Did Bush Want Al Jazeera Bombed?

London Paper Alleges Blair Urged Bush Not To Bomb Arab TV Station

(AP)  A British civil servant has been charged under the Official Secrets Act for allegedly leaking a government memo that, according to a newspaper report Tuesday, suggests Prime Minister Tony Blair persuaded U.S. President George W. Bush not to bomb the Arab satellite TV station Al-Jazeera.

According to the Daily Mirror, Bush spoke of targeting Al-Jazeera's headquarters in Doha, Qatar, when he met Blair at the White House on April 16 last year. The U.S. government has regularly accused Al-Jazeera of being nothing more than a mouthpiece for anti-American sentiments.

The Daily Mirror attributed its information to unidentified sources. It quoted one source, which it said was in the government, as saying that the alleged threat was "humorous, not serious," but it quoted another as saying "Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair."

"We are not interested in dignifying something so outlandish and inconceivable with a response," White House spokesman Scott McClellan told The Associated Press in an e-mail.

Blair's Downing Street office declined to comment on the report, stressing it never discussed leaked documents.

Al-Jazeera said in a statement that it was investigating the report and hoped the White House and Downing Street would either challenge it or explain the comment.