‘Blair persuaded Bush not to bomb Al-Jazeera’

A BRITISH civil servant has been charged under Britain’s Official Secrets Act for allegedly leaking a government memo to a newspaper that suggested Tony Blair persuaded George Bush not to bomb the Arab satellite station Al-Jazeera.

The Daily Mirror reported Mr Bush spoke of targeting al-Jazeera’s headquarters in Doha, Qatar, when he met Mr Blair on April 16, 2004. The Bush administration has accused al-Jazeera of being a mouthpiece for anti-US sentiments.

The Daily Mirror attributed its information to unidentified sources. One source, said to be in the government, was quoted as saying that the alleged threat was “humorous, not serious”, but the newspaper quoted another source as saying that “Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair.”

Mr Blair’s office declined to comment on the report.

In Qatar, al-Jazeera said it was aware of the report, but did not wish to comment.

The US said it wouldn’t dignify “something so outlandish” with a response.

The document was described as a transcript of a conversation between the two leaders.

British Cabinet Office civil servant David Keogh is accused of passing it to Leo O’Connor, who formerly worked for former British MP Tony Clarke. Both men are scheduled to appear at London’s Bow Street Magistrates Court next week.

Mr Keogh was charged with an offence under Section 3 of the Official Secrets Act relating to “a damaging disclosure” by a servant of the Crown of information relating to international relations or information obtained from a state other than Britain.

Mr O’Connor was charged under Section 5, which relates to receiving and disclosing illegally disclosed information.

Peter Kilfoyle, a former defence minister in Mr Blair’s government, called for the document to be made public.

“I think they ought to clarify what exactly happened on this occasion,” he said. “If it was the case that President Bush wanted to bomb Al-Jazeera in what is after all a friendly country, it speaks volumes and it raises questions about subsequent attacks that took place on the press that wasn’t embedded with coalition forces.”

Al-Jazeera offices in Iraq and Afghanistan have been hit by US bombs or missiles. Each time the US said they were not intentionally targeting Al-Jazeera.

In April 2003, an al-Jazeera journalist was killed when its Baghdad office was struck during a US bombing campaign.

In November 2002, al-Jazeera’s office in Kabul was destroyed by a missile. US officials said they believed the target was a terrorist site and did not know it was al-Jazeera’s office.