DOHA: Dogged by scandal, insurgency and rising anti-US sentiment in the Middle East, the United States has lashed out at the popular Arabic network Al Jazeera whose graphic coverage of Iraq seems to have hit a nerve.

During the 2003 US-led Iraq war, the 24-hour television news station made its name by beaming pictures of bloodied Iraqis, bombed Baghdad buildings and slain US and British soldiers into millions of Arab homes, providing an image of the war not often seen in the Western media.

The US administration has repeatedly criticized the Qatar-based channel's coverage of Iraq as "inaccurate and anti-American" but at the same time, US officials have appeared several times on the station.

But earlier this month, US President George W. Bush snubbed Jazeera and gave interviews about the abuse of Iraqi detainees to its rivals while his secretary of state raised concerns about the station with Qatar's foreign minister, saying its "inflammatory" coverage was clouding bilateral ties.

Qatar, a political maverick in the conservative Gulf, is one of the staunchest US allies in the Middle East. The US command centre for the Iraq war was based there.

Media experts and Jazeera supporters say the network has become Washington's whipping boy for exposing the human cost of the conflict. The channel itself says it is being subjected to veiled censorship by Washington.

"We did not create these photos or these images," said Jihad Ballout, the station's communications and media relations officer. "We are reporting what's on the ground, we are reflecting the reality."

"When the station emerged, everybody was full of praise because we shed the clutches of the censor and broke major taboos in the region, such as hosting Israeli spokespeople. This (recent) criticism has come about as a result of political expediency," he added. -Reuters