Colin Powell has had the unenviable task of showing the rest of the world, yet again, what BushCo. means by "spreading peace and freedom throughout the Middle East." Visiting Qatar, one of our closer allies in the region, Powell asked that the small country do something about the coverage of one of the few "free" media in the region; al Jazeera.
The United States warned the Persian Gulf state of Qatar yesterday that an otherwise strong relationship between the two nations is being harmed by "false" and "inflammatory" anti-American coverage of Iraq by the Qatar-based Arab television network Al Jazeera.This administration is showing the world the worst face possible if its real goal is to spread freedom around the world. Detaining prisoners without due process and outside of the Geneva Conventions, restricting civil liberties at home and now attempting to get another government to muzzle its press. What a great representation of the best of America, no? Sure some of the coverage is "inflammatory," no doubt. But is this the way a country with a supposedly free press should act? Is this the face we want to show the world?
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and other U.S. officials delivered the terse warning to a delegation headed by Qatari Foreign Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabir al Thani - the highest level at which the subject has been discussed.
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