Memo

This is the article that was in the Mirror on Monday, which the government are trying to ban:

PRESIDENT Bush planned to bomb Arab TV station al-Jazeera in friendly Qatar, a "Top Secret" No 10 memo reveals.

But he was talked out of it at a White House summit by Tony Blair, who said it would provoke a worldwide backlash.

A source said: "There's no doubt what Bush wanted, and no doubt Blair didn't want him to do it." Al-Jazeera is accused by the US of fuelling the Iraqi insurgency.

The attack would have led to a massacre of innocents on the territory of a key ally, enraged the Middle East and almost certainly have sparked bloody retaliation.

A source said last night: "The memo is explosive and hugely damaging to Bush.

"He made clear he wanted to bomb al-Jazeera in Qatar and elsewhere. Blair replied that would cause a big problem.

"There's no doubt what Bush wanted to do - and no doubt Blair didn't want him to do it."

A Government official suggested that the Bush threat had been "humorous, not serious".

But another source declared: "Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair. That much is absolutely clear from the language used by both men."

Yesterday former Labour Defence Minister Peter Kilfoyle challenged Downing Street to publish the five-page transcript of the two leaders' conversation. He said: "It's frightening to think that such a powerful man as Bush can propose such cavalier actions.

"I hope the Prime Minister insists this memo be published. It gives an insight into the mindset of those who were the architects of war."

Bush disclosed his plan to target al-Jazeera, a civilian station with a huge Mid-East following, at a White House face-to-face with Mr Blair on April 16 last year.

At the time, the US was launching an all-out assault on insurgents in the Iraqi town of Fallujah.

Al-Jazeera infuriated Washington and London by reporting from behind rebel lines and broadcasting pictures of dead soldiers, private contractors and Iraqi victims.

The station, watched by millions, has also been used by bin Laden and al-Qaeda to broadcast atrocities and to threaten the West.

Al-Jazeera's HQ is in the business district of Qatar's capital, Doha.

Its single-storey buildings would have made an easy target for bombers. As it is sited away from residential areas, and more than 10 miles from the US's desert base in Qatar, there would have been no danger of "collateral damage".

Dozens of al-Jazeera staff at the HQ are not, as many believe, Islamic fanatics. Instead, most are respected and highly trained technicians and journalists.

To have wiped them out would have been equivalent to bombing the BBC in London and the most spectacular foreign policy disaster since the Iraq War itself.

The No 10 memo now raises fresh doubts over US claims that previous attacks against al-Jazeera staff were military errors.

In 2001 the station's Kabul office was knocked out by two "smart" bombs. In 2003, al-Jazeera reporter Tareq Ayyoub was killed in a US missile strike on the station's Baghdad centre.

The memo, which also included details of troop deployments, turned up in May last year at the Northampton constituency office of then Labour MP Tony Clarke.

Cabinet Office civil servant David Keogh, 49, is accused under the Official Secrets Act of passing it to Leo O'Connor, 42, who used to work for Mr Clarke. Both are bailed to appear at Bow Street court next week.

Mr Clarke, who lost at the election, returned the memo to No 10.

He said Mr O'Connor had behaved "perfectly correctly".

Neither Mr O'Connor or Mr Keogh were available. No 10 did not comment.

The Wayne Masden Report has this to say:

WMR will be more than happy to publish the Al Jazeera bombing memo or any other classified British government memo in whole or in part. E-mail to waynemadsendc@hotmail.com. The web makes the Official Secrets Act a true "paper tiger."]

Keogh passed the memo to Leo O'Connor, an assistant to former British Labor MP Tony Clarke. Both Keogh and O'Connor face charges of violating Britain's quaint and arcane Official Secrets Act. However, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) translator and analyst Katharine Gun had similar charges against her dropped when it became apparent that her trial on the leak of a Top Secret National Security Agency (NSA) directive to GCHQ to begin surge surveillance of UN Security Council members prior to a 2003 vote on an Iraq war resolution would embarrass the Blair government. Neither were their criminal sanctions as a result of the leak of the "Downing Street Memo," marked Secret and Strictly Personal - UK Eyes Only, that pointed to premeditation between Bush and Blair to justify the war against Iraq.

These newest revelations point to several issues. Current and former members of the British government are as rebellious over the neo-con takeover of their government as are their American counterparts with regard to their own government. The fact that Bush would entertain bombing an ally and an independent news media operation points to his current mindset. Bush made his statement to Blair at the same time others in his White House were contemplating a pre-election attack on Iran's nuclear sites. Bush and his coterie of advisers are the most dangerous regime in the world today, a group of people who have their hands on triggers of weapons of total destruction (WTDs).

UPDATE: Bliarwatch have a list of everyone who's signed up to publish it.

Found this on DU:

... on Wednesday's Channel 4 News, Jon Snow said the Sunday Times published large parts of the Bush-Blair "bomb Al Jazeera' memo on that day. I can't find anything on the website, but then they might well have removed it after the threat of the Official Secrets Act.

There's a link to the C4 piece in General Discussion here. The mention of the Sunday Times is about 9 minutes into it.

Anyone have a copy of the Sunday Times from 20/11/05?