Like many of you I have been appalled at the Bush Adminstration's cynical use of the media to air their propaganda. Until today it appeared that they were only manipulating the U.S. media and military media for such propaganda.

Today I found this story doing a google search. It looks as though Iraqiya, Iraq's US-funded national network, runs an almost nightly TV show where prisoners are interrogated and confess on TV.

How much lower will this adminstration sink? Will we soon be seeing this as a Fox Reality TV show?


TV confession show prompts Iraq probe

By Luke Baker

Baghdad - Iraq's human rights ministry is investigating allegations of abuse in the making of a popular television series that shows insurgents confessing to crimes including rape, kidnapping and execution.

Human Rights Minister Bakhtiar Amin said the probe focused on evidence of verbal abuse of suspects, but could be extended to include physical abuse and torture, accusations that have been levelled at Iraq's security forces.

"Individuals have raised concerns after seeing verbal abuse of suspects as well as bruises on their bodies and that sort of thing," Amin told Reuters in an interview on Monday.

Some defendants have appeared with cuts and bruises on their faces
"We are looking at all these TV shows right now and we are studying them from a human rights point of view. Things should be done in accordance with human rights standards and principles and we are going to make sure that those norms are respected."

Amin said a report would be made to the interior and justice ministries after the investigation.

The TV series, called Terrorism In The Grip Of Justice, airs almost nightly on Iraqiya, Iraq's US-funded national network, and shows men sitting before an interrogator, whose face is not show, confessing to crimes in precise detail.

Some defendants have appeared with cuts and bruises on their faces and what looked like bloodstains on their clothes.

They confess to criminal and militant acts including kidnap, rape, the execution of hostages, planting bombs and contract murder, sometimes for as little as $10 (about R60). Some have said they were acting on the orders of Syrian agents.

'We are doing our utmost, but it's going to take time'
The programme, which has been running for several weeks, has attracted a wide following and been credited with unmasking the insurgency by making it appear less intimidating, prompting more people to come forward with information and intelligence.

The success of the show, together with the historic January 30 election, has led to a more than 20 percent fall in insurgent attacks over the past two months, US officials say.

But concerns have been raised about forced confessions, and family members have come forward to swear that relatives are being wrongly accused or that alleged victims are still alive.

Amin said while he was determined to ensure Iraq's security forces acted within the law, the government was also under intense popular pressure to show results against the insurgency.

Many viewers of the programme are not content just to see insurgents confess, they want to see them executed too, he said.

"There is a dominant culture of negative human treatment in this society, where people have been through decades of oppression and torture, rape and execution," said Amin, a Kurd who was forced to flee Iraq during Saddam Hussein's regime.

"We have inherited the legacy of a ruthless dictatorship and it's not going to go away overnight. It takes time and it takes resources in educating people... It's not a bed of roses."

In a report released in January, US-based rights group Human Rights Watch alleged systematic torture of detainees by Iraq's US-trained security forces, denial of access to detainees by families and lawyers as well as other abuses.

Earlier this year, Iraqi police were accused of torturing to death three members of a Shi'a militia in Baghdad, a case for which government ministers have since apologised.

Amin has met representatives from the European Union, the United Nations and the Swiss and German governments to enlist their help in training Iraqi police and interrogators in human rights law and related issues.

"We are knocking at various doors and we are trying to improve the situation. There is an urgent need to train people," he said, adding that 25 people would leave this month for Germany and the EU would take 700 people later this year.

"I hope we can get rapid international support because we don't want any more negative reports from international NGOs about the situation," Amin said, condemning all forms of abuse.

"We are doing our utmost, but it's going to take time."


http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?sf=2813&cli...23B262&set_id=6

Of course they will do that.
How else do you think you can win the hearts and minds of people any way? It is low, but much needed tactics. If you can win with as little blood-shed as possible, that would be for the best. This is in regards only to propaganda.

Had they made a propaganda assault first and foremost immediately after toppling Saddam, and secure the peace around that area, it would have been so much smoother.

However, forced confessions and torture, which is the way they are doing it, can back-fire as torture is unforgivable.

So once more, that is just plain wrong. They are misusing an effective tool, which could be used with more tact and truthfulness. Right tool, demented way of using it. I am unsure if I want to know what karma will bring here.

The Voice of America version of this story does not mention that the U.S. helps fund this station. I did find another article in the Financial Times in the UK that does say the U.S. funds this. There was also a Swiss article that includes the info that the U.S. funds this effort. All of the U.S. stories say it is the Iraqi government. Interesting.

Controversial Iraqi Television Program Airs Confessions of Alleged Terrorists
By Scott Bobb
Baghdad
04 April 2005

Bobb report (Real Player) - Download 719k
Bobb report (Real Player)


In Iraq, a controversial television program is broadcasting confessions by individuals accused of responsibility for the wave of violence in the country. The program is popular with many Iraqis, tired of the continuing instability two years after the war to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

A man, appearing disheveled and uncomfortable, sits on a wooden chair in a dim room of what appears to be a police station.

