Iraq acts against Arabic satellite network (Al-Jazeera)

Associated Press | April 2, 2003

[HAL9000]

DOHA, Qatar (AP) - The Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera announced Thursday that Iraqi officials are expelling one of its reporters from Baghdad and barring another from reporting.

The station interrupted a regular newscast to announce that Iraq's Information Ministry had informed it that correspondent Diar al-Omari, an Iraqi, could no longer report for the network and that visiting correspondent Tayseer Allouni must leave the country.

"Regretting this decision, Al-Jazeera has decided to suspend its live broadcast from Iraq and will only broadcast recorded items received from Iraq," the station announced.

There was no immediate announcement of the move from Iraqi officials, who have taken similar actions against several Western networks, including CNN.

Western critics have often accused Al-Jazeera of a pro-Iraqi bias in its coverage of the U.S.-led attack on Saddam Hussein's government.

The station is partially financed by the government of Qatar, which also hosts the U.S. military's Central Command for the region.

[eureka!]

Paging Peter Arnett, someone may be hiring....

[CathyRyan]

I am surprised they let Baghdad cam stay up and running.

[AZ_Crusader]

I just tried to visit http://english.aljazeera.net and they are blocking IP addresses. So I wonder who they are letting visit the site.

[PoisedWoman]

"Regretting this decision, Al-Jazeera has decided to suspend its live broadcast from Iraq and will only broadcast recorded items received from Iraq," the station announced.

Something realy fishy about this. Sounds like a setup of some sort. Now the Arabic world will only see Saddam's very own propaganda, which is basically what alJazeera puts out anyway. What's going on?

[arkfreepdom]

Interesting. Maybe we'll let them back in later.....If they are real good.

[Keith]

there are several of them...and in the last half hour I am hearing faint explosions every few minutes...perhaps coalitio artillery...

[MizSterious]

"What's going on? "

My fear is that they don't want Al Jazeera reporting what they're about to do next.

[HAL9000]

just tried to visit http://english.aljazeera.net and they are blocking IP addresses.

It was supposed to be up and running again today, according to an article at Weekly Standard.com

[Shermy]

Tayseer Allouni is the Jazeera reporter who got the TV interview with Osama after 9/11. He's not to popular with some other people to:

http://www.webactive.com/pacifica/demnow/dn20011114.html

"...Al-Jazeera said none of its 10 staff members was injured. But al-Jazeera's managing editor said that the strike could have been deliberate. "They know where we are located and they know what we have in our office and we also did not get any warning," he said. The station's one reporter in Kabul, Tayseer Allouni, fled yesterday, after he had been told by the Northern Alliance that if they captured him he would be killed..."

[Robert DeLong]

Yep, I'm afarid you are correct. It must be slime time. I certainly hope not, or if so that it proves to be ineffective.

[DianaN]

My take? I think they DO plan on using poison gas, chem or bio on our troops and they didn't want their good friends from Al Jazeera or an Iraqi to get killed. I hope not, but this does sound, as someone, already stated "fishy".

[TopQuark]

Do you see how they keep us hostage to our own values?

Whent The New YOrk Stock Exchange, a private organization, expelled it from the floor, al Jazeera complained to Bush and cooked up a storm about the "lack of freedom of the press."

Here it is the government of Iraw that expells them --- and not a wisper of protest. So much for the principles. And so much for objectivity: they don't want to create troubles for the fellow Muslim state.

[AZ_Crusader]

The error screen I received indicates they are up and running but purposely blocking certain IP addresses. I am a web server admin and recognize it as the blocked IP message from Microsoft IIS.

[Winston_Wolf]

... Yup, gotta keep our eyes open on this for sure. I don't like the looks of this.

[Robert DeLong]

More likely that they do not want them beaming it to the Arab world. They can always claim it was coalition forces as long as there is no one to discount their claims. If al-Jazeera is there they might just report the truth and they cannot afford for that to happen. Better to keep them out and send them a bogus report blaming the coalition.

[stlnative]

why and who would blocking it?

[stlnative]

why and who would BE blocking it?

[Black Bart]

If this keeps up we're not going to have any CIA operatives left in Baghdad.

[backtobasics]

Well.....this is interesting. Maybe they feel that any live coverage from now on would likely be a liability to the cause instead of an asset since coalition troops and tanks on the streets of Baghdad would hardly coincide with the big stories the Iraqi leaders have been telling the Arab world.

In the by and by, the real stories will come out, how that Saddam threatened and used his own population for his own selfish desires. I have a feeling that there is a wealth of knowledge being stored up, things the rest of the world has not seen or heard yet, that will undeniably prove the deep depths of evil that is/was the regime of Saddam Hussein.

I have a feeling that there are numerous embedded reporters that nobody has heard from yet.....stories yet to be told, pictures and film documenting the ghastly conduct we have only read about. It will eventually come out, and those who stood against the action to oust Saddam will then see what kind of man they defended. May their shame be profound.

[NTegraT]

""Regretting this decision, Al-Jazeera has decided to suspend its live broadcast from Iraq and will only broadcast recorded items received from Iraq"

My take is that Iraq cannot get their tv signal out anymore because it keeps getting bombed. Soooo they get Al-Jazeera to broadcast its repeated propaganda over and over and over and that's what the whole arab world sees. Great, huh? Al-Jazeera, officially the mouthpiece of Saddam.

[boris]

I think Al-Jazeera should have had all of its worldwide assets converted to dust by the U.S.

Just more wishful thinking on my part.

--Boris

[Nick Danger]

Maybe they feel that any live coverage from now on would likely be a liability to the cause instead of an asset since coalition troops and tanks on the streets of Baghdad would hardly coincide with the big stories the Iraqi leaders have been telling the Arab world.

This is my guess as well. Doctor Evilsmile is at his podium every day talking about how we are being soundly defeated. That's kind of hard to sell when the Baghdad Cam is showing American tanks in the streets.

[AZ_Crusader]

Based on the error screen it is being limited to certain IP addresses by the web server administrator. With Microsoft IIS it is fairly easy to filter access to your web site. It is also easy enough to filter IP blocks based on geographical location. I can't answer they 'why' though.

[stlnative]

I found this from 4/2/03 http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/002/476mppeh.asp

Today visitors receive a message telling them the page is "unavailable" or "forbidden," suggesting that its servers, located in the United States and France, have been subject to a denial-of-service attack.

But what does that mean? And why hasn't it happened to other sites like, say, CNN.com?

Denial of service attacks happen when a network or server is flooded with too much traffic. The server is unable to distinguish between legitimate requests and traffic generated by the hacker. When the finite amount of data that a web server is equipped to handle is exceeded, the site is forced simply to deny access to everyone.

To execute such an attack, a hacker breaks into a computer system and loads it with a denial of service program and other tools. That system then locates other vulnerable systems and passes on a program which turns them into additional weapons for the attack. The hacker uses the first system to instruct the other systems to send a flood of data, broken up into ordinarily manageable pieces called "packets," to the targeted site simultaneously and continuously. Since very few ordinary DSL or cable connections are sufficiently protected, they can easily become "zombies" and be used to attack another system or website.