WASHINGTON, 2 May 2006 — The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, an anti-illegal immigration organization that patrols the border in Arizona, has refused another interview request by Al-Jazeera TV, calling it a “terrorist TV station.”
The Minutemen volunteers, many of them Vietnam, Korean and World War II veterans, said they would leave camp if the Arab news organization, which some described as “anti-American,” was given access to the site.
Al-Jazeera has attracted millions of viewers throughout the Arab world with its coverage of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and its airing of tapes of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
But Al-Jazeera’s growing popularity also brought it greater scrutiny. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accused the Qatar-based network of encouraging militants by airing hostage executions. And Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly branded it a “propaganda network...bent on encouraging violence and sympathetic to terrorists.”
The controversy between the Minutemen and Al-Jazeera started a year ago, when Nasreddine Hssaini, a Washington, D.C.-based Al-Jazeera reporter, said he wanted to interview leaders of the Minutemen and others in Arizona.
Hssaini said he was interested in covering the increase in apprehensions of illegal aliens known as OTMs — “Other Than Mexicans.” Reportedly, these foreigners increasingly include Arabs, Muslims and others from the Middle East.
At the time, the founder and president of MCDC, Chris Simcox, refused Al-Jazeera request to interview and film the Minuteman patrols on the border.
“I’ll have no part in aiding and abetting the enemy, and will continue to work to protect our country from terrorists who are clearly looking at our unsecured borders as the pathway to destroy America,” he said in a June 2005 interview.
“Would we allow Japanese or German television to film the unsecured border during World War II?” Minuteman spokeswoman Connie Hair added. “These people broadcast to the enemies of America. It’s not a news story, it’s recon.”
But Al-Jazeera did not abandon the project, and finally negotiated an agreement with Simcox.
Now, according to Connie Foust, a MCDC sector head, when the news organization announced it had the “OK” from Simcox and wanted to interview and show the volunteers — may of whom are armed at their border observation posts — the volunteers said they would refuse to stay in camp if Al-Jazeera showed up.
But local journalism professors defended Al-Jazeera.
“With constant news that Middle Easterners may try to slip through Mexico, it’s no wonder that an Arab news channel would also be interested,” said Alan Weisman, a University of Arizona journalism professor.
“Al-Jazeera is a legitimate news organization. If we have the right to go into Middle Eastern countries to cover issues, why on earth shouldn’t we allow them to come here, particularly since we allege that Middle Easterners might try to cross the border? That’s a story of great journalistic interest,” Weisman told reporters.
