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thedrifter
12-26-06, 05:23 AM
Pro-insurgent TV plays up US losses in Iraq War effort

By Borzou Daragahi and Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times | December 26, 2006

BAGHDAD -- The men with laptops sat around a conference table, chatting about their plans and operations.

atellite television channel could have been footage from the boardroom of any company, if it weren't for the ski masks the men wore and the subject of the meeting: future mortar attacks on US bases in Iraq.

The renegade, pro-insurgent Al Zawraa channel, with a 24-hour diet of propaganda against US forces and the Iraqi government, has become something of a sensation throughout the country, drawing condemnation from US officials, Iraqi politicians, and Friday prayer leaders.

Most hours of the day it plays footage of US soldiers here being shot and blown up in insurgent attacks, often with religious chants or Saddam Hussein-era nationalist anthems in the background.

There are segments warning Iraq's Sunni Arabs to be wary of Shi'ite Muslims, and occasional English-language commentary and subtitles clearly meant to demoralize US troops.

"Your new enlisting qualifications are kind of comical," an announcer says in slightly accented American English, over an image of a US soldier in a field hospital, a bandage on his newly amputated arm.

"I mean, what are you doing? Thirty-nine years old? That's the new age of recruiting? Are you recruiting nannies? I guess if we are patient, we might witness crippled people enlisting for the Marines."

The station attempts to present an alternative to images of the war appearing in US and other Iraqi media.

It shows footage of Americans abusing Iraqis and Baghdad government officials collaborating with the "occupier."

Even Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 911," the 2004 documentary critical of the Bush administration's foreign policy, gets drawn into the commentary.

"After all, there are honest guys in America," the announcer says in comments directed to President Bush. "If Mr. Moore can talk to you like that, so can I."

It's not clear how big of an Iraqi audience Al Zawraa captures. But its very presence demonstrates the insurgency's abilities.

Despite 140,000 US troops in Iraq and intense diplomatic pressure on Iraq's neighbors, the station is able to circumvent US and Iraqi forces and stage round-the-clock broadcasts, complete with news bulletins, graphics, and commentary.

Al Zawraa started out several months ago as an above-ground hard-line Sunni channel, but was shut down by the Iraqi government on Nov. 5, the day Hussein received the death penalty.

Iraqi police raided the station's headquarters after broadcasts criticized the verdict.

At the time, Mishaan Jaburi, a member of parliament said to be behind the station and who now lives in Syria, disputed the sanction.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq had warned stations in July not to broadcast footage that would jeopardize the nation's stability. But the attempt to stifle Al Zawraa backfired.

It quickly reemerged as an underground station with violent, no-holds-barred content clearly meant to incite Sunni Arabs.

Broadcast staples include images of US soldiers manhandling Iraqi women, photos from the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal and footage of Iraqi children burned and injured in alleged US attacks.

The station also loops shaky, slow-motion footage of US vehicles being blown up and American soldiers, often in crosshairs, crumpling to the ground after being shot by snipers.

One question-and-answer segment with insurgents showed them installing Katyusha rocket launchers on cars and assembling weapons to fire rocket-propelled grenades.

"And you still using this tactic?" the announcer asked.

"Oh yes. With the will of God, we will never give up," an insurgent replied.

Al Zawraa announcers dispute US casualty statistics. They insist that instead of nearly 3,000 American soldiers killed, the death toll is closer, as one said, to "30,000 miserable, poor nobodies who you have convinced that they will win a scholarship after a tiny tour in a little place called Iraq."

They attempt to portray the insurgency as a powerful force to be reckoned with for years to come.

"There will be no negotiating," an announcer states. "For us, it's straight and simple. We are fighting for our religion and for our soil. We will fight you while you are packing. We will fight you while you are sleeping. We will fight you as you are evacuating your last soldier."

Some of the images of Americans being attacked are available on the Web and in video shops in Iraq.

Some US military officers shrug off Al Zawraa, saying it rarely broadcasts anything new. Some viewers acknowledge the station's sectarian biases, but say it's no different from other new Iraqi channels beholden to political blocs.

"Al Zawraa is not serving the interest of the Iraqi people," said Zaid Farooq, an engineer.

Ellie