Censorship for Iraq

The Independent's Middle East correspondent, Robert Fisk, reported June 11 that unnamed officials told him the previous week that L. Paul Bremer, U.S. envoy to Iraq, had ordered press censorship rules in an effort to combat growing anti-American sentiment in Iraq.

"Newspapers that publish 'wild stories,' material deemed provocative or capable of inciting ethnic violence, will be threatened or shut down," wrote Fisk. "A controlled press is a responsible press ­which is exactly what Saddam Hussein used to say about the trashy newspapers his regime produced. It must seem all too familiar to the people of Baghdad."

Additionally, mosques may be monitored and Imams speaking against the U.S. censored or removed.

Media as propaganda has already begun in the eastern city of Kut, where U.S. Marines are working with former workers to establish a television news station.

Civil affairs officer Lt. Col Bob Zangas has instructed the dozen-member television staff not to clear up a rumor that Marines plan to execute 40 looters and display their heads on spikes at the city gates.

"...let them think the Marines are preparing to top 'em all if they step out of line," Zangas said in a dispatch by Kate Connolly for The Weekly Telegraph.

Zagas also condoned the Kut station's failure to cover a demonstration led by Shi'ite clerics, noting that broadcasting the protest against U.S. troops "doesn’t really fit into our philosophy."

At least 45 U.S. service personnel have been killed in the two months since the war's end. In the past week, forces in Sunni-majority Fallajabad, west of Baghdad have faced nightly attacks by unknown assailants wielding automatic weapons and grenade launchers. Fisk noted U.S. troops and military aircraft at the Baghdad International Airport are also coming under fire nightly.

Clean drinking water, reliable electricity and secured functioning hospitals remain unavailable to most Iraqis; many face looming starvation and disease. Crime has escalated from the initial post-war looting to include rape, armed robbery and shootings.

The Iraqi death toll remains a mystery, with the U.S. and Great Britain declining to engage in or even endorse a civilian body count. The Associates Press is reporting a rough tally of 3,240 civilians killed, though other estimates account for as many as 7,207 dead, including hundreds lost since the war's end in April