On November 22, the Daily Mirror newspaper in Britain published an exclusive article headlined "Bush Plot to Bomb his Ally." A subsidiary headline said: "President Bush planned to bomb Arab TV station al Jazeera in friendly Qatar, a 'Top Secret' No. 10 memo reveals."

According to the report that followed, it seems that British Prime Minister Tony Blair was able to convince the president that such an attack would provoke a backlash, leading to increased unrest in the region. Subsequently, an American government spokesperson assured Blair that the president had been "humorous, not serious" in what he said.

But, wrote the Daily Mirror, "another [official U.S.] source declared 'Bush was deadly serious.' "