Report claims US deliberately 'targets journalists'

The Mirror 'Exclusive'
The White House has dismissed claims that George Bush was talked out of bombing Arab television station al-Jazeera by UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. The allegations come from an un-named source in the Mirror newspaper. The source said: "There's no doubt what Bush wanted, and no doubt Blair didn't want him to do it."
"The memo is explosive and hugely damaging to Bush...He made clear he wanted to bomb al-Jazeera in Qatar and elsewhere. Blair replied that would cause a big problem. "There's no doubt what Bush wanted to do - and no doubt Blair didn't want him to do it." A Government official suggested that the Bush threat had been "humorous, not serious". [BBC]

It’s not the first time that the US has been criticized for ‘targeting journalists’. In the Balkan conflict the Chinese Embassy was hit by an allied attack. Twenty people were injured and 3 journalists were killed. “Why did you kill her?” read the protests on one banner. Another demanded “Justice” and to “Fight Against [American] Hegemony” [CNN ]. NATO said the hit was “an accident” despite several previous deliberate targeting of the Serbian TV station only nights before [08/04/99]. Serbian TV was reported to have been broadcasting out of the Embassy at the time of the bombing. Stating that their maps were ‘out of date’ NATO offered apologies to the Chinese government, but thousands gathered to show their dissatisfaction of America’s explanation. Shao Yunhuan of Xinhua and Xu Xinghu and his wife Zhu Ying from Beijing-based Guangming Daily were killed in the attack.
Journalists were also ‘targeted’ in bombardments during the Iraq war. As the US moved into Baghdad in April 2003, American tanks fired shells at the Palestine hotel, home to many journalists and westerners. Al Jazeera’s office in Baghdad was also hit during the final assault on the city killing one employee from the TV channel. A total of three journalists were killed on 8th April, Tariq Ayoub an Al Jazeera correspondent, Taras Protsyuk, a Reuters cameraman, and Jose Couso, a Spanish TV cameraman [PBS]. On the 28th October this year a Spanish court upheld warrants for the arrest of three U.S. soldiers who accidentally killed the Spanish journalist, Jose Couso, in Iraq in April 2003. [UPI]
[23:28 GMT 22/11/2005]