Pentagon targetted Al-Jazeera

A little while ago I saw the movie Control Room, about the Al-Jazeera perspective on the Iraq war. I remember when the part where the Al-Jazeera office in Kabul was blown up by a 500 pound bomb dropped by Americans, with no warning. The movie showed the grief and shock of the Al-Jazeera reporters learning that their colleagues had been killed (I'm tempted to use the word murder, but at the time they didn't know whether it was an accident or not). Despite this, the movie remained relatively objective: they pointed out that many believed the bombing had been on purpose, yet made it clear there was no proof, and that also showed clips of the Pentagon denied it and apologizing for the accident. And when the movie was made, I think that was all that was known.

But just now I was reading a book review on the New York Times, about Al-Jazeera. Buried in the middle of the review, I find this paragraph:

As well as putting bin Laden on the air, Al Jazeera reported from the receiving end of the Afghan war: the civilian casualties, the houses and lives destroyed. Finally, as the Northern Alliance forces advanced, the Jazeera offices in Kabul were obliterated by an American 500-pound bomb. After initial denials, a Pentagon spokesman admitted that Al Jazeera had been targeted as an alleged locus of Qaeda activity. General Tommy Franks said that a bin Laden deputy, Muhammad Atef, was among the casualties in the attack. (He was killed again a few weeks later, in a completely separate incident.)

In my opinion, this was a war crime committed by the United States. The lies make it even worse -- first lying that it wasn't intentional, second lying about using Muhammad Atef as an excuse for the bombing.