Whitewashing Al-Jazeera’s Bloody Anti-American Record   June 14, 2006

Hugh Miles,author of an interesting book about Al-Jazeera, is now defending the network against charges that it is closely tied to terrorists. In Foreign Policy, he writes, “After all, when Al Jazeera offers its estimated 50 million viewers exclusive interviews of Osama bin Laden, it’s easy to confuse access with endorsement. And when a journalist who conducts those interviews is jailed for collaboration with al Qaeda, as Tayssir Alouni was in a Spanish court last year, the line between impartial observer and impassioned supporter is certainly blurred.”

Blurred? Impassioned supporter? Collaboration? Alouni was convicted of being an agent of al Qaeda and charged with being involved with those who planned the 9/11 attacks on America. And his conviction has been upheld by the Spanish Supreme Court.

Is that the best that defenders of Al-Jazeera can do? If so, the Al-Jazeera International spin-off is in deep trouble.