April 10, 2003

"Bush and Blair trumpet new Iraqi TV"

According to this:

LONDON: America and Britain say they have launched a new TV service into Iraq with special messages from George W. Bush and Tony Blair -- but it was not clear if any Iraqis had actually heard it.

Moving their propaganda strategy into high gear as the war entered its endgame, London and Washington on Thursday said a new Arabic TV network called Nahwa Al-Hurrieh or "Towards Freedom" would begin broadcasting into Iraq during the afternoon there.

London said the station would broadcast for one hour a day from a U.S. Air Force plane flying over the country, providing news and "coalition public service announcements".

But with Iraqi state television off the air since Tuesday and power cut in most of Baghdad, Reuters correspondents on the ground could not find anyone who had heard it.

The Bush-Blair messages were intended to reassure ordinary Iraqis of their intentions and hasten the full collapse of Iraqi president Saddam's power structure.

I've been ranting for a few weeks about our inability to use TV messages. It's good to see that we finally got a clue. But, these messages should include Iraqis, Arab speakers, or at least Arab-Americans. Like Gen. Abizaid and Fouad Ajami (search for 'ajami' here).

Posted to Iraq at April 10, 2003 01:04 PM

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