Posted on 05/11/2003 2:52:23 PM PDT by skinman_uk
Iraq: Saddam’s spies ‘infiltrated’ leading TV network
THE Arab news channel that won global influence after broadcasting a video of the terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden was infiltrated by Iraqi intelligence agents in a campaign to subvert its coverage, according to documents obtained in Baghdad. Senior officers of Iraq’s intelligence agency controlled three agents who worked at the Al-Jazeera network, say the files. Their detailed reports also refer to the Qatar-based news network as an “instrument” of the regime.
Since Al-Jazeera was founded in 1996 it has won a worldwide audience of 35m- 50m and become “the CNN of the Arab world” — watched in cafes and presidential palaces alike. When Bin Laden chose Al-Jazeera as a means of communicating to the world, the network’s reputation soared.
The television station denies that its Iraqi coverage was biased or that it was operating on behalf of Saddam Hussein’s regime.
The documents — covering a period from August 1999 to November 2002 — were allegedly recovered from a local office of the intelligence service in Baghdad. It is understood the files were transferred from the city’s intelligence headquarters during the war.
They claim the channel was used to “foil” American aggression and outline the secret contacts between Al-Jazeera’s staff and Saddam’s intelligence network. A document headed “Presidency of the Republic, Mukhabarat Service”, indicates apparent contact between the intelligence agency and Mohammed Jasim Al-Ali, the station’s managing director.
One of the files contains a registration document for “Iraqi or foreign secret co-operatives”. It also names an Iraqi employee at Al-Jazeera’s headquarters in Doha, the Qatari capital, who was codenamed Jazeera 2. An Iraqi embassy document listing his activities claims he provided the Iraqi regime with two letters written by Bin Laden.
The report, written by an official in the Iraqi embassy in Qatar, states: “(Jazeera 2) has a distinguished stand in the co- operation with us, continuously providing us with the information we request. I made him aware of the appreciation of his efforts. He has been presented with a set of gold jewellery for his wife.”
Last night Al-Jazeera said the employment of the individual concerned “was terminated some time ago”, although a colleague said he was on holiday.
The files claim the service had two other agents who worked as cameramen. One was said to have provided information on his colleagues’ views at the station. Intelligence officials also targeted the managing director and reported contacts with him, but there is no suggestion that he was recruited by them or influenced in any way.
Intelligence officers were anxious that their links with Al-Jazeera might emerge and warned that it would “lose them (Al-Jazeera) as an instrument employed by us”.
In October 1999 one of the documents boasted that Iraqi intelligence had prevented the broadcast of footage of the Iraqi gas attack on Halabja.
During the recent Gulf war, US officials were angered at Al-Jazeera’s coverage, which broadcast footage of American dead and prisoners of war. Iraqi exiles also claimed the network’s reporting was biased in favour of the Iraqi regime.
Al-Jazeera has, however, defended its coverage and denies it was a tool of the Iraqi or any other government. The network’s supporters point out that the Iraqi government was at times irate at Al-Jazeera’s coverage and banned two of its reporters during the war.
In a statement last night Al-Jazeera said that it “was always guided by the professional dictates of our professional integrity, especially by providing all sides with a platform”.
LOL...why sure! It's the CNN of the Arab world and EVERYBODY knows how fair, accurate and unbiased CNN is!
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