WASHINGTON — Stepping up the Bush administration's campaign to counter what it considers incendiary coverage of Iraq, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell met Tuesday with Qatar's foreign minister for "intense discussions" about the government-funded Al Jazeera satellite TV station.
Powell said after the meeting with Sheik Hamad Jassim ibn Jaber al Thani that news coverage by the world's most popular Arabic-language television station has "intruded" on relations between the United States and the tiny Persian Gulf state.
Although he declined to discuss specific remedies, Powell said he expected the discussions to last several days with the Qataris, among the most important U.S. military allies in the gulf region.
The administration has become increasingly incensed at the station's coverage, which it contends incites Arab audiences to violence against U.S. troops and their allies in the Iraqi government.
The U.S.-led coalition has begun systematically monitoring the station and compiling its objections to the reporting, which Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has denounced as "vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable." Last week, Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage conveyed U.S. unhappiness to Qatari officials during a visit.
The effort to curb Al Jazeera is evidence of the increasing importance the Bush administration attaches to influencing the flow of information in the Middle East at a time when anti-American sentiment is soaring. The U.S. government has launched a television channel and a radio station to try to win over Arabs.
The move against Al Jazeera also comes as the administration has struggled with other information and media issues, some posing serious problems for its Mideast strategy.
The U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq has faced criticism for closing down a newspaper published by radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr last month, a move that set off an armed confrontation with Sadr's militia.
At home, the administration has been forced to defend its decision to bar the media from photographing coffins carrying the remains of troops back to the United States.
U.S. officials contend that Al Jazeera has falsely reported that American troops are attacking civilians and are using controversial weapons, such as antipersonnel cluster bombs that disperse deadly pellets across a large area.
