IRAQ WIFE 'TO SUE U.S'

24 November 2005
Exclusive By Andy Lines And Kevin Maguire

THE widow of an al-Jazeera journalist killed in Iraq by an American attack is considering suing the US Government.

Kuwaiti-born Tariq Ayyoub, 35, died when the station's Baghdad office was bombed in April 2003.

Now his wife Dima may take legal action. On Tuesday the Daily Mirror reported that George Bush planned to attack al-Jazeera's HQ in Doha, capital of Qatar.

Dina said: "The report proves the cold-blooded murder of my husband.

"America always claimed it was an accident. But I believe the new revelations prove that claim was false or at least not trustworthy.

"I will seek legal advice in light of this new information to achieve justice

The UK Government has banned the media from publishing details of documents telling how the President wanted to bomb the Doha station in April 2004 until Tony Blair talked him out of it.

Al-Jazeera last night demanded the PM come clean over the revelations. Managing director Wadah Khanfar said: "We're taking this very seriously. Al-Jazeera has been attacked twice before and a colleague killed. I would like an official explanation about what happened."

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World media body: US guilty of killing journalist in Iraq

Brussels, Nov 23, IRNA

IFJ-US-Jazeera TV

Reports that President Bush and British Prime Minister discussed a plan to bomb the Arab TV station Al-Jazeera add to concerns among journalists world-wide that the United States attack on the station's Baghdad office on 8 April 2003 in which a reporter was killed was deliberate targeting of media, said the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Wednesday.

"If that is the case, then the US is guilty of the murder of an innocent journalist," said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary.

"It is time for the United States to tell the truth about this attack and to take responsibility for its actions which appear to be gross violation of international humanitarian law."
According to the IFJ, which has been campaigning for justice in some 16 cases where journalists and media staff have died at the hands of US troops in the Iraq conflict, there was no US investigation or proper report of why the attack in which journalist Tareq Ayyoub was killed took place.

"It now looks that more and more this was a vindictive and deliberate attack on a media outlet and one that should not go unpunished," said White.

The network Al-Jazeera has angered the Bush administration by its frank reporting of the Iraq conflict and its broadcasting of pictures of the victims of violence, noted the IFJ.

Last week the IFJ General Secretary presented to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan a draft resolution against impunity in the killing of journalists in conflict zones. Under that resolution governments that fail to hunt down the killers of journalists could end up before the International Criminal Court.

The Brussels-based IFJ represents over 500,000 journalists in more than 110 countries.

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US Intentionally Bombs Al-Jazeera Baghdad OfficeKills Cameraman
REUTERS 8apr03

BAGHDAD—Al-Jazeera television said on Tuesday its cameraman Tarek Ayoub was killed during a U.S. air raid on Baghdad which also set the Arab network's office ablaze.

Tareq Ayub, 34, the reporter of the Arab
satellite television channel al-Jazeera
who was killed in US bombing of the
station's offices in Baghdad (AFP/HO) *

mindfully.org note:
This is what the US does to people who
tell the truth. The troops are very quickly
shutting down any source of truth that
might help Americans to understand that
what they are doing in Iraq has absolutely
nothing to do with democracy or freeing
innocent Iraqis. It is about controlling the
region and oil.

The Qatar-based satellite network said Ayoub, a Jordanian national, died in hospital after he was wounded in a missile strike on Jazeera's office near the Information Ministry.

Another member of Jazeera's Baghdad crew, Zohair al-Iraqi, was slightly wounded. Reuters correspondent Saamia Nakhoul had earlier said U.S. planes were bombing targets near the ministry.

"We regret to inform you that our cameraman and correspondent Tarek Ayoub was killed this morning during the U.S. missile strike on our Baghdad office," Jazeera said in a statement read out during its news bulletin.

"He is a martyr," it said. The network regularly refers to Iraqi civilians killed in the 20-day U.S.-led war as "martyrs."

At least six journalists have died while covering the war waged by the United States and Britain to oust President Saddam Hussein.

Jazeera, one of the most widely watched channels in the Arab world, has come under fire from U.S. and British officials for showing images of slain Western soldiers and U.S. prisoners of war.

Jazeera's Baghdad correspondent Majed Abdel Hadi called the U.S. missile strike and Ayoub's death a "crime."

"I will not be objective about this because we have been dragged into this conflict," he said, visibly upset. "We were targeted because the Americans don't want the world to see the crimes they are committing against the Iraqi people."

No comment from the U.S. military was immediately available.

Jazeera and fellow Arab network Abu Dhabi TV are the only two international channels with their own offices in Baghdad.

All other media organizations used to operate from a press center at the Information Ministry, but they moved to a hotel after the ministry was bombed.

Abu Dhabi TV had earlier showed footage of a huge fire blazing from the Jazeera office. Jazeera correspondent Tayseer Alouni, who made his name covering the U.S.-led war on Afghanistan, was seen carrying the wounded Ayoub into a car.

"One missile hit the pavement in front of us, ripping out windows and doors and then one hit the generator," said Maher Abdullah, another Jazeera correspondent. "The office is now on fire."

Jazeera's graphic images of the U.S.-led war on Iraq have mesmerized millions of Arab viewers, who regard its coverage as more comprehensive and balanced than that of Western media.

Some U.S. and British officials, however, say the network is biased toward Iraq. Some media analysts have accused Jazeera of airing Iraqi propaganda to gain exclusive footage—a charge the network denies.

Eight-year-old Jazeera rose to prominence in the West by broadcasting exclusive comments by Osama bin Laden after the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Alouni was one of only a few international correspondents allowed to operate under the aegis of the now defunct Taliban government. Jazeera's office was one of the first targets hit when the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance fighters routed the Taliban in Kabul.

* Note:
Reuters and AFP/HO spell the man's name differently.
This is not a typo

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