Wolfowitz made the Sunday talk-show rounds defending the use of ‘murky’ intelligence in the decision-making process of pre-emptive strikes.
At the same time he condemned al-Jazeera. According to Wolfowitz they “ran a totally false report that American troops had gone and contained one of the key imams in the holy city of Najaf.”
Al-Jazeera station manager in response to the charge;
Adnan al-Sharif said the station had never reported the arrest, though it did carry reports from other agencies – which later proved to be untrue – that Sheikh Muqtada al-Sadr’s house had been surrounded by US troops.
Editor-in-chief Salah Negm in response to Wolfowitz’ naming of al-Arabiya as another that “incited hatred and violence by “slanting news incredibly” about events in Iraq.”
…al-Arabiya’s coverage “reflects the truth even if that angered some people”.
The detention in the northern city of Mosul of al-Jazeera journalist Nawfal al-Shahwani is mentioned in that article, a report that had been denied by U.S. military officials.
Yet according to this BBC report;
The Arab television station al-Jazeera reported on Monday that US troops had released its reporter Nawaf al-Shahwani and his driver, who were detained after filming an Iraqi civilian vehicle coming under fire from a US military patrol.
Mr al-Shahwani was said to be in good health after his release but the tape, which the station wants back, remains confiscated.
Still in the news today are reports of the efforts of Arlene Walters.
Mrs. Walters is the mother of the soldier whose combat efforts were somewhat applied to Pfc. Jessica Lynch by the American press and hardly disputed by the military until much later.
It was, fellow soldiers have told her, Sgt Donald Walters who performed many of the heroics attributed to Pte Lynch in the fanfare of publicity designed to lift the nation’s morale, and Sgt Walters who was killed after mounting a lone stand against the Iraqis who ambushed their convoy of maintenance vehicles near Nasiriyah.
Yet few, if any, of the Americans watching Pte Lynch’s homecoming last week have even heard her son’s name. “The military tell us that everyone who was in her unit was a hero,” Mrs Walters told The Telegraph. “In fact they have singled out Jessica Lynch as the hero, and they are not giving the recognition to my son that he deserves.
Mrs. Walters has an opinion as to why her son is not receiving the recognition he deserves;
“Perhaps the army don’t want to admit to the fact that he was left behind in the desert to fight alone,” she said. “It isn’t a good news story.”