BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Iraqi government shut down Al-Jazeera's Baghdad operations indefinitely on Saturday, extending a one-month closure order imposed after the pan-Arab channel was accused of inciting violence.
Officials at Al-Jazeera reacted with outrage, but did not say how it would respond to the order.

"This decision runs contrary to pledges made by the Iraqi authorities to pursue a policy of openness and to safeguard freedoms of the press and expression," a statement from the station said.

Iraq (news - web sites)'s Ministerial National Security Committee said in an e-mail statement sent to The Associated Press that it had decided to extend a suspension ordered Aug. 5 because al-Jazeera had failed to offer an explanation of its editorial policies.

"Based on this lack of respect for an official government order," the committee extended the ban "until a time when Al-Jazeera TV headquarters sends an official response," the English-language statement said.

The station's spokesman, Jihad Ballout, said the office in Baghdad was stormed by Iraqi security forces hours before the order was announced.

"Members of the Iraqi security forces attacked our office, although it's been closed for nearly a month now. They took photographs and sealed it," Ballout said. "They positioned nearly 14 security officers outside Al-Jazeera."

Police officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were unaware of any raid.

Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said last month that the government had convened an independent commission to monitor Al-Jazeera's daily coverage "to see what kind of violence they are advocating."

The Iraqi statement said the committee will wait until Al-Jazeera comes forward with an explanation before making its next move.

It was not the first time Al-Jazeera faced problems in Iraq.

Iraq's now-disbanded Governing Council, in place during the U.S. occupation, banned the station's reporters from entering its offices or covering its news conferences for a month in January because it had reportedly shown disrespect toward prominent Iraqis.

The network has been criticized by a number of senior U.S. officials for its coverage of the war on Iraq and for being an outlet for al-Qaida terror network by broadcasting videotapes and audiotapes purportedly from Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) or his aides. Al-Jazeera has denied the allegations.

Unlike Arab state-run media, Al-Jazeera airs views of local opposition figures and their criticisms of their countries' rulers. That has brought the the station in problems with authorities in other Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and the former Iraqi regime.

Since its August suspension, Al-Jazeera has depended on other media organizations for news and footage to cover Iraq, and has not formally worked here.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040904/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_al_jazeera

So much for freedom of the press . I'm not a big Al-Jazeera fan (it's pretty much the fox news of the middle east). However telling Iraqis that they can't have their favorite news source because the government doesn't liek it sounds like something Saddam would do.

cry me a river. go look up WW2 and see how much censorship our government had in place. Al Jazzera is straight propaganda. I am sure if we could have closed down goebels we would have. thats what al jazzera is, propaganda. I see no problem closing it down. I am not supised you do tough. to bad you cant see your own candidate attempting to squash free speech in ytour own country

That coming from a Bush supporter, Trav?

It wasn't shut down by us...technically it was shut down by the puppet government we put into power. I have no respect for the Iraqi government. We oust a murderous dictator and the first things they do when they come back in power are reinstate the death penalty and censor the media. It's a democracy waiting to bloom! ;)

Originally posted by Travh20
Al Jazzera is straight propaganda... thats what al jazzera is, propaganda.

Your opinion nothing more...I'm sure some people believe "Fox News" is just propaganda, but you don't hear anyone saying they should be shut down.

I see no problem closing it down. I am not supised you do tough.

I'm not surprised you wish to suppress dissenting opinions either...

to bad you cant see your own candidate attempting to squash free speech in ytour own country

Assuming you're talking about Kerry, how is he trying to squash free speech in this country, and how as a Senator would he accomplish this?

At least when he has a rally he doesn't set up "free-speech zones", like the last guy who swore to "preserve, protect, and defend" the US Constitution is doing.

ita funny that all the attempts by the kerry campaign to silience the seift boat vetrans for truth, who were a disenting voice to kerry, go un recognized. tell me one instance where bush has tryed to halt dissenting political speech? you cant. he sits backs and takes 65 million dollars wrth of negative 527 ads. kerry get one group on his ass and he wants to shut them down. You liberals area ll talk, no action. you calim to be for free speech, but when someone says something bad about kerry, no one seems to care that he tries to get their book stopped and threatens lawsuits all over the place that are simply hollow threats. Then feminists turna blind eye to clinton and his antics. it never stops. dont tell me about free speech. I will let you in on a small secret too, its not free, its paid for by those a lot braver then you.

oh ya, and kerry had certain areas for protestors too pagan. dont try that crap with me. do you think the reason you never see protestors or dissenters at democrat conventions and funcitons is because everyone agrees with them? Whatever :rolleyes:

ita funny that all the attempts by the kerry campaign to silience the seift boat vetrans for truth, who were a disenting voice to kerry, go un recognized.
The only silencing that would have been done, would be themselves. Backing down when everybody found out they lied had have all been proven wrong. Proving somebody wrong is not taking away their freedom of speech.

oh ya, and kerry had certain areas for protestors too pagan. dont try that crap with me. do you think the reason you never see protestors or dissenters at democrat conventions and funcitons is because everyone agrees with them? Whatever
The reason there are no protestors, is because multimilionares don't bother to get off their asses to protest at something they could buy out. There have been smaller protests, and we have seen them, but never of the scale you would see at a Republican convention. Rednecks just don't care that much it seems, while the liberals do.

