US President George W. Bush planned to bomb pan-Arab television broadcaster al-Jazeera, British newspaper the Daily Mirror said, citing a Downing Street memo marked "Top Secret".Did Bush come up with this on his own? Kind of seems stupid even for him. But it is hard to argue with this analysis:
The five-page transcript of a conversation between Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair reveals that Blair talked Bush out of launching a military strike on the station, unnamed sources told the daily which is against the war in Iraq.
The transcript of the pair's talks during Blair's April 16, 2004 visit to Washington allegedly shows Bush wanted to attack the satellite channel's headquarters.
The Mirror said such a strike would have been "the most spectacular foreign policy disaster since the Iraq war itself."
The newspaper said that the memo "casts fresh doubt on claims that other attacks on al-Jazeera were accidents". It cited the 2001 direct hit on the channel's Kabul office.
Blair's former defence minister Peter Kilfoyle challenged Downing Street to publish the transcript.
"I hope the prime minister insists this memo be published," he told the Mirror.
"It gives an insight into the mindset of those whe were architects of the war."
UPDATE: Juan Cole has more.
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