A Soldiers Blog

Iraqis Start Viewing U.S.-British Television
Tue April 15, 2003 05:35 PM ET
By Hassan Hafidh
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A week after George W. Bush and Tony Blair personally promised Iraqis a speedy end to Saddam Hussein's rule, Baghdad residents are finally starting to get the message.

The taped pledges, recorded by the U.S. president and British prime minister at a summit in Northern Ireland, feature on a new television channel broadcast by their governments on frequencies once used by Saddam's state media.

"At least we are not seeing Saddam's face, which used to appear nearly every day in Iraqi television for the last 24 years," said Abu Yousif, one of a group of Iraqis watching the new channel in the center of the Iraqi capital on Tuesday.

The new Arabic network, called Nahwa Al-Hurrieh or "Toward Freedom," was officially launched on Thursday. A specially modified plane called "Commando Solo" is flying over Iraq broadcasting both television and radio for several hours a day.

But, with power cut in most of Baghdad, only those with generators are able to tune in -- and, initially, viewer figures were hard to come by.

On Tuesday evening, the channel aired for at least two hours. During the broadcast, Bush and Blair promised their troops would leave Iraq as soon as a new government was in place.

Members of the group watching the new network in downtown Baghdad said they had tuned in over the past few days, using a generator to run their television sets.

"We saw it but it was not very clear," said Kamal, 70, who did not give his second name. "There was news and statements. They said don't go out with weapons. That kind of thing."

But locals said the signal was very weak and they still depended for news on international radio stations like the BBC's Arabic service, U.S. broadcast Radio Sawa and Radio Monte Carlo.

DEFIANT STATEMENTS

Iraqi state television, which featured military officers reading defiant statements on the progress of the war and patriotic songs praising Saddam, went off the air a week ago as U.S. forces swept into Baghdad.

The new channel's broadcast included a commentary in which the presenter attacked Saddam, calling him uneducated and saying he had seized power by force and had executed his own people.

A news program entitled "Iraq and the world" reported on looting that swept Baghdad after U.S. forces took control of the capital last Wednesday. The presenter, a woman whose accent suggested she was Lebanese, said life in the city was slowly getting back to normal as some shops started opening again.

Citing other Arabic media, the news reported that Iraqi diplomats were asking for asylum in other countries. The channel also broadcast extracts from Arab newspapers on the war and showed sports news and a weather forecast.

The programs seen in Baghdad on Tuesday had been produced in London. British officials have said the content for the new service was been agreed in discussions with Iraqi exiles.

Production of the British content has been outsourced to a private London-based company called World Television. Its producers and journalists are all Arabs. The Pentagon is also producing content including slides of propaganda leaflets.

Officials say programming will include news, discussions, features, culture and public service announcements. The British government has commissioned 30 one-hour programs.

U.S. planes have dropped leaflets to inform Iraqis about the station, and it has also been publicized on a U.S.-backed radio channel broadcasting since the war began on March 20.

A British official previously said the service will last until a "proper, free and open" media can be established.