Posted on 11/23/2005 5:37:18 AM PST by Pokey78
THE Daily Mirror was yesterday told not to publish further details from a top secret memo, which revealed that President Bush wanted to bomb an Arab TV station.
The gag by the Attorney General Lord Goldsmith came nearly 24 hours after the Mirror informed Downing Street of its intention to reveal how Tony Blair talked Bush out of attacking satellite station al-Jazeera's HQ in friendly Qatar.
No 10 did nothing to stop us publishing our front page exclusive yesterday.
But the Attorney General warned that publication of any further details from the document would be a breach of the Official Secrets Act.
He threatened an immediate High Court injunction unless the Mirror confirmed it would not publish further details. We have essentially agreed to comply.
The five-page memo - stamped "Top Secret" - records a threat by Bush to unleash "military action" against the TV station, which America accuses of being a mouthpiece for anti-US sentiments.
Following the Mirror's revelations, there were calls for the transcript of the memo to be released.
Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies Campbell said: "If true, then this underlines the desperation of the Bush administration.
"On this occasion, the Prime Minister may have been successful in averting political disaster, but it shows how dangerous his relationship with President Bush has been."
The White House yesterday said of the Mirror's report: "We are not going to dignify something so outlandish with a response."
Downing Street said: "We don't comment on leaked documents."
The memo turned up last year at the Northampton office of then-Labour MP Tony Clarke.
Civil servant David Keogh, 49, is now accused of passing the memo to Leo O'Connor, who once worked for Mr Clarke.
Both Mr Keogh and Mr O'Connor are due to appear in court next week on charges under the Official Secrets Act.
Mr Clarke returned the memo to Downing Street.
Personally, I think bombing al Jazeera is a damn good idea. Wonder if this report is all an intel efort to tell them to mind their manners.....
Kee-rist, enough already, even if he did say it, it was no doubt one of his one-liners. Even the Gipper got less flack for jokingly saying that "we begin bombing in five minutes."
I see Bush now micromanages the entire war.
Seemed like a good idea...
The whole story appears to be bogus. Look at the sources so called "Labor MP" gets the documents. This is all part of the leftist conspiracy to demonize Bush.
It would have been a terrible idea. It would have taken them off the air for around a week and then they would have been back and making their previous coverage look tame.
Every nation on earth would have condemmed it, and it wouldn't work anyway.
Def a false story. No way would GWB be serious.
"The whole story appears to be bogus. Look at the sources so called "Labor MP" gets the documents. This is all part of the leftist conspiracy to demonize Bush."
Hilarious theory! Imagine how embarrasing it will be for Tony Blair when it turns out that his government has charged someone for leaking something that doesn't even exist and that the top law officer in the land has been threatening newspapers with the consequences should they print anymore non-existant passages from said non-existant document!
EVERYONE said that bombing Al jazeera early on would have been a good idea...they are nothing but propaganda manure spreaders.
LOL! Bush was right!
re: The whole story appears to be bogus.
Absolutely! I put it in the same category as the 'memo' that was circulating last week that supposedly outlined a number of ways the GOP could benefit from the WOT and Iraq.
The giveaway for me on the memo was the item that said "a quick turnaround of the bad economy" before the 2006 elections could help the GOP.
Only a Democrat would cite a quick turnaround in a economy that is so hot that it's required 12 increases in interest rates to keep it from overheating!
Nope, don't buy it!
Perhaps they would like us to loan the Mr. Fitzgerald. Sounds like the sort of thing he excels at investigating.
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