ex-idaho

Hackers put U.S. flag on Al Jazeera site

I suspect that the US government is behind this hacking but I have no evidence to support this. I think the ultimate evidence will be if people are tracked down and prosecuted which I think is very unlikely.

Regardless of who is behind this I think it is a very dangerous and infantile stunt. The last thing this country needs is a further inflaming of Arab peoples by insulting them and their religious sensitivities. By taking over a Arab news site and posting religious rhetoric and circumventing the freedom of the press we have shown a great disrespect for the freedoms that we claim to cherish.

John Hancock

Ditto Ex

Martin Buber

Athius

O man, there are already 3 threads made just for this topic, why can't people look at the topics already being discussed before posting their own.

echidna

See now for me I see this as entirely the opposite. Earlier in the week a US Marine raised the Stars and Stripes in one of the towns, maybe Umm Qatr, I can't recall. Before the outcry could even begin, he was ordered to remove it and was reprimanded.

The US knows that the last thing it wants is for this war as to be seen as a US conquering of Iraq so as such the US flag is being actively discouraged in Iraq since it plays so strongly against their declared motive which is simply to oust Hussein. I would strongly suggest that planting the US flag at Al Jazeera is only harmful to their war effort & they are well aware.

Kid hackers.

ex-idaho

I was impressed that they ordered the flag lowered. However, this is easily a covert opertion aimed at cutting off dissent from an outside source. Knowing that millions of people from around the world have been accessing that site since this all began months ago the US would likely attempt to limit the exposure of information that might reflect negatively on the operation. Now that information may not ba accurate and could very well be propaganada designed to further inflame hostilities in the Arab world but then again it may be accurate and going unreported by Western journalist because of the nature of the operation.

Krieger

Me too.

Liquidrage

I suspect you did it just so you could post your suspicions of the US government. Very clever.

Jesse

Government involvement would be more plausible if the site had simply gone down, but it's hard to see why the government would want to intentionally inflame the Arab world with a picture and message like that, especially when they seem to be trying hard not to do so in other areas (like not raising the flag in Iraq). From a strategic point of view, wouldn't it be pretty stupid?

MrSparkle

I think suspecting the US government is behind this shows (at least) a little ignorance.

They aren't likely to be procecuted, at least partially because it's a site outside the US, and the laws are sketchier.

capsaicin67

The US govt. even has got to have the minimal insight necessary to know that doing so would provoke the other Islamic/Arabic people even more. I think it more their style to disrupt it, but not put a flag on it. I think they demonstrate----via their policy of not placing flags in regions where troops are victorious---that they have that minimal level of strategic insight. But I can generate a conspiracy theory that could support the contention that the US govt did it: they did it to deliberately enflame the other Arabic peoples so they can ignite a helter-skelter, broader, theater of war. Now I don't believe that would be in their interest right now, exactly, but.....?

I think it more plausible and equally unprovable to assert that an Islamic group did it to get the aforementioned result.