 |
|
"I've
seen scraps of information over a sustained period of time that
need to be looked at in a responsible, orderly way," said
Rumsfeld
|
WASHINGTON,
November 26 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – U.S. Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed on Tuesday, November 25, that he has
seen reports suggesting Arab television channels Al-Arabiya and
Al-Jazeera have cooperated with Iraqi resistance fighters
attacking U.S. troops.
Talking
to reporters at the Pentagon, Rumsfeld said both of the Arab
television stations have been in "close proximity" to
attacks against U.S. occupation forces, sometimes before assaults had
even occurred, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Scraps
Of Information
Asked
if U.S. troops in Baghdad had evidence one, or both, of the Arab
channels had been cooperating with "insurgents", Rumsfeld
replied: "The answer is yes, I've seen scraps of information over
a sustained period of time that need to be looked at in a responsible,
orderly way."
"I'm
not in a position to make a final judgment on it," the defense
secretary stressed.
"I
opined, accurately, that from time-to-time, each of those stations
have found themselves in close proximity to things that were happening
to coalition forces, before the event happened, and during the
event."
"How
it happens is for time to tell, but it happens," Rumsfeld
remarked.
Al-Arabiya
and Al-Jazeera have been frequently criticized by the U.S. and
British governments for "inciting violence" against
"coalition" troops in Iraq.
On
April 8, U.S. missiles hit the Baghdad offices of Al-Jazeera, killing
and wounding two staff in what the Qatar-based Arabic news
network said was a deliberate strike.
On
Monday, November 24, the U.S.-handpicked Governing Council in Iraq
banned the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya from working in Iraq,
charging it with incitement to murder after it broadcast a
Saddam Hussein tape calling for attacks on council members.
Iraqi
police have also confiscated Al-Arabiya's satellite link at its
western Baghdad's Mansur offices.
Ban
Condemned
Meanwhile,
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), condemned Tuesday the
Iraqi council's closure of Baghdad offices of Al-Arabiya.
"This
ban raises very serious concerns about the direction of press freedoms
in Iraq," said Joel Campagna, Mideast program coordinator for the
New York-based press advocacy group.
Arguing
that a tape purportedly made by Saddam was "inherently
newsworthy", Campagna said the ban was the latest in a series of
"troubling measures" taken by the council as well as
U.S.-led occupation forces against media operating in Iraq.
"We've
also been fielding complaints from foreign correspondents who have
cited overly aggressive U.S. troops when trying to report on incidents
in Baghdad," Campagna said.
"So
I think it's a very worrying trend and I think closing a news station
-- certainly one as prominent as Al-Arabiya -- sends the wrong
message to media operating in Iraq," he added.
Al-Arabiya
employs 80 journalists and cameramen throughout Iraq, 50 of those
based in the Iraqi capital.
