U.S.

Al-Jazeera Jilts CNN In Tape Tiff

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

February 1, 2002 / 1:18 PM EST / CBS

An influential Arab satellite station that chose not to air its own interview with Osama bin Laden cut ties with CNN because the cable network broadcast excerpts of the taped interview.

CNN and Al-Jazeera had an agreement to share material. CNN said the deal gave it the right to all Al-Jazeera's material and it did nothing wrong. Al-Jazeera accused the American network of obtaining the tape illegally.

"Al-Jazeera will sever its relationship with CNN" and will take action against "organizations and individuals who stole this video and distributed it illegally," CNN quoted the Qatar-based station as saying Thursday after airing a story about the videotape.

"It's a shame that it came to that," CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan said, "but once the tape came into our hands, it would have been journalistically irresponsible to ignore it."

CNN on Thursday began airing brief excerpts of what it said was a 60-minute interview obtained earlier in the week "from a non-governmental source."

"I think Al-Jazeera has some tough questions to answer" as to why it never made the tape public, Jordan said.

A journalist with Al-Jazeera told Reuters that the tape was shelved because the satellite station did not want to appear to be too close to bin Laden.

"We decided under the circumstances at that time that airing the interview would have strengthened the belief that we are a mouthpiece for bin Laden. We decided against airing it," the journalist said.

"The interview was not that newsworthy. It was full of preaching and looked like a (Muslim) Friday sermon," added the journalist, who asked to remain anonymous.

The Arab station has repeatedly broadcast exclusive footage of bin Laden making similar statements on terrorism. Al-Jazeera also aired a video released by the United States showing the al-Qaida leader appearing to discuss the planning of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The satellite network, based in the Gulf state of Qatar, has won popularity among Arab audiences by exploring political subjects considered taboo by other stations in the Arab world, which are mostly state-run.

Gulf Arab sources said Al-Jazeera may have decided against airing the tape because in it bin Laden attacks Qatar for backing the U.S. war in Afghanistan.

In the interview, believed to have been held in October, Al-Jazeera correspondent Taysir Alouni pressed bin Laden about his responsibility for the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States but got ambiguous answers.

"America has made many accusations against us and many other Muslims around the world. Its charge that we are carrying out acts of terrorism is unwarranted," bin Laden said.

But moments later, he said: "If inciting people to do that is terrorism, and if killing those who kill our sons is terrorism then let history be witness that we are terrorists."

Bin Laden wore camouflage fatigues and spoke without emotion as he told his interviewer that killing innocent civilians "is permissible in Islamic law."

"I tell you, freedom and human rights in America are doomed. The U.S. government will lead the American people in and the West in general into an unbearable hell and a choking life," bin Laden said.

Bin Laden also was asked whether he was responsible for the anthrax-by-mail attacks in the United States that have killed five people.

"These diseases are a punishment from God and a response to oppressed mothers' prayers in Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine and everywhere," he responded.

The interview was believed to have occurred about two weeks before the Taliban abandoned the capital, Kabul, and more than a month before the former ruling militia surrendered their last major stronghold, Kandahar.

That also would have been about the time American officials were criticizing Al-Jazeera's coverage of the bombing campaign as inflammatory propaganda.

U.S. officials had urged American networks to be careful in airing Al-Jazeera's bin Laden videos, saying he could use them to send coded messages to his fighters.

Al-Jazeera is a 24-hour station owned by Qatar's government but known for a fairly independent editorial line. It reaches more than 35 million Arabs, including 150,000 in the United States.

The interview's existence apparently was known in government and intelligence circles soon after it was done. CNN said the U.S. government had a copy and British Prime Minister Tony Blair quoted the interview in a speech to Parliament in November.