Qatar-based news network Al Jazeera has taken a beating for its efforts to show, in detail, the human toll of the war in Iraq. Although Al Jazeera’s war coverage was aided in part by the Pentagon, which initially offered the network four of its coveted “embedded” positions, officials in the United States and Britain are now accusing the network of “disgraceful… return to article
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Reader Comments (29)Page 1 of 1 pagesKeep it up Al Jazeera. Honest reporting of any kind is preferable to “embedded reports” and state controlled media.
Posted by Prof on Apr 5, 2003 at 7:37 AM Lets face it, Al Jazeera is controversial because the don’t always say what people want to hear. If they ignored the Geneva Convention for ratings, that is really no surprise. Everyone I talked to wanted to see the footage that was so controversial.
Unfortunately, their success will ultimately be their demise. If CNN or Fox News is the yin, Al Jazeera will become the Yang…
Posted by George W Bush on Apr 6, 2003 at 12:55 AM I praise and applaude all attempt to make real frontline reporting reminding the world of the horrors of any war.
But given that truth is the first victim of any war Al Jazeera must be considered controversial in any aspects. Owned by a Saudi Billionair Prince (or am I wrong ?).
However the US claims that the network does not apply with the Geneva Convention is laughable in contrast to the prisoner on Guantanamo Bay.
Perhaps It¥s where US keeps all those who can prove that Bin Laden works for CIA to present the world with a new enemy?
Al Jazeera may turn out to be the megaphone of Middle Eastern interest and should be viewed as such. But as the only such source strong enough to break through the US disinformation warfare effort it¥s is important.
Posted by Lars Printzen on Apr 6, 2003 at 11:35 AM It is no surprise that the gremlins in-charge at the pentagon and the white house have attacked one of the few independent sources of news from Iraq. They obviously dont want anybody to challenge the live bullshit broadcast by CNN, Fox and suchlike.
Posted by Pete Ton on Apr 6, 2003 at 8:35 PM In the dictatorship we’re currently living under during this Bush administration, any form of free press is going to be hit on. And now that Al-Jazeera is back in Baghdad I applaud them for standing up and continuing their coverage, despite the threats and bans they’ve been receiving.
The world should see the truth…
Posted by N.C. on Apr 6, 2003 at 9:55 PM Hey Pete - would you prefer Iraqi state controlled news to US state controlled news?
ALL THE NEWS OUTLETS ARE INFLUENCED BY MONEY, POWER, GREED, AND SELF-INTEREST…
There is the occasional honest, naive reporter that hopes to make a difference, then he gets hired by the BBC and they twist, manipulate, trim, cut, change, and alter his every word once it is actually broadcast… Don’t believe anything you hear, and only half of what you read.
Posted by George W Bush on Apr 7, 2003 at 12:02 AM Hey, GWB from White House,
have a link here for you. Nothing to do with the war. You might find it funny.
Posted by neil on Apr 7, 2003 at 8:49 AM Hey neil, nothin’ like a whole load of religious influence to twist the minds of our military force!
Faith based, Baby!
Posted by George W Bush on Apr 7, 2003 at 4:16 PM Horseshit. Pure, 110% Horseshit. Rummy and Powell wish to slam Al-Jazeera because they don’t kiss up to them like Fox News and other cable networks acting less like objective news agencies and more like the Bush Broadcasting Network. And gimme a break with all this Geneva conventions nonsense. What the Iraqis did was disgusting. But the U.S. media has been doing virtually the same thing. Has Fox, CNN, ABC, etc been jetisoned from the NYSE, too? This is Hussein’s “kind of democracy” in action, folks!
Posted by Gary on Apr 7, 2003 at 9:50 PM Lars, al-Jazeera was actually established by the Emir of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, not a Saudi prince. Draw what conclusions you will from the distinction.
Posted by don on Apr 7, 2003 at 9:53 PM This war is being portrayed as a very one sided view of the actual facts, where are the Iraqi people? Where are the injured? Where are the dead? Where are the people who care about others? Yes, we truly live in a society where dissent is stifled. Al Jareera deserves much credit, may it survive and live!!
Posted by Ruth Larson on Apr 8, 2003 at 1:47 PM I think Al-Jazeeere is doing a great job of showing what is relevant for their own culture. They show news from the heart, showing the victims, which to me are the most important factor to know about. I blieve that the media such as CNN, FOX, MSNBC are unwatchable. I will never watch them again as a result of this war.
Also, the Mordoch Monster has power over the media, I will never read anything from him. he is a living poison upon the planet Earth.
Go ahead Al-Jaezeera, as a result open many more, Al Jazeeras such as yours. that they kill one of your man shows how afraid they are to hear people reporting from the heart. Yes, they will win the war, but never surrender to them. Be your own culture and people and try to work around the invaders. do not work for them at all. refuse to participate except for food. I heard that the wages are going to be lower than before. Research that.
Read the bool by Greig Palast: “The best Democracy Money can buy.” it will show what is really going on. We all have been horrobly betrayed, all people. We can not govern the World through abuse.