Regardless of what Al Jazeera puts in their brodcasts, or how they are bias. They are still a news source. And the people have the right to have news from all opinions. People did die for that right too.

Originally posted by Vilepagan
At least when he has a rally he doesn't set up "free-speech zones", like the last guy who swore to "preserve, protect, and defend" the US Constitution is doing.

Um, I'm afraid he does Vile. Or rather the Secret Service does.

Ha. I love how everything trav says is anti-Kerry mud slinging regardless of the topic. Anyhoo...

While I don't agree with Iraq's shutting down of AJ, I can see why they've done it. Jazeera has promoted a lot of rebel messages and such, all of which certainly aren't helping them set up a peaceful, calm govt. Still, though, this isn't exactly the first thing you would expect a freedom loving democracy to do, and it certainly isn't an "American" ideal. However, given the situation and the times I can understand why the Iraqi govt doesn't want a network airing "Kill the Invader Government" messages.

Originally posted by Blibblob
ita funny that all the attempts by the kerry campaign to silience the seift boat vetrans for truth, who were a disenting voice to kerry, go un recognized.
The only silencing that would have been done, would be themselves. Backing down when everybody found out they lied had have all been proven wrong. Proving somebody wrong is not taking away their freedom of speech.

LOL, where have they been proven wrong? sorry, but a bunch of kerry supports screaming that they are lying doesnt prove them wrong. they are still there, still putting out comercials. you can not point out a single thing they have said that can be proven wrong. of course unless kerry releases his complete records, which he is clearly hesitant to do. only in the minds of those who hate them have these guys been proven wrong in any way.

Originally posted by Blibblob
[b]oh ya, and kerry had certain areas for protestors too pagan. dont try that crap with me. do you think the reason you never see protestors or dissenters at democrat conventions and funcitons is because everyone agrees with them? Whatever
The reason there are no protestors, is because multimilionares don't bother to get off their asses to protest at something they could buy out. There have been smaller protests, and we have seen them, but never of the scale you would see at a Republican convention. Rednecks just don't care that much it seems, while the liberals do.

Regardless of what Al Jazeera puts in their brodcasts, or how they are bias. They are still a news source. And the people have the right to have news from all opinions. People did die for that right too.

ok bliblob, stick to that liberal mantra that nobody cares as much as you. you will go far in liberal circle sif you stick to those guns. Say it ofetn, and dont worry about actually doing anyhting to make the lives of those you care for better, the important thing is people know you care more then conservatives.

and let me ask you this. do you think in WW2 that we should have broadcasted the german propaganda in america? its a news source right? maybe we should start piping al jazzera into every living room in america so people can see both sides of it. we dont get our nightly dose of "treacherous infidel dogs martyered 24 comrades today in Njaf, allah be praised"

Originally posted by LionelHutz
Um, I'm afraid he does Vile. Or rather the Secret Service does.

Well, that would be the Secret Service then wouldn't it?

Here's a good reason not to shut down al-Jazeera...

And finally, that truth is great and will prevail if left to herself; that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict unless by human interposition disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate; errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them.-- Thomas Jefferson

Originally posted by Vilepagan
Well, that would be the Secret Service then wouldn't it?

Right. Not Bush.

Originally posted by Vilepagan
Here's a good reason not to shut down al-Jazeera...

so do you think it was wrong for us to censor the "news" coming out of NAzi Germany?

Originally posted by Travh20
so do you think it was wrong for us to censor the "news" coming out of NAzi Germany?

I'm not sure exactly what you are referring to...we did censor soldiers letters home, but we did not stop radio broadcasts of "Axis Sally", "Lord Haw Haw", or "Tokyo Rose".

If we shut down Al-Jazeera, a lot of Arabs will assume we did so to stop them from broadcasting the truth. If Al-Jazeera is broadcasting lies, we should let them, since it will become apparent in short order that they are not a worthy news source.

Another thing : Al Jazeera, being the only independent arab TV station, is usually the recipient of many messages by various armed / religious/ clandestine groups. That infuriates many people but on the other hand this is quite useful : it is a channel of communication with these groups. Supressing this channel won't make the terrorists disappear, it will only make them harder to contact for negociators when necessary.

ya, and closing it will make it harder for these groups to send secret messages to each other encoded in their statements. All of al qeadas attacks happen after an appearence by OBL on a station like this making some statement, in which are the code words to initiate the attack sequence. but that is only one reason to stop it. when your in a war you dont give your opponents free propaganda. you guys are acting as if all of this is happening in a vaccum. ya, shutting down a "news source" sounds bad, but with all the things involved its not such a bad idea.