Updated: 10:40 PM EDT
Iraq Shuts Al-Jazeera Baghdad Offices for a Month
By MARIAM FAM, AP

BAGHDAD, Iraq (Aug. 7) - Police ordered Al-Jazeera's employees out of their newsroom Saturday after the Iraqi government accused the Arab satellite channel of inciting violence and closed its office for 30 days.


Reuters
Bureau manager Omar Abdullah (center) holds up his hands as Iraqi police arrive to close down the newsroom of Al Jazeera in Baghdad.

Iraqi Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib said the closure was intended to give the station "a chance to re-adjust their policy against Iraq.''

"They have been showing a lot of crimes and criminals on TV, and they transfer a bad picture about Iraq and about Iraqis and encourage criminals to increase their activities,'' he said. "We want to protect our people.''

Al-Jazeera officials said the closure was an ominous violation of freedom of the press. Haider al-Mulla, a lawyer for Al-Jazeera, said the channel would respect the decision but study its legal options.

Senior Iraqi police officials arrived at the station's central Baghdad office Saturday evening and, in an extraordinary scene broadcast live on the network, sat at a table drinking soft drinks with senior staff as they calmly explained the order.

Al-Mullah said the closure decision was unclear and objected to its phrasing. The police said they had to execute the order anyway, asking al-Mullah to take his complaints to the Interior Ministry.

The police refused to leave the office before locking the newsroom and ordering employees to go home. Crossing his wrists as if handcuffed, a police officer warned al-Mullah against violating the decision.

"It is a regrettable decision, but Al-Jazeera will endeavor to cover the situation in Iraq as best as we can within the constraints,'' Jihad Ballout, the network's spokesman, said.

In an Arab world rife with conspiracy theories, the decision to close the offices of the popular channel could reinforce the perception that decisions by Iraq's interim government are influenced by the United States, which has long complained about Al-Jazeera's coverage.

Government ministers in Iraq have grown increasingly critical of the television station in recent weeks.

Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said Saturday that the government had convened an independent commission a month ago to monitor Al-Jazeera's daily coverage "to see what kind of violence they are advocating, inciting hatred and problems and racial tension.''

Based on the commission's finding, the National Security Committee ordered the monthlong closure, Allawi said.

Iraq's now-disbanded Governing Council, in place during the U.S. occupation, banned the station's reporters from entering its offices or covering its news conferences for a month in January because it had reportedly shown disrespect toward prominent Iraqis.

That was the second such ban imposed by the Governing Council on the station.

Al-Jazeera has occasionally run into problems with authorities in other Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and the former Iraqi regime. Unlike Arab state-run media, the station often airs views of local opposition figures and their criticisms of their countries' rulers.

Senior U.S. officials also have frequently criticized the station for its coverage of the war in Iraq. They accuse it of being an outlet for the al-Qaida terror network for broadcasting videotapes and audiotapes purportedly from Osama bin Laden or his aides. Al-Jazeera denies the allegations.


08/07/04 19:50 EDT

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Well, at least they're getting Bush's version of democracy. I don't feel so cheated after all.

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Nervous Breakdown::nervyb.blogspot.com

LOL - Yeah you nailed it...

Not too mention that the new Iraqi Government is doing what numerous other Arab regimes have done.

I guess the thousands of death are supposed the justify this "Big Change" in dictatorship... whoops, I mean, leadership...

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Truth is by nature self-evident, as soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear. Gandhi

Al Jazeera is responsible for promoting the insugants and their crimes, which encourages them to do more of the same. They have only been shut down for a month... just sorta of sent into the corner to think about what they've done.

Besides, to get on its democratic feet Iraq's government is going to need to use a firm hand that might be distasteful to some of us in the West. However, we live in a "mature" democracy, and what works for us won't always work for them.

Yes. Hopefully that 30 days will allow Al Jazeera to think about its crimes and aspire to be more like CNN or FOX or MSNBC, fair, upstanding news organizations. Well, at least this may prevent the US from bombing Al Jazeera, like it did in April 2003, or arresting its journalists, at least 20 of whom have been incarcerated since the US invasion.

Go see "Control Room" if you'd like to see how we're allowing Al Jazeera to report the news in the Middle East.

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Nervous Breakdown::nervyb.blogspot.com

Glad they are shut down. Al Jazeera is the mouthpiece for the terrorists. Why do you think they run their beheading tapes and propaganda to them? Because they know they'll run it promptly to spread their message of fear and hate.

I'm sure you'd feel the same if someone invaded the US and shut down FOX for 30 days. Oh, wait, FOX is fair and balanced so that would never happen.

They show beheading tapes because that's what happens in war. We have our news chosen for us, so you don't have to see those uncomfortable images. Isn't that nice? Even though we have television, we should still believe that war is a nice, clean thing in which only the "bad guys" suffer.

You have been brainwashed by the US media and its commander-in-chief, George W. Bush.

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Nervous Breakdown::nervyb.blogspot.com

Have you ever watched Al Jazeera or read their coverage online?

They are a network that is hated by Wahabis....hmmmm, maybe they are doing something right?

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Those who define have the power. http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/...heney.ssl.html

Hmmm....that's not what I see when they have one of their spokesmen on tv. They seem to be very pro terrorist side of things. Do they devote at least 50% of their broadcast to what the coalition's side of the war in Iraq? In fact, I think they put out a lot of propaganda against the coallition.

It's a known that CNN is liberal-leaning too. But I wouldn't won't them shut down. CNN and Fox News are nothing like Al Jazeera.....who is a mouthpiece for the terrorists. Geez, I cannot believe you people are defending Al Jazeera.