Will EchoStar Carry Al-Jazeera HD?

[moss]

I've never watched Al Jazeera. The only clips I have ever seen from Al Jazeera are the ones the US networks carry of a group of radical islamic terrorists holding a kidnapped American(s) on their knees blindfolded. A terrorist is usually reading a long statement about the destruction of the west or Israel and then they saw off the kidnapped victim's head. Or I remember the clip of dead American soldiers being dragged thru the streets of some city while the citizens cheer the deaths. Or similar such clips. So my view is tainted by an Al Jazeera that provides a media outlet that in my view enables the terrorists to get their message of terror out. I never saw any clips from Al Jazeera concerning the murderous reign of Saddam and his sons or what I believe to be the evil tyranny of the Talaban, but like I said I have never really watched the channel other than the clips I've seen on the US networks. My opinion is that I will still get the clips of Al Jazeera promoting the message of terror no matter if DISH carries the network of not. I will not pay for the channel and if it were to become a part of the HD Platinium package that I pay for I would leave DISH. Also I believe the prior poster's comment on Neville Chamberlain was of course a comment on Chamberlain holding the view that the evil of the Nazi's could be contained with a treaty. A grave mistake. My opinion would agree with the prior poster that we are in a similar situation in America today, one view that holds that we can contain the murderous terror of radical islamists by "treaty" or agreement; the other view held by President Bush and his administration is that it must be met with military force. Since you stated your opinion Posty-McPost I'll state mine, there was nothing "just" about the Talaban or Saddam. And my conversations with soldiers that have actually been to Iraq and returned is that the people of Iraq are extremely thankful for our military assistance. Radical islamists and the nations that support them are the ones proclaiming the unjustness of the war in Iraq.

 

[wtb955]

No one is defending barbaric actions. We are pointing out the difference between participating in those actions and reporting on them. There is nothing patriotic about pretending no one celebrates when American die.

Your suggestion that Hitler would have just gone away if only Neville Chamberlain had insisted that no news outlets report on what was happening is absurd. Ignorance does not make you stronger.

You call me ignorant? Neville Chamberlain never insisted we simply ignore Germany so they would go away. His policy, and by default England’s, was one of rationalization, appeasement and concessions. Too bad it took several million dead human beings to figure out that the policy was wrong. To appease a situation by ignoring it or rationalizing actions and views is paramount to endorsing it! Furthermore, Al Jazeera is participating in these zealots’ actions. Their newscasts, interviews and the positions they take show that. Use the damn web to do a little research before calling me ignorant! As I've said, at some point people need to wake up and realize that by turning a blind eye to something and calling it "reporting" or a "different" point of view is only furthering the chaos! I've had enough of appeasement; I want someone to fix the problem. And to do that, tough choices need to be made. The first of which is facing up to the problem. There have been enough Americans coming home in body bags. And remember this, not all of those body bags contained soiders; many of them were just ordinary people who wanted to live a quiet, normal life and had the misfortune to run into "foaming at the mouth" American haters. :

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Once again, Al Jazeera is not the enemy. It is not owned or operated by terrorist forces.

Al Jazeera is an independent Arab news channel. It is based in Qatar, which is an ally of the United States. Qatar was one of the primary launch bases used by the USA for the Iraq invasion. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) has its headquarters there.

Many of Al Jazeera's staff used to work for the BBC's Arabic Language service before that was shut down.

8 of the 24 hours a day of Al Jazeera's broadcasting comes from London and Washington DC.

Post after post here has implied that Al Jazeera is associated with Al Qaeda, but there is no evidence of this. Was it associated with the Taliban? No. With Saddam? No.

Is there a pro-Arab, anti-US bias to their reporting? Probably so. No surprise there. An anti-US bias would probably be present from nearly every news channel from every non-US country in the world.

It strikes me as odd that the USA has troops in Iraq and Afghanistan with the purpose being to turn those countries over to democratically-elected Arab/local governments. However we are apparently against a free Arab press and consider it near traitorous to broadcast that free press into our country.

Of course there are many in this country who don't respect our own freedom of the press, so this doesn't surprise me. Just today I heard that a string of motels/hotels pulled CNN from its TV channels because CNN dared to air some video that showed Iraqi insurgents shooting at US solders, as if to show this video was abetting terrorism and unpatriotic. I guess before seeing this video, the American public was supposed to think that the insurgents were only hurling words at the solders.

 

[Sapient]

You call me ignorant? Neville Chamberlain never insisted we simply ignore Germany so they would go away.

Your argument has always been that seeing what is happening in the world makes us weaker. Your attempt to use Chamberlain as an example is just standared knee jerk misreading of history.

But, hell, even if your racially charged paranoia turned out to be accurate, we are STILL better off listening in. What ever rationalization you are using, you are still favoring ignorance over knowledge.

Use the damn web to do a little research before calling me ignorant!

Yes, the mark of a well informed person is the need for someone else to find evidence to support his claims.

As I've said, at some point people need to wake up and realize that by turning a blind eye to something and calling it "reporting" or a "different" point of view is only furthering the chaos! I've had enough of appeasement; I want someone to fix the problem. And to do that, tough choices need to be made. The first of which is facing up to the problem. There have been enough Americans coming home in body bags. And remember this, not all of those body bags contained soiders; many of them were just ordinary people who wanted to live a quiet, normal life and had the misfortune to run into "foaming at the mouth" American haters. :

Sorry, but Americans, and others, are dying precisely because certain people refuse to distinguish between real threats and race based paranoia. How many troops are you going to send to their deaths to stop this terrible treat from Al Jazeera? How many Americans have to die before you will put some thought into your beliefs? HOw much help do you have to give the terrorists before you are satisfied?