White House rubbishes alleged Bush plan to attack al Jazeera

The White House has dismissed as "outlandish" a report that President George W. Bush had wanted to bomb the Arab television news network al-Jazeera.

The Daily Mirror tabloid published what it called a "top secret" government memo which said British Prime Minister Tony Blair had talked Bush out of launching a military strike on the station.

"We are not going to dignify something so outlandish and inconceivable with a response," White House spokesman Scott Mcclellan said of the British report yesterday.

White House communications director Nicolle Wallace had earlier called the report "fanciful".

"We're not going to talk about private discussions that take place between the President and other leaders," Wallace said on MSNBC Television.

"But it's fanciful to think that the President of the United States of America, a champion really for free press all over the world, would ever have any serious notions to do anything of the sort."

Al Jazeera has drawn fierce criticism from the US administration, particularly since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

The Daily Mirror published a five-page transcript of a conversation between Bush and Blair during the Prime Minister's April 2004 visit to Washington which indicated Bush wanted to attack the station's Doha headquarters.

The Mirror quoted one unnamed British government official as saying Bush's threat was "humorous, not serious". However, another source said: "Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair. That much is absolutely clear from the language used by both men."