Bush talked out of bombing Al-Jazeera?

This conversation allegedly took place in 2004, a year after the invasion of Iraq. Bush wanted to launch a strike into Doha, Qatar?

(AFP) US President George W. Bush planned to bomb pan-Arab television broadcaster al-Jazeera, British newspaper the Daily Mirror said, citing a Downing Street memo marked "Top Secret".

The five-page transcript of a conversation between Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair reveals that Blair talked Bush out of launching a military strike on the station, unnamed sources told the daily which is against the war in Iraq.

The transcript of the pair's talks during Blair's April 16, 2004 visit to Washington allegedly shows Bush wanted to attack the satellite channel's headquarters.

Blair allegedly feared such a strike, in the business district of Doha, the capital of Qatar, a key western ally in the Persian Gulf, would spark revenge attacks.

Leaving aside the ethical and legal questions of intentionally targeting media, how bad of an idea was this? I don't care what they're broadcasting, bombing Al Jazeera, and more pertinently, Qatar, is certainly not gonna win many hearts and minds.

After all, it's the reporting that's turning the Islamists against us, right?

My mind is boggled by the massive political insanity of this, so no great contextual analyisis here. Read the whole thing and decide for yourself. It's short.

As an aside, McClellan hasn't held a real press gaggle since Nov. 7th. Sure, they've been on the road alot, but still..... Can't wait to read the next one. How many hard questions are there gonna be? Murtha, secret prisons, falling war support, Woodward, torture, Rove and Libby lied to you, does Cheney still have the president's support, this story ....... Like going to the dentist, I don't think putting it off is gonna make it any better.

UPDATE: BBC is reporting "A White House official said: "We are not going to dignify something so outlandish with a response.""

And here's Al Jazeera's take on it. ( From the english version.)

And the original Mirror story. You may have to try a few times, the link is slow. The way I got it was to go to the Mirror website and click through from there.

Later, the push seems to be that Bush's statements were a joke, delivered in a humorous tone. But if that's true, then why did Blair take the time in detail to talk him out of it? That's a pretty weird joke going back and forth. Or does Tony Blair think Bush is so f***ing crazy that he took the joke seriously. I don't buy it.