Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: La guerra contro Al Jazeera... parla una vedova

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1055684,00.html
The US is determined to suppress the independent Arab media 
Dima Tareq Tahboub
Saturday October 4, 2003
The Guardian 
When my husband decided to go to Baghdad, he knew that I would
protest. He told me that I was exaggerating the risks; that there was
nothing to be afraid of because he was a reporter, an objective
witness, neither on this nor that side, and because of that was
protected by world protocol. He bid us farewell, apologising for
having been so busy. He promised to make it up to me and our daughter,
Fatimah, when he returned.
Tareq left for al-Jazeera's Baghdad office on April 5. He called me
when he arrived - the journey was hellish, he said. He sounded
exhausted, because he was sleeping only three hours a day, between
shifts. Back home in Jordan, our life wasn't any better; we could
hardly sleep and sat mesmerised in front of the TV waiting for Tareq
to appear in a live report so we'd know he was OK.
On the early morning of April 8, I was still awake at 6am and saw his
last live report, in which he described the situation in Baghdad as
being very calm and quiet. I was relieved and went to sleep, only to
wake up one hour later to the sound of my mother crying and yelling.
At first, I didn't know what had happened. I brought a chair and sat
trembling in front of the TV. The house was suddenly full of people. I
couldn't see or hear anyone. I was waiting for the film to end. I was
waiting for the hero to appear and end all evil. I was waiting for the
story of my life to end with "and they lived happily ever after". I
couldn't cry, I was just listening to the news, seeing again and again
all through the day how the Americans bombed the al-Jazeera office and
killed my husband.
I teach English translation. Once, when I was lecturing on the
translation of political terminology, with reference to the UN charter
and the declaration of human rights, one of the students said: "How
can the US say that this war has a noble cause and a humane agenda?
All the dictionary definitions of war involve bloodshed and
overwhelming destruction." Another student joined in: "Don't tell us
about charters and so-called noble missions, what we see is what we
believe." The whole class cheered; I had nothing to say.
I used to tell my students that the American dream is best described
as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Now I am convinced my
students were right and I wrong. I learned the hard way when the
Americans ruined my life, confiscated my liberty and ended my
happiness.
The US bombed al-Jazeera because it was angered by reports that did
not confirm its one-sided picture of the war. For the past five years,
al-Jazeera and other Arab stations have been gaining credibility and
fame not only in the Arab countries but also in the west, competing
with international networks such as the BBC and CNN. Al-Jazeera in
particular became very popular during the American war on Afghanistan.
The channel aired voice recordings of al-Qaida and Taliban leaders as
well as the speeches of President Bush and allied leaders. This
decision to broadcast both sides was in keeping with its motto - "The
opinion and the counter-opinion" - but the Americans could not allow
such freedom of expression to prevail.
The US sent its first warning to al-Jazeera in November 2001, bombing
its Kabul office, destroying its equipment and forcing its journalists
to flee. An al-Jazeera cameraman was sent to Guantanamo Bay as a war
prisoner.
In Baghdad during the war, the coverage of al-Jazeera again focused
mainly on the daily suffering and loss of ordinary people; and again
the Americans wanted their crimes and atrocities to pass unnoticed.
The two bombs they dropped on al-Jazeera's Baghdad office were the
ones that killed my husband. Then the Americans opened fire on Abu
Dhabi television, whose identity was spelled out in large blue letters
on the roof. The next target was the Palestine hotel, the headquarters
of world media representatives - an American tank fired a shell and
two more journalists were killed. Thus the US tried to conceal
evidence of its crimes from the world and kill the witnesses.
The US didn't take responsibility for the attacks, claiming that all
three were mistakes and insisting that it did not know the whereabouts
of journalists, apart from those "embedded" with its troops. Later,
al-Jazeera's director confirmed that it had given the precise location
of the station's Baghdad office to the Pentagon three months before
the war. My husband and the others were killed in broad daylight, in
locations known to the Pentagon as media sites.
The US was not content with the message it sent to al-Jazeera signed
with the blood of my husband; it accused al-Jazeera and other Arab
channels of anti-American bias in their coverage of the war. But how
biased can a picture of dead people be? A picture of a destroyed house
doesn't need a reporter to tell its story, and the tears of children
and refugees need no interpreter.
Tell me, please, what should I do when my daughter, just 20 months
old, starts calling her late father's name and looking for him all
around the house? What should I do when the clock strikes five and I
keep waiting for Tareq to open the door with his smiling face but he
never comes in? When the only way to have some rest is to cry myself
to sleep? When I see my mother-in-law vomiting four times in less than
half an hour? When my daughter brings her toys to play with me, as she
used to do with her father, and I can't even hold her? When my tears
fall on my daughter's face when I give her milk, remembering how her
father used to do it? When I feel ruined and desperate, with no hope
in life?
How should I raise my daughter? Allow me to answer the last question.
I will raise her never to forgive or forget. Never to forget her
father and never to forgive those who killed him.
Six months have passed since the killing of Tareq, and those
responsible for his death are still in control, claiming ethical
supervision of the world, and basking in their military achievements.
The attacks on al-Jazeera continue - Iraq's US-appointed governing
council has just warned the station that if it continues to
"misbehave", its licence in Iraq will be revoked. Meanwhile, an
al-Jazeera correspondent, Tayssir Alouni - the only television
journalist who had a live link from Taliban Kabul, and a survivor of
both the Kabul and Baghdad bombings - has been accused of helping
al-Qaida and the Taliban. When he went to Spain to obtain his PhD, he
was arrested by the Spanish authorities, widely believed to have been
at the behest of the Americans. He is now in a high-security prison
awaiting trial, despite there being no concrete evidence against him.
As for me, six months have passed since my husband's death and I can't
find anyone to help me to launch legal action against those who killed
him. When I thought I had found an outlet under Belgian law, US
threats and ultimatums got the law repealed and put an end to my hopes
of gaining justice.
When the Muslim Association of Britain invited me to speak at last
weekend's anti-war march in London, I hesitated because of the despair
I have been in. But when I saw all these people marching against the
war, condemning those responsible for it, my hope and belief in the
solidarity of humankind, in humanity, justice and truth was rekindled.
My life and happiness came to an end on April 8, but I still have one
last dream; that my Fatimah will have a better future full of love and
security, that her heart and mind as well as mine will be relieved
when those who committed the cold-blooded murder of her father and my
husband are brought to justice.
* Dima Tareq Tahboub is a lecturer at the Arab Open University in
Amman and the widow of Tareq Ayyoub, a correspondent for al-Jazeera

