Posted on 04/03/2003 1:56:10 PM PST by knighthawk
Ever since the start of the war in Iraq, like many others around the world, I've felt an uncontrollable need to follow all the developments step by step. But what a lot of information sources I have at my disposal! Western newspapers, Arabic newspapers, the endless stream of reports from news agencies, and the many different western and Arabic TV news channels.
Many people are already beginning to suffer from information overload: the amount of information is so great that you begin to lose track. That's especially so because both the western and the Arab media are constantly stressing that information coming from the other side is subtle propaganda. Undoubtedly that's the case; there's no getting away from it. But, with that in mind, I do now and then take in sources where the propaganda is more blatant, such as Iraqi State TV.
'Unjustified breach'
The Iraq Satellite Channel has not always been on the air in recent days. That's because the coalition especially targeted communications facilities in Baghdad. The International Press Institute, the watchdog of the media, has warned the Americans that the bombing of the Iraqi TV and radio building was an "unjustified breach of the Geneva Convention". After all, it was not a military target.
Following any disruption, broadcasts resume as if nothing has happened. What's especially noticeable is that since the start of the war the newsreaders are, without exception, dressed in the green military-style uniforms of the Baath Party. The same is true of many of the singers whose performances are used as filler material in between the programmes and during technical breakdowns. The singers stand in full military uniform in front of a packed audience, and a portrait of Saddam Hussein is always in shot. The tone of the songs is strongly nationalistic.
Programmes on Iraqi TV consist either of songs, or strongly graphic pictures: from dying children or old people to pictures of anti-war demonstrations in the west. There's very little variation in the programming. There are talk shows, in which the interviewer asks questions of an expert. For example, I saw an interview with an Iraqi writer and political scientist. The question put to him was how Iraq could protect itself against the eventuality of an American/British nuclear attack on Baghdad. His reply was that no protection is possible, since Iraq possesses no biological, chemical or nuclear weapons.
Said al-Sahaf
A repeated daily phenomenon is the press conference held by the Iraqi Minister of Information, Mohammed Said al-Sahaf. Al-Sahaf speaks reasonable English, and performs his orations to the international press in a mixture of Arabic and English. He's usually the only speaker, but he's also present whenever another Iraqi official speaks to the press. It's invariably al-Sahaf who introduces Saddam Hussein whenever he addresses the Iraqi people on TV.
The language used by al-Sahaf is emotional and passionate. When he's really on form, savage invective against the coalition comes flooding out of his mouth. He regularly calls the British and American soldiers 'criminals' and 'mercenaries', 'mass murderers' and 'imbeciles', who are performing outrageous acts of aggression against the Muslims of Iraq.
In the past week, the Ministry of Information has organised visits by journalists to two market places in Baghdad where there was carnage amongst the population. Gripping pictures were shown on TV. In a speech last Friday, al-Sahaf condemned the decision of the UN Security Council to continue the oil-for-food programme. He said that nothing, apart what the Iraqi government had itself decided to do, has been carried out. He demanded that the United Nations finance the programme with money that has been stolen from Iraq in the past.
Suicide attack
On Saturday evening, Iraqi vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan gave a press conference, flanked by al-Sahaf. Ramadan made a powerful call for Iraqis and the rest of the Arab world to pursue the American/British enemy, and kill them by any means possible. That was a reference to the first suicide attack of this war, in which four American soldiers were killed earlier that day near the town of Najaf. The name of the perpetrator was announced on television. It was stated that the man, an Iraqi soldier, wanted to 'teach the Americans a lesson.' Saddam Hussein personally promoted the soldier posthumously to the rank of colonel.
The following morning, Ramadan's line of argument was developed further by the Iraqi General Hazim al-Rawi. He claimed that at least four thousand fighters would follow without hesitation in the footsteps of the Iraqi soldier who had carried out the previous day's suicide attack. "Acts of martyrdom will continue, and not only by Iraqis, but also by thousands of Arab volunteers who have come to Baghdad. They have sworn never to return to their fatherland. They want to remain in Iraq after their act of martyrdom".
The morning after that, the Iraq Satellite Channel was again off the air for a long period.
* Hanke Drop is an Arabist who works in the Planning Department at Radio Netherlands.
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