Pentagon says attack on Al-Jazeera bureau in Kabul was missile gone 'awry'

By Gene Mater
freedomforum.org

11.16.01

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The Pentagon has explained the destruction of the Kabul bureau of the Arab satellite television service Al-Jazeera as a case of an American missile having gone "awry."

At a briefing at the Foreign Press Center in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 13, Rear Adm. Craig R. Quigley was asked about the missile strike that destroyed the Al-Jazeera bureau and damaged the BBC and Associated Press offices, as well.

Quigley responded that "some sort of weapon went awry and destroyed those facilities."

He also contended that in "the military portion of the campaign against terrorism" the United States tries "our very best every day, every hour of every day, to only target military targets."

However, he noted that "despite our best efforts, some weapons have failed and some human errors have been made, resulting in targets being struck that we did not intend to strike."

Nadia Rahman of Al-Jazeera, who asked the original question about the missile strike, then said, "You must have had information about where Al Jazeera, BBC, AP and others in the area are."

Quigley replied that "I don't know that we do." He noted that there were no American troops on the ground and added that "aerial photography and intelligence reporting and things of that sort are all useful, but they're never a substitute for the clarity that you get from seeing things with your own eyes with troops on the ground. And we don't have that."

"If we misidentified a target, if a human error was made, if a weapon malfunctioned in some way resulting in our weapon being the cause of that destruction, we will say so and we will try our very best to explain how that happened," Quigley said.

During the NATO attacks on Serbia, the Radio-Television Serbia building was bombed intentionally on April 23, 1999, killing 16 civilians.

NATO contended at a press conference at the time that it was "targeting communications and radio and TV nodes which are supporting the power structure and the propaganda machine of Mr. (then-President Slobodan) Milosevic."

The Serbian government said NATO was trying "to kill the truth about its evil deeds," and Belgrade Mayor Vojislav Mihajlovic declared: "For the first time in world history, the media war is fought with bombs."

In the U.S., Mohammad al-Alami, Al-Jazeera Washington correspondent, was arrested and briefly detained as he was on his way to cover the Bush-Putin meetings in Texas.

According to the BBC, Al-Alami said police told him that the credit card used by Al-Jazeera's Washington bureau was linked to unspecified activities or events in Afghanistan. No details were given.

After the missile hit in Afghanistan, according to British newspaper reports, an Arab reporter for Al-Jazeera was shot and beaten by Afghans as he fled Kabul.

Tasir Alouni became a target of hatred as he traveled through Afghanistan following the liberation of the capital by the Northern Alliance.

He was told by his editors in Qatar to leave Kabul after the Taliban's retreat in case of mob violence. Minutes after leaving the bureau it was hit by a U.S. missile. "I assume it was a mistake," he said.

Later, as he fled to the eastern province of Paktia, he was beaten and shot at by anti-Taliban Afghans. A number of Arabs in Afghanistan have been attacked by anti-Taliban Afghans in retaliation for support of the Islamic militia by Arab volunteers.

In a related matter, The Guardian of London reported yesterday that the BBC World Service has made a policy decision not to describe the attacks on the United States as "terrorism."

Mark Damazer, BBC deputy director of news, claims the service would lose its reputation for impartiality if it used what it said was a subjective term.

Guests and program contributors may refer to acts of terror, but BBC itself will use such neutral terms as "attacks," the network said.

Previous

BBC's Kabul news bureau damaged by bomb during live broadcast
On air, correspondent William Reeve dives to floor as wall collapses near him; Al-Jazeera reporter beaten as Northern Alliance rolls into Kabul.  11.14.01

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