If The Spirit Moves You

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U.S. officials in Iraq expect a pro-Arab slant from Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based satellite television network that is beamed to about 40 million Arab viewers.

But as fighting has intensified in Fallujah, officials at the Coalition Provisional Authority charge that Al-Jazeera's reporting has become particularly biased and inflammatory — or flatly wrong — and that it is endangering American lives.

"If somebody sees it a different way than we do, that's OK. If somebody's got a different editorial view, that's OK. But when they start telling intentional lies, that goes beyond the pale," says Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, the authority's military spokesman in Baghdad.

On Thursday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called reports by Al-Jazeera that U.S. troops were terrorizing Iraqi civilians "vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable. They are simply lying."

In recent weeks, officials have begun to strictly monitor, then check, all of the reporting of Al-Jazeera; they're going public with errors in hopes of putting pressure on the network.

This is not the first time the Bush administration has quarreled with Al-Jazeera, which it has at times branded as Osama bin Laden's "mouthpiece." But it is the most public stance yet against the network's reporting.

A provisional authority report shows 34 instances from April 8 to 13 in which officials said Al-Jazeera hyped, misreported or distorted events in Iraq. Those ranged from reports of a U.S. F-16 and a Chinook helicopter being shot down to U.S. soldiers killing and mutilating civilians, using cluster bombs and firing at Al-Jazeera reporters.

None of those reports was true, Kimmitt says, but the fallout can be deadly for U.S. forces.

"Much of what we are doing over here depends on the consent and trust of the Iraqi people. When an organization intentionally tries to break that trust and confidence, that puts us in a more precarious position," including Iraqis avenging killings "that we did not do."

A spokesman for Al-Jazeera, Jihad Ballout, says "it is news to me" that the authority had begun a list of what it says are Al-Jazeera's journalistic offenses, but he has heard Rumsfeld's charge.

"I think the harsh criticism is unwarranted," Ballout says. "We are merely a news organization that tries to do its job as professionally as possible, that reports what's on the ground and tries to be as comprehensive as possible. We have never shied away from inviting comments and responses from American authorities."

Kimmitt and others say U.S. authorities have repeatedly complained to Al-Jazeera about its reports. As for Ballout's comment, Kimmitt says, "I fear he protests a bit too much."

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