information or a ruling regime. "We have been accused of being run by Israel or controlled by the US. We have also been accused of being financially supported by Saddam Hussein," he stated.
The first accusation, of course, is false.
Posted by:Steve White

#15  #13, the Taran books are great, aren't they?
Posted by: rkb   2005-01-10 1:17:35 PM  

#14  Al-Jiz spurts more crap in one sentece than i could ever hope to attain in a lifetime .
Posted by: MacNails   2005-01-10 12:55:09 PM  

#13  If they had a harp like Fflewdur Fflam's,

"Salaam aleikum(sp), gentlemen. This is [name of reporter] in Iraq, reporting for al-Jazeera. Today the illegal occupiers" *snap* "are raping" *twang* "and torturing" *sprong* "will someone please take that Zionist harp away? It's exposing us as liars."
Posted by: Steve from Relto   2005-01-10 10:28:40 AM  

#12  What if Al Jizz is thoroughly compromised by our intel

Don't you see???? Al Jizz is a deep laid plot. By preventing moderate voices of reason to be heard in the Middle East, and whipping up the ignorant masses into a violent frenzy, it makes all Muslims look like they are genetically defective humans incapable of moving beyond barbarism to civilization.

Al Jazeera's sole purpose is to trick Westerners into believing that Islam is not a peaceful religion and that it wants to conquer the world and establish a caliphate. This provides a false pretense for Bush-Hitler (whose strings are controlled by the evil Dick Cheney) to invade and get control of their oil.

Shhh...don't tell, but Al Jazeera is owned and operated by Haliburton. Bwahahahah!
Posted by: 2b   2005-01-10 10:18:33 AM  

#11  For awhile, it seemed as if the publicized beheadings on Al Jissum begat more more beheadings. For some reason the spate of beheadings has gone away (or is not being publicized). Doubt this is intel organ of US--they seem to be too whacky.
Posted by: John Q. Citizen   2005-01-10 10:05:01 AM  

#10  As I understand it, there is a rival faction in the Qatari royal family similar to the one in Saudi. One side is very pro-USA and the other (a minor slice) is owner or "patrone" of Al-Jazeera. Of course, there is still the possibility that AJ is a humint asset but it would not be in our interest to start that rumor if it was true. So, .com, the fact that we continue to criticize AJ tells me that possibly it could be true. If we wanted them "off air" all we have to do is let it out somehow with "fake but accurate" documents or whispers that they were on our take!
Posted by: Jack is Back!   2005-01-10 9:58:21 AM  

#9  .com, the correct answer is "nutso."
Posted by: longtime lurker   2005-01-10 5:17:49 AM  

#8  Al Jazeera's broadcast of the beheadings pretty much wipes out anything in the plus column with respect to their continuing existence. They could maintain their Arab street credibility without doing so. That they voluntarily pimp and pander to such brutality forces me to dismiss any putative worth they might have or ever had.
Posted by: Zenster   2005-01-10 4:06:12 AM  

#7  Move along, move along? ;-)
Posted by: .com   2005-01-10 3:27:40 AM  

#6  .com, shhhh....
Posted by: Classical_Liberal   2005-01-10 3:23:04 AM  

#5  Y'know, I've always had this little voice saying that Qatar, which has been very helpful to the US Mil and Al Jizz being owned by one of the Qatari Royals (IIUC) adds up to something. What if Al Jizz is thoroughly compromised by our intel. You pay lip service, being the loudest anti-US voice buys street cred, and you get the juiciest nuggets. Sure, the PR price is high, but maybe the take is higher. Now if our intel is as bad as we all think, this is nutso. But maybe they do have one or two excellent deep-cover opns that really work. The Qatari schizophrenia of being super pro-West, yet harboring Al Jizz has always stuck in my craw. This would explain it. I have nothing but that schizophrenia to suggest this - so it's nutso. I have nothing at all to explain why Al Jizz is tolerated, otherwise, but it's nutso. Yeah. Cool. Heh. Nothing to see here.
Posted by: .com   2005-01-10 2:37:11 AM  

#4  We are not a political party or a mobilising power.

Well, that certainly pegged my horseshit meter. Al Jazeera is nothing more than a terrorist mouthpiece and needs to be shut melted down post haste.
Posted by: Zenster   2005-01-10 2:36:45 AM  

#3  I'll try us my limited intellect to say, someone shoot this farkwit. Quickly, please.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2005-01-10 2:30:12 AM  

#2  This Director is as deadly as any Bin Laden.
Posted by: Grolurt Slinetle8873   2005-01-10 1:59:59 AM  

#1  How about overpressure, say, like the pressure wave generated by a small FAE over Al Jizz HQ in Qatar? Bowing would be the least you'd do, enemy.
Posted by: .com   2005-01-10 1:50:54 AM  

00:00