My heart goes out the the innocent victims of the war. I am only supporting the troops who are mentally healthy. I do not support people who trop uranium bombs on children. These people are nor heroes, they are lower than low.
Please, maintain your dignity as a culture. I wish you the best. Never shop Mac donalds, and all the other non nutritious foods. Thow the books they print into the trash can. Print your own school books. Do not let them dictate what you are supposed to learn or not. Be you won culture, have your pride, never surrender, just pretend to get the food, than ifnore them, til they are gon. Non cooperation is a valuebale protest. Study Ghandi. Nobody had the right to liberate you to death.
Posted by Karin on Apr 9, 2003 at 3:38 AM Did you like the site, GWB? Just a parody, but people get SO upset.
In fairness, they did the same to Clinton, so they’re just in it for the humor.
Posted by neil on Apr 9, 2003 at 6:12 AM In light of recent developements in the Middle East I have one question that begs to be answered. Why, as a neighbor of Iraq, did you and your government sit back for 30 yrs allowing thousands of Iraqis to suffer and die? Why did you not rise up and defend these people by going to the UN or even to the US…WHY?
Mike Prokop
983 Helmsdale Rd
Cleveland Hts,. OH 44112
Posted by Mike Prokop on Apr 10, 2003 at 1:01 AM I wonder what the ‘Arab street’ is thinking now that they have seen live images on Al Jeezera of Iraqis trashing statues of former President Hussein.
I’d bet this thought has passed through a number of minds, “I hope I get to do that to the statues in our country.”
Posted by Carl Snodgrass on Apr 10, 2003 at 4:59 AM Some people are celebrating. TV news (ABC Nightline) today is also reporting that fighting continues in other parts of Baghdad and throughout Iraq. We don’t know if it is a majority or minority who feel liberated or occupied. The key question is whether or not guerrilla warfare will continue and, if so, for how long. Even President Bush and Vice President Cheney warn that war is not over yet. The leaders of the Shiite Muslim majority are already boycotting the U.S. talks for the Iraq occupation government and calling for immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. See: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl= story&u=/nm/20030409/wl_nm/iraq_sciri_dc_1 Notice how President Bush is not calling for immediate elections not even within two years.
U.S.-sponsored Iraqi exile leaders are now calling for the denationalization of Iraqi oil industry and selling it to foreign investors. See: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/ 20030405/bs_afp/iraq_war_opposition_oil_030405214324 This war has always really been about oil. This is why the U.S. wants to cancel the Russian, French and Chinese contracts with Iraq to develop the oil reserves and also does not want the UN to manage the oil-for-food program any longer. See: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.hts/business/1856839 So much for the Oil being the wealth of the Iraqi “people.” So much for bringing “democracy” to the Iraqi people.
Islamic fundamentalists will probably have a better chance at getting elected after the “interim” occupation government actually allows the Iraqi people to vote whenever that may be, especially if the oil wells and reserves get sold to foreign investors.
We also will see in the future whether or not terrorist attacks will increase here and abroad over the increase in Anti-American hatred in the Arab world due to the Iraq war.
Posted by An observer of White House and media "news" on Apr 10, 2003 at 8:47 AM On the challenges of humanitarian assistance and looting and the corresponding impact on the Iraqi people’s support for our “liberation,” see New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman’s 4/9/03 article, “Hold Your Applause”:
Posted by An observer of White House and media "news" on Apr 10, 2003 at 9:29 AM MICKY MOUSE AMERICA
———————————& ————
America is a Nazi country.
A new insulting remark against America has emerged in France, which is :MICKY MOUSE AMERICA
In the streets of Paris, Americans are now insultingly shouted upon as :
“Hey Micky Mouse”
“Micky Mouse American”
“Micky Mouse America”This remark is fairly new and will take some time to become an insult related lingua franca against the Nazi Americans.
Needless to say that we are spreading it everywhere.
We request the Aljazeera Staff to circulate this insulting remark among as many people as possible.
Thanking you,
Emmanuella de la Croix
Paris
Land of Beatuy - France
For further information, please email me at : .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Posted by Emmanuella de la Croix on Apr 10, 2003 at 3:51 PM Great article on the situation in France from a French perspective.
http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=7195
Posted by Carl Snodgrass on Apr 11, 2003 at 8:53 AM The ‘observer from California’ writes: “U.S.-sponsored Iraqi exile leaders are now calling for the denationalization of Iraqi oil industry and selling it to foreign investors.”
Oh, the horror, the tragedy, private ownership!!!!!, to what is the world coming?
I suppose that you Mr Observer would prefer that the Iraqi oil be controlled by the Iraqi regime, but wait we’ve seen where that can lead, haven’t we. Note that it is Iraqis that are calling for privatization, but I’m sure that fact caused you little angst for I’d bet you would even much prefer US oil be nationalized.And NOTE while the US Left hoped Sadaam’s day would never come the Kurds built a regional republic in the north complete with feisty parliment, education program, free press, and wealth creation. So I’m quite sure, Mr. Observer, that some of the investors in Iraqi oil will be capitalist Kurds.
