STUNNED ARAB MEDIA REPORT SADDAM'S ARREST, WHILE PALESTINIANS TRY TO AVOID THE NEWS

IMRA ^ | 12-13-03 | Michael Widlanski

[SJackson]

STUNNED ARAB MEDIA REPORT SADDAM'S ARREST, WHILE PALESTINIANS TRY TO AVOID THE NEWS

By Michael Widlanski Jerusalem 14 December 2003 1:30 PM

Arab language media reacted quickly, though sometimes in a somewhat stunned fashion, to American reports that U.S. forces had captured former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, touching off celebrations in Baghdad.

But the broadcast media of the Palestinian National Authority which has been very friendly to Saddam, tried to ignore the news, treating it as a marginal news item attributed to rumors linked to a scheduled American press conference in Iraq

"An American military spokesman said there would be a special press conference soon, and American reports say it is linked to reports of the arrest of former president Saddam Hussein," declared a one ayem news bulletin by Voice of Palestine radio, controlled by Yasser Arafat.

The Palestinian broadcasts, which featured the news as the fourth news item, made no mention of Iraqi crowds celebrating the capture of Saddam, a big supporter of Arafat and a financial supporter of Palestinian "martyrs" who have blown themselves up attacking Israelis.

The Palestinian Authority's television station broadcasting from Gaza ignored the news entirely for several hours, but other Arab media quickly broadcast details of popular glee at the news of Saddam's arrest.

"There are signs of rejoicing in the streets, where people are parading and we hear celebratory shooting in the air," declared Baghdad-based Rafah Sa'ad, reporter for Abu-Dhabi satellite television.

Similar reports were carried by Al-Jazeera satellite television, which broadcast its news along with biographical sketches of Saddam Hussein and his family.

Al-Arabiyya satellite television also featured family pictures and newsreel footage of Saddam inspecting troops and petting children, while underneath it showed captions detailing Saddam's reported arrest in his home town of Tikrit.

The Arab satellite stations aired interviews with Arab security experts who said they felt the arrest of Saddam, if true, would aid American efforts inside Iraq.

Even the strongly anti-American Al-Manar tv station, controlled by the pro-Iranian Hiaballah terror group, opened its news shows with intensive coverage of the American capture of Saddam.

"Throngs of Iraqi people have rushed to the streets, and there are signs of joyful shooting in the air inside the Iraqi capital," declared Diah Nasry, the Al-Manar correspondent in Baghdad.

[Michael Widlanski is an expert in the Arab media and a lecturer at the Rothberg School of the Hebrew University] (c) 2003 Michael Widlanski

[headsonpikes]

HOP fearlessly predicts :

The Arabs will accept the fact of Saddam's capture with more grace than the Democratic Presidential candidates!

[breakem]

It was Chris Matthews who corrected him.

[Helms]

Interesting how Hillary Clinton said last week that Saddam needed to be brought in. GWB's timing has been awesome and
scary for the Dem.s. It is a great day for the Good Guys.

[NRA2BFree]

Similar reports were carried by Al-Jazeera satellite television, which broadcast its news along with biographical sketches of Saddam Hussein and his family.

Be still my heart. I can't believe Al-Jazeers would actually run the story.

[cyborg]

I wonder what the dems are going to do now? they can't call him a miserable failure.

[jocon307]

"What was the Syrian reaction?"

Like Tom Daschle, they are deeply saddened.

[ChadGore]

[DesertDreamer]

all she could talk about was the fact they haven't found any WMD in Iraq.

Excuse me, but in my book Hussein and Bin Laden and yes, Arafat, are all WMD in their own right.

[ladyinred]

Gotta admit I was pretty stunned myself! For once I did want to turn on the news, where I usually avoid it these days!

"We will hunt you down!"
Matters not what rat hole you hide in!

Great day!!!

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

He was talking about how they had "literally man-handled Saddam".

Oh geez, really? He should be happy they didn't put his pal through a plastic shredder.

[JustPiper]

This was the arab's world one chance to denounce Saddam and Osama and thank the coalition forces for a job well done. I tcould have gone a long way!

[af_vet_1981]

I watched Dan Rather. He truly seemed bothered, down and irritated. Then I turned to the Fox News reporter (Jim Angle?), who had an almost mirthful smirk on his face. Priceless!!

I think 40% of the BushHaters are traitors. They would rather Saddam Hussein succeed than President Bush.

[MinuteGal]

Never fear. Hillary is just waiting for Harold Icky to write a soundbite for her. She'll be polluting the etherzone soon.

She'll call for a Hague international tribunal with Judge Ito presiding.

Leni

[Agitate]

I think 40% of the BushHaters are traitors. They would rather Saddam Hussein succeed than President Bush.

I agree, and here's some proof from from the brainiacs at DU:
( http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=902960#903127 )

mrbill (1000+ posts) Sun Dec-14-03 07:49 AM
Response to Reply #37

39. a big red flag on that final comment

what's this "god bless america" shit?
isn't this supposed to be about iraq?

leftyandproud (900 posts) Sun Dec-14-03 07:19 AM
Response to Reply #6
12. This was STILL..
an illegal war...an illegal occupation. Bush should be tried before Saddam.

Bunch of secularist fascists losers!

[MamaB]

I saw Dan, too. He really seemed down in the dumps. Can't imagine why!

[Sender]

Now there's no check for $25,000 to their widows if they explode themselves. They'll have to call Saudi Arabia for that now. And the Saudis are not in a very generous mood.

[matrix2225]

Can you add me to your ping list? Thank you.

[Desron13]

"Must not gloat ... Must not gloat ... 'tis a sad day for the dims - very depressing over at DU! ;-)"

I was just reading some of the threads over at DU. They have become completely delusional. It's like there living in some sort of bizarre parallel universe where everything is the exact opposite of reality. I think one more piece of good news for GW will cause them to go full goose bozo. I'm talking straightjacket rubber room blowing bubbles in their own drool barking mad!

[truth_seeker]

"Among the points it made was that seven months passed in Germany after the end of the war, before the United States was able to establish to the certainty of even the German diehards, that Hitler was dead."

And for over TWO years, after WWII there was resistance (terrorism against US occupying forces) by Germans.

Obviously the US and our allies had the resolve and patience to suffer the occasional episode, and prevailed.

The German, Italian and Japanese people were capable of adopting democracy, and re-entered the world community of peaceful nations.

The big question mark for me is whether any nation of arabs and muslims can overcome those handicaps of culture and religion, yet learn to live in peace with themselves and others.

[lentulusgracchus]

LOL!