Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Joking to Death

"My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes."
With those words, broadcast inadvertently on the radio, President Reagan put the world on nuclear alert. It's not quite in the same league, thanks be to God, but memos leaked from the UK today claim that Bush was seriously (or jokingly, depending on who you ask) considering bombing the headquarters of Al Jazeera, which is based in Qatar. The text of the memo itself hasn't been released, but it seems to me that if Blair had to convince Bush that it wasn't a good idea, then perhaps he wasn't joking?

Update: The original Mirror article is not much more detailed. I really want to see the memo!

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