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Washington, 24 June (AKI) - The Iraqi prime
minister has attacked the satellite news channel Al-Jazeera
during his visit to Washington. "The Iraqi people
see Al-Jazeera as it really is, an instrument or a
tool to be used against Iraqi people.
We inside Iraq see Al-Jazeera as an instrument of
distortion of the news. The Iraqi people hugely
oppose this news channel," he said, during a
conference held at the Council of Foreign Relations
in the US capital.
Al-Jazeera has been banned from operating in Iraq
since last August. Al-Jaafari made the comment when
challenged by an Al-Jazeera reporter over the ban,
the Emirates-based newspaper Khaleej Times reported.
"Only the negative aspects of Iraq are aired on Al-Jazeera
TV," the recently-appointed Iraqi premier said,
before going on to criticise other Arab television
channels, but without mentioning any other names.
"Therefore we ask all media channels to speak the
truth. Let them say all the things they want about
the government and criticise it as much as they
want, but they must be accurate," he said.
On Friday, the Iraqi Shiite leader is due to meet
the US president George W. Bush. They are expected
to discuss the security situation in Iraq and plans
to draft a new constitution by August.
On Thursday, al-Jaafari had talks with the
vice-president Dick Cheney and the US national
security advisor Steve Hadley, as well as meetings
with members of Congress and lunch with the former
US administrator of Iraq, Paul Bremer.
Ahead of his visit, White House spokesman Scott
McClellan praised al-Jaafari, telling journalists:
"Prime Minister Jaafari is a courageous leader who
is committed to building a free and democratic
future for Iraq and committed to building a better
future for the Iraqi people. This visit does come at
a critical time in Iraq's historic transformation."
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