AL-JAZEERA SCOOPS RIVALS ON TWO BIG STORIES

The Arab news network Al Jazeera on Thursday broadcast details of what were described as “the secret personal diaries” of captured Al Qaeda figure Abu Zubaydah. It said that it had received the documents, translated into English, from a former U.S. government intelligence official who worked with the CIA and FBI. The official was not identified. Abu Zubaydah has been held since 2002 at the U.S. prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The diaries cover a period of his life from 1990 to his capture. While they have been referred to in government documents — Abu Zubaydah is mentioned 52 times in the 9/11 Commission Report — U.S. officials have steadfastly refused to release them, despite numerous freedom of information filings by U.S. and international news media. Also on Thursday, Al Jazeera was the first to report that Swiss forensic scientists conducting an autopsy on the remains of Yasser Arafat had concluded that the Palestinian leader probably died from polonium poisoning.