As an interrogator peppers him with questions, the man says he was part of a gang that kidnapped and murdered Iraqis during the past two years in order to create a split between Shi'ite and Sunni Iraqis. But he says his acts were not holy war. They were blasphemous.

Police say his name is Ramzi Hashem and he carried out the bombing nearly two-years ago at a Shi'ite shrine in Najaf that killed senior Shi'ite cleric Mohammed Bakr al-Hakim and 100 followers.

During the interrogation Ramzi Hashem also admits to committing rapes and taking drugs. Prisoners in other interviews on the program say they were paid an average of $150 per killing and after committing 12 murders were given the title of prince (emir) and paid a salary.

Victims of the violence have also been interviewed.

A widow with five children says her husband, a restaurant owner, was taken away one night by men calling themselves mujahedeen. She says they tortured him for four days before dumping his dead body behind her house.

The woman says she recognized one of the abductors as a former Iraqi police officer named Shukhair who has appeared on the same program and confessed to more than 100 murders.

The hour-long program is called Terrorists in the Hands of Justice. It appears nightly on the government-owned Iraqia network.

It has gripped the attention of the general public, angry over the violence that has killed thousands of Iraqi civilians and 1,200 foreign troops.

Iraqi officials say the show is changing people's initial perception of the insurgency as a noble struggle for freedom, to the view that the violence is primarily the work of criminals hired by enemies of the new government.

Hasanin Faiz Jaber, a 28 year-old laborer, says he watches the program every day. He says it feels good to see that the government is working to improve security.

Sameera Polis, a 35 year-old office worker, watches to learn who is behind the violence, but she says it scares her when the criminals talk about targeting ordinary people like herself.

An Iraqi journalist who has investigated some of the confessions, Sa'ad al-Izzi, says he was impressed by the program at first.

"But later on the credibility of that show and the credibility of those confessions became a little bit doubt[ful]," said Mr. al-Izzi.

Mr. Sa'ad says some of the victims named in the confessions later were reported to be still alive and some of the prisoners appear to have been beaten. Police deny torture is used to extract the confessions and many prisoners say on camera that they are well-treated.

In addition, many of the prisoners are from the Sunni group, which dominated the government of deposed President Saddam Hussein and whose members are said to spearhead the resistance.

Mohammed Ali, a 50 year-old retired Sunni, says sometimes the program makes him mad. He says they should broadcast the trials of the prisoners, not the confessions. This would remove doubts about the program.

But 40 year-old driver Ahmed Jassem says the confessions are not fabricated because he knows some of the victims. He says the program sends a powerful message to the criminals that they may be captured at any time.

Journalist Sa'ad al-Izzi says the confessions have de-mystified the insurgency.

"Most of those guys are criminal gangs, are doing everything just for money," he said. "It is not for ethnic, or sectarian or religious bases. They are mostly low-life criminals getting paid for criminal activities."

A leader of a Sunni group that advocates peaceful opposition to the Iraqi government, Professor Naebil Younis, says the program is misleading the Iraqi people.

"These criminal groups, they have nothing to do with the resistance," he explained. "In fact, one of the problems of the resistance is some people think this is the resistance, which is not really, not the truth."

But Shi'ite parliament member Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum says the program is informative and should continue.

"It is not fabricated. It is fact," he said. "The ones who killed the Iraqi people are not sincere people, are not Iraqi only, are terrorists from inside cooperating with the former Ba'ath regime."

The program has also aired confessions of alleged foreign terrorists. One prisoner said he was a colonel in the Syrian intelligence services who worked undercover in northern Iraq. He said he carried out scores of attacks using ransom money from kidnappings.

The Syrian government vehemently denies the report and has lodged a formal protest with the Iraqi government. The program has heightened resentment by many Iraqis toward neighboring countries, which they feel benefited from the Saddam government and now support the insurgency.

Independent observers say there is no Iraqi law against such a program, as long as the prisoners are not abused and receive a fair trial. But some wonder whether the merits of discrediting the insurgency outweigh the risks of aggravating social tensions as Iraqi leaders try to forge a government of national unity.

In any case, the program is highly popular and often dominates conversations in coffee shops and on the street. And it is spawning imitators. A similar program, called The Real Terrorism, recently aired on another Iraqi channel, Kurdistan TV.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-04-04-voa6.cfm

Here are some of the other news outlets that picked up this story. Notice how the U.S. papers do not mention that the U.S. funds this TV station. All of the stories that I found in non U.S. papers mention this. I'd love to know which version is correct.


