I dunno, Ace. This memo sounds kinda fishy to me. A little too convenient. And until the end, the article seems pretty thinly sourced. Lots of nameless comments.

I think it would have been a tremendous mistake. However, let's just say that I wouldn't have shed a tear, had there been a "gas line" explosion at the Al-Jazeera HQ (or NYT-Qatar as I like to call it).

We could just blow up the satellite.

I don't believe it at all, except perhaps the "humorous, not serious" part. Qatar *is* a key ally, not to mention that I suspect al Jazeera has its uses to us, whether overt (we, through Qatar, can exercise some leverage if need be) or covert (infiltrating al Jazeera = infiltrating a conduit to al Qaeda.)

Yeah, I think this is bullshit. W probably did make a joke about blowing up Al-Jazeera, but there is no way in hell he ever seriously considered bombing an Arab ally to hurt a tv station, no matter how in the tank for jihadists they are.

"a nice big blocking satellite"

Ha ha ha. . . Man, I'm gonna have to use that one at work. . .

Cheers,
Dave at Garfield Ridge

The smart bomb thing could easily have been a mistake.

Part of the "Texas 10" SpecOps team in Afganistan waxed itself by calibrating the targeting gear incorrectly one day. Apparently its not a mindless procedure to use the laser targeting stuff.

Mistakes in calibration can result on the bombs falling on you or in the wrong place.

Texas 10's exploits in Afganistan were stunning and crucial to the swift collapse of the Taliban. They only screwed up once, but it was a doozie.

Al Jereza are not the only news people that have been killed so the cause and effect theory to support us targeting them is highly questionable.

Fox News, yadda yadda, blah blah. Seriously though, I am tired today. Can you just fill in the rest of the comment and take it from there...?

Couldn't a ship sitting off the coast of Qatar have jammed Al Jazeera's signal as it beamed it up to a satellite? Or beamed its own gibberish signal to the satellite on the same frequency as Al Jazeera, overwhelming the AJ signal?

Telemundo would have been good.

Innocents? At Al-Jazeera? Where?

I recall this topic from a while back, I believe it came as a response to the broadcasting of beheadings. My memory is a little foggy, but I think it was discussed as a way to stop them from showing the atrocities.

BTW it's funny how the Libs got their panties in a bunch over naked guy pyramids, but broadcasting beheadings on TV was just a matter of cultural differences.

It pains me to admit this, but I have to say I have fresh doubts about these being accidents myself.

Not that I'll cry myself to sleep over the strikes tonight.

I'd play my nano-violin but I can't seem to find it. I guess non-crying is about all I'll be able to work up over this story.

The fact everyone seems to think "it would be a mistake" shows that we are never going to get serious in this war. We're just going to keep trying to manage the problem and hope it goes away. Kerry got pasted when he said terrorism is a problem like prostitution that just needs to be managed but will never disappear. Is Bush really doing anything different? Do any of you really believe anything other than that?

My colleague Mary Mapes is digging into these memos...
We also have a set of memos from a highly placed, credible source, indicating that the Bush Administration was planning a strike on Black Rock...

Bypass the vitriol ("anyone too stupid to look at a map") but do read *Hilarious “Downing Street II”*

Sample: "Do the brainless dipshit journaljismers realize that the US military commitment to Qatar exceeds our commitment to England? Do they know that what they suggest makes about as much sense as having F-18’s based outside of Atlanta conduct a long range bombing run on CNN - in Atlanta? Instead of bombing the headquarters in Qatar, perhaps we should have some of our soldiers swing by there with some satchel charges in between waking up, grabbing donuts, and going to work?"

I would have been a lot happier to see W threaten to bomb the BBC. Just a little present for Blair.

Why use a "gibberish signal" to piggyback Al Jazeera's signal & take over their satellite when we can use The Western World's Secret Weapon........LESBIAN PRoN? Let the Arab world get a load of the most decadent product of our culture and they'll soon lose interest in blowing things up.

But nobody cares when Al-Jazeera journalists are arrested and put on trial in Spain because Spain's security services caught them helping the terrorist ring that bombed Madrid in 2004.

This Bush comment had to be one of his jokes made in a relaxed moment in the meting with Blair.

But the most reveling consequence is the rest of the world press giving this any credit.

Journalism is creating it's own reality where Bush and the United States is the demon and beheading and bombing yihadists some sort of resistance heroes or necessary consequence from the Iraq invasion. That is, when ever you invade a country its people will react first sacking everything at hand and latter killing their own people in order to expel the enemy.

The fact that Al Jazzera journalists are giving credit to the bombing speaks bad of their intelligence and objectivity, showing us that they are more involved in helping Al Quaeda than informing of what is really happening around.