It’s official: just as Al-Jazeera has declared its intention to “present a clear, factual and accurate picture” in its news coverage, it has been approved by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission for broadcast in Canada. Putting this approval in perspective is the fact that another “fair and balanced” news outlet, Fox News, is still waiting for approval from the same body. Another example of Canada’s wobbliness in the war on terror? You be the judge. Some of Canada’s newest news outlet’s most notorious deeds include:

• Repeatedly airing the most vile anti-Americanism, including statements made shortly before 9/11 by Abd al-Bari ‘Atwan, editor of the London Arabic publication Al-Quds al-Arabi. On Al-Jazeera, ‘Atwan called the U.S. “a terrorist regime that has killed innocent people since 1945 to this very moment.” Osama bin Laden, on the other hand, was for ‘Atwan “a legitimate jihad fighter. Bin Laden has a work plan … to harass the U.S., to harm its presence in the region as much as he can.”[1]

• Trampling upon the Geneva convention by showing footage of American prisoners of war being interrogated in Iraq, as well as of American soldiers killed by Iraqis.[2]

• Featuring the radical Muslim cleric Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, who made headlines by defending suicide bombing during a recent trip to London (earning him an invitation to return from London Mayor “Red Ken” Livingstone), on an Islamic issues program entitled “Sharia and Life.”[3]

• Airing, on several notorious occasions, video and audio communiqués by Osama bin Laden and other leading jihadists, thereby allowing them to spread jihad ideology and hatred of America all over the Arabic-speaking world — and never divulging how it obtained the tapes.[4]

• Highlighting messages from the likes of Osama bin Laden’s spokesman, Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, and other high-profile terrorists.[5]

• Filming footage of a Baghdad suicide attack that indicated that someone in the network knew in advance when and where the bombing was going to take place.[6]

• Lying about attacks by U.S. soldiers against Iraqi civilians — propaganda disguised as reporting that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called “vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable.”[7]

Also, last September of one of its star journalists, Taysir Allouni (who was able to get close enough to Osama to interview him in 2001, and was also the only foreign correspondent allowed into Afghanistan by the Taliban regime), was imprisoned in Spain for involvement with Al-Qaeda, and in particular with the group responsible for the 9/11 attacks.[8]

Of course, now the network has instituted a much-balleyhooed new ethics code, not only pledging accurate reporting but also promising to consider “the feelings of victims of crime, war, persecution and disasters, their relatives, viewers and individual privacy” before airing the next jihadist beheading video. However, troubling questions remain. The network has not repudiated its manifest support for the global jihad. And even as the new code of ethics was announced, news editor Ahmed al-Sheikh defended the network’s previous practices: “Some people say we are taking the nightmares into people's houses and we are putting too much blood on the screens…. If we don’t report the ugly face of the war, would that mean we abided by the criteria? ... Would we be embellishing the face of the war?”[9]

Al-Jazeera executives have claimed that the network has been criticized by American officials only because it doesn’t accept the American understanding of the war on terror, and because it portrays the Muslim perspective on the burning issues of the day. No doubt these two considerations made the network’s application far more attractive than Fox’s to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. The members of that august body no doubt share the visceral anti-Americanism generally held by the Canadian elite — as well as an anxiousness to accommodate and pacify Canada’s rapidly growing Muslim population.

But the incidents recounted above and others like them suggest that Canada may be getting more than it bargained for. According to a recent report by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, “Terrorism of foreign origin continues to be a major concern in regard to the safety of Canadians at home and abroad. … Canada is viewed by some terrorist groups as a place to try to seek refuge, raise funds, procure materials and/or conduct other support activities. ... Virtually all of the most notorious international terrorist organizations are known to maintain a network presence in Canada.” From the looks of its track record, Al-Jazeera will provide these Canadian-based terrorists with a source of news, encouragement, and instruction.

What’s more, it will serve these radical Muslims as a useful recruiting tool. For jihadist recruiters in Canada, Al-Jazeera is likely to be an electronic madrassa beaming, twenty-four hours a day, the teachings and perspective of radical Islam into the living rooms of Canadian Muslims. Nor will this be a problem for Canada alone: what is to prevent those whom Al-Jazeera radicalizes and recruits for the global jihad from slipping across the border into the Great Satan?

Whenever that happens, and whatever they succeed in doing here, you can be sure that it will be carried — and celebrated — on Al-Jazeera.

Notes:

[1] Kenneth R. Timmerman, “Live From Qatar: It’s Jihad Television,” Insight On the News, February 11, 2002.

[2] Walid Phares, “Jihad TV,” National Review Online, March 26, 2003.

[3] Ibid. For Qaradawi’s visit to London, see “Al-Qaradawi full transcript,” BBC News, July 8, 2004.

[4] Cf. “Al-Jazeera Shows New Bin Laden Tape,” Fox News, September 11, 2003.

[5] Timmerman, op cit.

[6] John R. Bradley, “Crunch-time for Al-Jazeera,” The Straits Times, December 1, 2003.

[7] Peter Johnson, “U.S. says Al-Jazeera putting troops at risk,” USA Today, April 18, 2004.

[8] “Espagne: emprisonnement confirmé pour Tayssir Allouni, journaliste vedette d’Al-Jazira,” Latinreporters.com, September 12, 2003.

[9] “Al Jazeera unveils code of ethics,” CNN, July 13, 2004.