[NYTr] Whose side is Al-Jazeera on?

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Press TV (Tehran) via Al-Wilayah - Jul 26, 2007
http://www.al-wilayah.org/whose_side_is_al.htm

Whose side is Al-Jazeera on?

By Mahdi Amirisefat, Press TV, Tehran

In a bid to undermine Iran's positive role in Iraq, Al-Jazeera TV
network has made efforts to downplay the importance of the US-Iran
talks, which can guarantee security in Iraq.

While the Iraqi government has described the second round of the talks
as a big achievement for the Iraqi nation, the Al-Jazeera TV website
tends to question Iran's positive role in the region by posting an
article headlined "US and Iran clash at Iraq talks".

Al-Jazeera's attempt comes at a time when Iran, Iraq and the US have
agreed on a new initiative to stymie the violence in Iraq while
security experts from the three countries are slated to form a
tripartite committee to support the Iraqi government.

Pundits did not expect such an early constructive result from the talks.

The Iranian Ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Kazemi-Qomi, who headed the
Iranian delegation, said that all sides had expressed their readiness
to support the Iraqi government led by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki
and pledged to use their influence and clout to achieve this aim.
Commenting on the results of the meeting, Qomi said, "If the talks make
the US correct its policies in Iraq, it could be considered as a step
forward."

Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari meanwhile said in a statement
released on Tuesday, "This meeting has been challenging but productive
and we feel it has produced some real results". He said the tripartite
committee's objectives are "to battle al-Qaeda insurgents and support
general stability in the country".

The Iraqi government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh who described the talks
as a big achievement for the Iraqi nation, said in an interview with
al-Alam TV channel that the second round of trilateral talks was quite
'successful'. The Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Bahram Salih also
supported Iran-US agreements saying the talks would benefit the Iraqi
nation, its neighbors and the US.

The US Ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker who headed the US delegation,
also commented on the meeting saying, "We made the point that the
agreement on principle is important and the principle that both Iran
and the United States support is a democratic, stable Iraq."

He also said, "No people have suffered greater harm under Saddam
Hussein than the Iraqis themselves, but second only to the Iraqis are
the Iranians. The vicious eight-year-war that Saddam launched against
them has to be something that no Iranian will ever forget."

Al-Jazeera has always tried to suggest that the Iran-US talks will be
of no benefit to Iraq, but the question that remains is: apart from
serving as a platform to broadcast footage of terrorist organizations,
what does Al-Jazeera do in order to help the situation in Iraq?

Why does Al-Jazeera fuel sectarian and religious violence in Iraq and
elsewhere in the region and try to undermine the efforts geared to
improve security in Iraq? When all sides except the extremists seem
satisfied and hope to defuse the crisis in Iraq, why is Al-Jazeera so
angry about the trilateral negotiations?

Whose side is Al-Jazeera on?