Posted by Carl Snodgrass on Apr 11, 2003 at 9:15 AM “I suppose that you Mr Observer would prefer that the Iraqi oil be controlled by the Iraqi regime, but wait we’ve seen where that can lead, haven’t we. Note that it is Iraqis that are calling for privatization, but I’m sure that fact caused you little angst for I’d bet you would even much prefer US oil be nationalized.” -CS
Are you insane? The idea that the conservative elements of the INC, though lacking any popular support in Iraq and who have been embraced as the appropriate viel of Iraqi self-governance by the regime plan being enacted by the Pentagon, might just happen to embrace the context of the underlying motive of the invasion?
Thank you for at least the honesty of revealing the underlying belief structure much of the neoconservative ideology is based upon. That the Iraqi’s, and I am sure much of the rest of the Middle East, is too backward or fundamentalist to maintain the management of what we view as our oil. That our country continues to propogate the policy of “a massive SUV in every suburban garage, perfect for finding the true beauty of nature, oh wait, we paved it over last week.”
I am quite certain the prospective spoils of the puppet governmental stature the INC hopes to attain has nothing to do with the idea that has embraced our plan for managing “their” oil.
Koof
Posted by Koofka on Apr 11, 2003 at 6:07 PM I am for the UN’s continued control over the Iraq Oil-for-Food program to finance the interim occupation government until Iraqis are able to elect their own government (I am still waiting for the Bush administration to announce when the elections will be held!). Remember that about half of the people of Iraq depended on the Iraqi government for their food rations from the Oil-for-Food program. I am for the ownership of the oil wells and reserves remaining with the Iraqi government after the election of its legitimate leaders so that the revenues can be used for the country’s economic and social development. I am not against private property per se, but I am agains
Anyone who knows anything about neoclassical microeconomics knows that consumers are at the mercy of privately-owned monopolies and oligopolies due to the lack of competition. Oil is an oligopolistic industry because of the limited number of competitors nationally and globally and the huge start-up and operating costs required to compete with existing companies. Look at what happened with privatization of another oligopolistic industry-utilities- in California as consumers were gouged (wholesale prices went up by 1,000%!) by Enron’s and their cronies’ supply manipulation. See former chief economist of the World Bank and Nobel-prize economist Joseph Stiglitz’s analysis of the pitfalls of the oversimplification of the virtues of privatization in the context of Russia’s and Eastern Europe’s transition to market economies: http://www.worldbank.org/research/abcde/pdfs/stiglitz.pdf
Given that Saddam Hussein probably siphoned off and spent all past oil revenues, what domestic Iraqi investors will have the financial resources in the hundreds of billions to trillions of dollars to, first of all, purchase at the current market-rate asset value, let alone operate and invest to develop the Iraqi oil industry? The U.S. and British oil companies will be the only players and all the profits will go directly to the shareholders of ExxonMobil, Shell/Texaco, BP, Halliburton, etc.
Posted by an observer of White House and media "news" on Apr 12, 2003 at 1:26 AM Correction: I am not against private property per se, but I am against unregulated private ownership of monopolistic and oligopolistic industries especially in the context of the conversion of public-sector ownership to privatization.
Posted by an observer of White House and media "news" on Apr 12, 2003 at 1:31 AM Emmanuella de la Croix
Paris
Land of Beatuy - FranceFUCK YOU AND ALL YOU UNGRATEFUL BAGS OF SHIT OVER THERE IN FRANCE! WE’LL JUST SEE WHO GETS IN LINE FOR THE OIL! YOU MAKE ME SICK YOU NASTY WHORE!
FRANCE SUCKS!
Posted by MW on Apr 12, 2003 at 6:28 AM That French slut is just mad, like the rest of them, because now they won’t be able to buy oil from Saddam or collect the money he owes them. Goddamn ingrates. We help get the Germans out of their own country twice and now they hate us because we’ve screwed up their oil arrangements. Emmanuella, call us whatever you want, but the fact remains that the “Land of Beauty” is nothing but foul-smelling, loudmouth cowards. If it’s so beautiful then why haven’t any Frenchmen put up a fight for it this century?
Posted by Ralph on Apr 15, 2003 at 1:39 AM Thank you for this story. I for one, appreciate real journalism and truely diverse opinion. Right now, in the USA, we are getting not very well disguised propaganda being passed off as news! I wish Al Jazeera could be seen by all here.
Posted by Devon Warner on Apr 16, 2003 at 11:53 PM I think Al Jazeera is doing the right thing. Reporter should report the truth, not the lie. Al Jazeera is very
fair. I resfect and salute their journalist and reporters.More power
to AL JAZEERA.
Posted by tess on Apr 18, 2003 at 10:48 PM More power to AL JAZEERA.
Your reporting is balance, fair and
honesty. Keep it up. I salute your journalist.
Posted by TESS on Apr 18, 2003 at 10:55 PM So much for freedom of the press.
Glad someone has reported this.
Posted by Diane on Apr 19, 2003 at 7:51 AM Page 1 of 1 pages -
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