To bomb or not to bomb... Aljazeera

Is this story simply unbelievable... or does it make perfect sense?

Juan Cole reports: "The Mirror broke the story on Tuesday that a secret British memo demonstrates that George W. Bush wanted to bomb Aljazeera's offices in Doha, Qatar, in spring of 2004. The subject came up with Prime Minister Tony Blair of the UK, and Blair is said to have argued Bush out of it."

More: "Despite attempts of British officials to muddy the waters by suggesting that Bush was joking, another official who had seen the memo insisted, "Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair. That much is absolutely clear from the language used by both men."

Have you seen Control Room, the brilliant documentary about Aljazeera leading up to and during the early days of the Iraq War? Read Professor Cole's full post, then go out and rent/buy it.

**********

The Daily Mirror is a British tabloid, but The Guardian picks up the story here: "Claims that George Bush planned to bomb the Arabic TV news station al-Jazeera have fuelled concerns that an attack on the broadcaster's Baghdad offices during the war on Iraq was deliberate."

At The Washington Note, Steve Clemons "takes no position at all on whether Bush said this outrageous statement," but his lengthy post is a must-read. Among other things, he points out just how Aljazeera is misrepresented by the right.

Digby things the story's true. He may very well be right -- but, like Steve, I take no position here. See also Atrios, Kos, and Firedoglake.

AMERICAblog: "We have lost any credibility we ever had as a beacon of democracy and freedom." Well, I wouldn't go quite that far. With Bush, Cheney, et al., however, whatever credibility America has left is fading fast.

And that's not a good thing.