Pentagon-sanctioned reporters 'embedded' with American troops were supposed to bring the US public closer to the action in Iraq.

However, it has been al-Jazeera, the channel based in Qatar, which has brought the most disturbing images -- including those of dead American soldiers and prisoners of war -- to US homes and offices.

Many US broadcasters, including CNN and NBC, chose not to broadcast the clips the night they were shown in media outlets around the rest of the world.

A CNN journalist, Aaron Brown, in fact, got into a heated debate with an al Jazeera senior editor about the decision to air the footage before the families of the POWs could be informed of their capture.

Al-Jazeera has now decided to bring its unique coverage to the Web for the non-Arabic audience.

The al-Jazeera English-language Web site, http://english.aljazeera.net, is sure to rile Western readers with headlines like "Coalition of the Willing Has Become a Joke", and "US 'precision' bomb destroys civilian bus".

The stories are often without bylines. A story headlined "US remembers Geneva Convention" had the following blurb: "Images of surrendering Iraqi soldiers being forced to kneel down and body-searched by US-troops stirred few emotions in the Western world."

In an obvious poke at Fox News, which some Muslim media critics like the Council on Foreign Relations say has a conservative agenda that is biased against Arabs, the title bar of the Web site pronounces: "Al Jazeera -- Objective and Balanced Global News and Analysis."

Managing Editor Joanne Tucker, who has worked with the BBC, told The Wall Street Journal that the site would, however, follow Western standards of journalism.

But critics in the West have derided the broadcaster's "Arab bias", and in some cases it has led to a backlash -- one incident being the New York Stock Exchange's decision to withdraw the accreditation of two of the channel's journalists.

There is a world of difference in the way Western and Arab medias are covering the war in Iraq. While US broadcasters title their coverage "War on Iraq", or "Operation Iraqi Freedom", Arabic channels call it "Aggression Against Iraq".

In the story on al-Jazeera's Web site about the footage, which includes pictures of bloodied US soldiers, a rejoinder can be found at the end.

"Al Jazeera defends its decision taking a swipe at the US for citing UN conventions while waging a war with no UN backing.

"Countries all over the world should abide by all UN conventions. You can't pick and choose as you please.

"We did what our professional duty calls upon us to do. We aired news."

Tucker stood by all the articles but said that the division between news and opinion in the coverage needed to be clarified.