Eye on the Middle East -- Arab Media Tracks U.S. Image-Polishing Efforts

U.S.-Funded Iraqiyah Television Defects to the Other Side
Bush on iraq tv
In May 2003, a U.S.-sponsored, nationwide Iraqi TV network began broadcasting to counter Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, media outlets Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld branded at the time as "violently anti-Coalition Forces." The new station was first called Iraqi Media Network Television, but in November 2003 was renamed Al-Iraqiyah, or "the Iraqi One."

The station, which reaches 70 to 80 percent of Iraq, used to broadcast rosy reports about liberated life in Iraq after the ouster of tyrant Saddam Hussein. Images of mass graves of people killed by the Hussein regime were frequently shown. Suspected armed fighters were exhibited on television and told to tell about their "terrorist operations" in extended detail. The station also used to get exclusive interviews with top U.S. officials.

Recently, however, the Al Iraqiyah coverage has changed 180 degrees.

On Mar. 27, Al Iraqiyah reporter Mohammad Al Khafaji accused U.S. forces of deliberately killing and injuring a number of civilians as Iraqi worshippers gathered at Al Husaini mosque in the area of Ower to perform sundown prayers. One eyewitness told Al Iraqiyah, "the American forces stormed the Al Husaini mosque and attacked worshippers one hour before sundown prayers. A group of soldiers surrounded the compound and opened fire on worshippers. They killed nearly 20 martyrs." Another eyewitness said, "The American forces rounded up the worshippers and executed a number of them in separate rooms."

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