Every now and then, Al Jazeera (sorry, no idea how to spell it) broadcasts a tape that is supposedly by Bin Laden, where he tells the network’s listeners that America is evil and must be destroyed. This week the comments included requests for suicide attacks against Jews and Americans to increase.
Now, to my American ears, that sounds like the Arabic equivalent of CNN giving free air time to a known terrorist and basically helping the mass murderer reach out to additional millions of listeners so that a certain percentage of them will hopefully end their lives by trying to kill American citizens.
It’s basically a terrorist version of a pronouncement of war.
Now I’m all for freedom of speech, but even that has limitations. The most common example given is that you may not yell “fire” in a crowded theater (well, unless the crowded theater really IS on fire, in which case you may save many lives).
So isn’t an international network declaring war on the US grounds for the US to… well, blow the network up?
Yes, I am serious. I figure if they plan on continuing to insist that terrorist attacks be carried out, wouldn’t it be in America’s best interest to silence the mass broadcast? I’m not saying kill everyone involved… just blow up the radio towers. And keep blowing them up every time a new one is built.
Am I’m missing something obvious? Because no one here seems to mind that these broadcasts are occuring on a frequent basis…
Thanks for the link, which covers the EMP blast. But what about the threat by the network? Is it something we should deal with?
I mean, if CNN ever started broadcasting 15 minute tapes of some anti-Moslem activist who spent the entire time talking about how Americans should kill every Moslem they see… I have a feeling the Arab communities around the world would be pretty upset, yet it’s exactly what they are doing to us.
Jeezus. Yes, you’re missing something obvious – several somethings. Like freedom of the press (which the host country doesn’t much care about, but Americans are supposed to); al-Jazeira is a news organization.
Like the sovereignty of nations that are supposedly our allies (not great allies, to be sure, but allies nonetheless); we could forget about basing any aircraft in Qatar or its neighbors.
Like the world economy, which would go down the tubes, and the political climate, which would become very, very anti-American in countries everywhere. The fact that most countries trust the U.S. not to go completely insane is what allows the U.S. to function as a superpower, which in turn leads to our access to foreign markets, and the continued well-being of our economy.
To which I say again, reverse the tables. Let’s have CNN broadcast tapes demanding the death of countless Moslems around the world.
Obviously, I am not being serious. I am trying to state that a legitimate news organization would NOT broadcast this kind of highly dangerous rhetoric by a known leader of a terrorist organization.
Even shortly after the 9/11 attacks, American news organizations were kept from broadcasting tapes Bin Laden released for fear there would be hidden instructions to activate sleeper cells.
So has anyone even ASKED the al-Jazeira network to refuse to broadcast murder instructions on their network? I’m genuinely surprised this is going unchecked.
I believe the Swiss determined the bin Laden tape of November 2002 to be a fake. They also refused to test any tapes which might arrive in the future (like the two which arrived in the last week) because the authenticated bin laden sound bites (used as a baseline comparison) are insufficient to make an accurate assessment. (Still looking for the cite.)
Despite this, the USA stated the November 2002 tape was authentic. Now we have two additional tapes and within a day or so of their release, the USA insists the tapes are also authentic. Has anyone noticed no media call to ask for verification?
When you add today’s late revelation that part of the reasoning behind raising the alert status to HIGH is based upon falsified information, why is the media, and the people not making any connections here?
Both al Quaida and the US Government have vested interests to keep bin Laden “alive.” Yet the media does not offer this for consideration either.
Did CNN provide an edited broadcast of the latest tapes and/or a transcript? If so, they went against a media self-imposed censorship not to provide verbatim information just in case there may be hidden messages. al-Jazeera does not fall within the American sphere of media. Whether they choose to broadcast the tapes unedited or not is their right.
OK, so on the one hand, it may be a conspiracy between the US and some foreign government. I’m not a big fan of conspiracy theories, so assuming that is wrong…
I’m actually not sure if CNN provided a broadcast of the latest tapes. I heard a few soundbites and that is all.
As for AJ having the right to do what they want, I believe that an individual’s right to throw a punch stops at the tip of my nose. And their right to broadcast anti-American news, as much as I may disagree with their viewpoints, is fine until they start broadcasting messages to attack unarmed citizens.
If you don’t want to know about what Osama’s up to, you are free to remain ignorant.
Just don’t watch the news !
For those who like to know what’s happening with respect to Osama, here’s a bit more on how we got an early copy of the tape: Qatar Gave US Bin Laden Tape in Advance
The U.S. government probably thinks al-Jazeera is a good source of otherwise unattainable info. The station is somewhat independent of the Arab governments, and is the favored outlet of Osama bin Laden for his announcements.
According to this article, the station shows a lot of ads from U.S. companies, and even agreed to accept U.S. government ads denouncing terrorism. So it’s not an enemy of the United States or anything.