The Adults Are In Charge

A BBC article checks further into the allegations that Blair had to talk Bush out of bombing Al Jazeera's Qatar headquarters:

The head of al-Jazeera is delivering a letter to Tony Blair demanding the facts on reports that President Bush suggested bombing the Arab TV station.
He wants a memo published which is alleged to show Tony Blair dissuaded President Bush from bombing its HQ.

Last week the Daily Mirror reported what it said was the contents of a memo showing Mr Blair had talked the US President out of the attack last year.

....

According to press reports, the memo includes a transcript record of Mr Blair attempting in April 2004 to persuade Mr Bush not to bomb al-Jazeera's HQ in Qatar.

Qatar is an ally of the US and was the location of US military headquarters during the Iraq war.

The White House dismissed reports of the conversation as "outlandish", but US officials have openly accused al-Jazeera of being a mouthpiece for al-Qaeda.

....

[British Attorney General] Lord Goldsmith also denied the Act was being used to prevent political embarrassment.

"It is not being used to save the embarrassment of a politician. That is completely not the case at all."

He also refused to confirm the contents of the memo.

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says this latest row follows a history of tension and mutual suspicion between al-Jazeera and the US administration.

Many of al-Jazeera's employees have long been privately convinced that their offices in Kabul and Baghdad were deliberately targeted by the Pentagon in 2001 and 2003 respectively.

Gee, ya think so? Clearly it's true -- if it weren't all Lord Goldsmith would have to do is deny the contents of the memo. Anytime someone feigns neutrality and refuses to confirm or deny, you know there's at least some truth to it.

So let's recap: after "accidentally" bombing their Baghdad and Kabul offices, and after "accidentally" killing one of their cameramen in the field, we were ready to bomb their headquarters in an allied nation that was allowing us to garrison our troops.

The big mystery here to me is what Blair could possibly stand to gain by remaining mum at this late stage of the game. His political career is toast. He may have been able to make the good faith case a couple years ago, but no longer. Perhaps it's honor among thieves.

Whatever the case, it's just the latest in a seemingly endless parade of irresponsible, reckless decisions made by an unserious, uninformed little man, and the usual gang of cronies trying to figure out how to divvy up the spoils. It's nice that Blair was able to talk Bush out of actually doing it, but the fact that he had to be talked out such action is testament to how he -- and they -- think.