Our "boots on the ground" correspondent Stephen, traveling the Middle East on a musical performance tour, reports from Kuwait. His first two reports are here and here.

Thanks again for getting the view out there-- I feel so frustrated watching this going on and then seeing the way it is reported [on al-Jazeera]. Frankly, the BBC does a much better and more balanced job, which is really saying something!

I only wish I had sent my last e-mail earlier-- I saw last night that the Iraqi Prov. Gov. is trying to kick out Al-Jazeera! Got that one right :-) It's hilarious watching Al-Jazeera here-- EVERYTHING has an anti-US angle. They made a HUGE deal about the idiot drunken soldier shooting the tiger in the Baghdad zoo. Ran that as the lead story for a while. What they won't run is this guy being punished and probably thrown out of the military-- ie, that he is accountable.

They even manage to do these live shows from Washington where they find a half dozen conservative Arabs in hejab and jelibiyah all going on about how they have been persecuted and their lives ruined and how they are under attack in the US, etc. For some this is true-- but it's the way it's presented by Jaz. as "ALL AMERICAN MUSLIMS UNDER ATTACK" that is so frustrating. Time for some balance.

All the best,
Stephen