[First they tried to silence governments critical of their foreign
policies by buying them off with aid packages and trade deals. . .
. Next, they made sure the press didn't ask hard question during
the war by trading journalistic access for editorial control.
Now they are attempting to turn relief workers in Iraq and
Afghanistan into publicists for Mr. Bush's Brand U.S.A., to embed
them in the Pentagon, like Fox News reporters.--Naomi Klein, "Bush to
NGOs: Watch Your Mouths," Globe and Mail, June 21, 2003]
[A day after Paul Wolfowitz, the US Deputy Defence Secretary,
claimed that the Arabic Al-Jazeera television channel was "inciting
violence" and "endangering the lives of American troops" in Iraq,
the station's Baghdad bureau chief has written a scathing reply,
complaining that in the past month his offices and staff in Iraq
"have been subject to strafing by gunfire, death threats,
confiscation of news material, and multiple detentions and arrests,
all carried out by US soldiers".
The unprecedented dispute between an Anglo-American occupation
authority supposedly dedicated to "democracy" in Iraq and an Arab
station once praised by Washington for its services to free speech
in the region comes as the US administration appears ready to close
down Al-Jazeera's operations in Iraq - along with Al-Arabiya
channel - for alleged "incitement to violence".--Robert Fisk, "Al-Jazeera
Accuses US of Harassment in Row Over 'Bias' Baghdad," Independent, July 30, 2003]
"Aljazeera crew arrested in
Iraq," Aljazeera, September 10, 2003
[Freedom of speech campaigners have condemned US-appointed
authorities in IraqÊfor banning television stations Aljazeera
andÊal- Arabiya.--Roshan Muhammed Salih, "US-backed council bars Arab
media," Aljazeera, September 23, 2003]
[The US bombed al-Jazeera because it was angered by reports that did
not confirm its one-sided picture of the war. . . .
The US sent its first warning to al-Jazeera in November 2001,
bombing its Kabul office, Dima Tareq Tahboub,--"
The war on al-Jazeera," Guardian, October 4, 2003]
Robert Fisk, "Under
US Control, Press Freedom Falls Short in Iraq," Capital Times (WI),
November 20, 2003
Donald Macintyre, "Iraqi PM bans al-Jazeera for 'inciting hatred'," Independent, August
8, 2004