not confirm its one-sided picture of the war.
Cosa che la vedova sara' in grado di dimostrare, vero Torrieri? :))
*LOL*
-Stefano


E daglie con le prove.
Per te è una fissazione, quelle di bush ti son bastate per accettare
l'intervento armato in Iraq, eppure erano fasulle ....
Ciauz
Mogan

l'intervento armato in Iraq, eppure erano fasulle ....
A Bush non servivano prove visto che c'erano gia' dal 1991 :)
Oltre a tutte quelle che hanno trovato gli ispettori sulle violazioni
degli accordi di cessate il fuoco :)
-Stefano

 -Stefano

qquali prove?
Documentati su cosa chiedevano gli accordi di cessate il fuoco per
capire quali prove hanno trovato :)
*LOL*
-Stefano


E tu sei uno di quelli !
Ti ho fatto la stessa osservazione , mesi fa`, quando affermavi che era
lecito il "fermo" di mussulmani a New York da parte della Polizia.
Secondo te avrebbero dovuto "dimostrare" di non essere persone ricercate !!!
Giano

ricercate !!!
Ricercate??? Ricercate .... PER COSA? :))
*ROTFL*
-Stefano

 -Stefano
NO , SEI TU CHE DEVI PROVARE LA MIA COLPEVOLEZZA.............E QUALE SONO LE
ACCUSE VERE IN QUESTO CASO ? L'APPARTENENZA ALLA RELIGIONE MUSSULMANA?
Giano
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

MUSSULMANA?
---
Ora... Questo post non c'entra un ca**o con il FERMO di quelle persone a
New York.  Si parla di ARRESTO per SCAMBIO DI PERSONA con ACCUSE
COMPROVATE (ci vuole un MANDATO DI ARRESTO firmato da un giudice sulla
base di prove). :)))
E lo ribadisco: in quel caso particolare sta alla persona dimostrare di
non essere quella indicata sul mandato e che c'e' stato uno scambio di
persona.
-Stefano

 -Stefano

e' come avere le prove di un omicidio senza cadavere e senza morto.
Se lo dici tu... :)))
-Stefano

 >>*LOL*
cosa centrano con gli accordi sul fatto che l'iraq avesse o meno le armi chimiche.
Ti faccio presente che gli angloamericani affermavano che le armi saddam ce
l'avesse quando hanno cominciato la guerra e non nelo 91 cosa che non hanno
potuto dimostrare neanche con il controllo dell'intero paese.
Pietro


dell'intero paese.
Balle :)
Non hanno *ANCORA* dimostrato che avesse costruito nuove armi e che
fosse pronto ad usarle.  Ma dell'esistenza delle vecchie armi di prove
ne hanno trovate e non poche.
-Stefano

 -Stefano

anche a bush :)
Le prove ci sono gia' :)
-Stefano

 -Stefano

si , nella tua testa :)
No. Nelle affermazioni dell'IAEA :))
Quelle che mostrano la tua crassa ignoranza :)
-Stefano

 -Stefano

le prove sono le armi non i rapporti, chi le ha viste ?
Gli ispettori che hanno stilato quei rapporti? :))
*ROTFL*
-Stefano

 -Stefano

ma di quale cessate il fuoco vai cianciando,
Ho capito. Sei un trollone ignorante :)
Ne prendo atto.
-Stefano

 -Stefano