Focus on: Iraq's 'reality' TV
Knoxville News Sentinel (subscription), TN - Mar 2, 2005
... The professional-looking videotapes, which began airing recently on the government-owned Iraqia television network, are among an ongoing series of insurgent ...

Truth or hoax, insurgent 'confession' videos transfix Iraqis
AZ Central.com, AZ - Mar 3, 2005
... The professional-looking videotapes, airing on the government-owned Iraqia television network, are among the most dramatic in a series of insurgent "confession ...

Carry on filming
Financial Times, UK - Mar 18, 2005
... This scene is part of a video on kidnapping awareness, to be shown this month on the US-funded Iraqia state television network. ...

This article if from David Horowitz's blog. We all know this guy, right! From reading his article it clearly shows that the "reality tv" is focused on blaming Syria and Al-Jazeera. Definitely two things that the Bush administration loves to see.

Reality TV, Iraq-Style
By Steven Stalinsky
FrontPageMagazine.com | March 31, 2005

Over the past few years, the biggest trend on TV has been towards reality programming - shows ranging from amateur singing competitions to the personal lives of celebrities. The Middle East has also enjoyed a couple of its own versions of reality T.V. including "American Idol" and "Big Brother."

More recently, Iraq's Al-Iraqiya channel began running a reality program called "Terror in the Hands of Justice." The show consists of lengthy confessions by captured insurgents under interrogations by the Iraqi military. The insurgents come from all over the Arab world including Egypt, Syria, Sudan, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia. All captured terrorists are asked their name, country of origin, birthday, how they got to Iraq, about their affiliation with terrorist groups, and about their training.



Many of these captured insurgents have common themes to their stories including pointing to Syrian intelligence as being the main source of their support and citing Al-Jazeera as a source of inspiration and motivation for Jihad. The insurgents also provide interesting bits of information on how the terrorist networks they were part of operate in Iraq.



On February 24, Egyptian Mahmoud Hassan, from "the Liberation Army," discussed killing Iraqi National Guard members and getting paid $200 for each person killed. On the same episode, Sudanese fighter Kazem Al-Duma Omar explained how he was in charge of an "Arab squad" of Egyptian and Sudanese, trained by Syrian intelligence, whose mission it was to kill 10 soldiers (either American or Iraqi) at a time.



Syrian intelligence officer Anas Ahmad Al-Issa confessed on Al-Iraqiya on February 23, explaining he was involved in 10 - 15 operations a day that consisted of setting bobby traps, explosions, kidnappings, and assassinations.



The coast city of Ladhqiya in Syria was mentioned by many fighters as their training place. On February 23, Iraqi Shihab Al-Sab'awi described his training course there to Al-Iraqiya. He detailed how Syrian intelligence slaughtered animals to train members of his group how to kill. He also explained that the Syrians paid for their stay in Iraq, including a salary of $1,500 for each member of the squad.



Another Iraqi, Amjad 'Uraibi, confessed about how he met a Syrian who gave him directions on how to get to a 'mujahideen camp' in Damascus run by Syrian intelligence. One of his proudest exploits was when his group captured and executed an Iraqi National Guard unit.



"Hassan The Butcher," otherwise known as Hassan Al-Khafaji, who at one time belonged to Saddam's Fedayeen, confessed on March 9 and told about joining Zarqawi's Al-Tawhid and Al-Jihad Brigade groups. He discussed kidnapping foreigners, slaughtering them, and then dropping their bodies on the side of roads. He detailed being given pills before his mission and getting paid between $100-150 for each one.



Another Iraqi, Talal Ra'ad Sleiman Yasin, confessed on March 9 that he was inspired to jihad "to kill Americans" by his friends who told him about a fatwa from a high ranking Saudi cleric permitting such actions.



Iraqi Ghani Ahmad confessed on March 13 as to how he beheaded a member of the Iraqi National Guard. Similarly on March 24, another Iraqi, Bahaa Nasser, confessed to using a dagger to slaughter Iraqi policeman.



The Iraqi channel Al-Fayhaa, based in the UAE, also has its own confession show. Saudi fighter Basem Saleh Jamil Kassar appeared on January 22 and explained how he was smuggled through Syria, influenced by Al-Jazeera, and arrangements for his Jihad were made in Saudi Arabia. On January 22, Tunisian Walid Al-Masmoudi also explained he was influenced by religious shows on Al-Jazeera.



Muhammad Abd Al-Hadi Muhhamad, a Libyan who confessed to Al-Fayhaa, detailed how he entered Iraq through Syria. He explained that accompanying him on his journey were three Saudis, and they all ended up in Fallujah. He explained that a sheikh in Banghazi issued a fatwa on Jihad in Iraq that inspired him. He claimed 90% of car bombs were the result of the U.S. troops planting them.



On January 14, Iraqi Muayyid Al-Nasseri confessed to Al-Fayhaa, detailing the many armed operations against coalition forces he participated in. He admitted that he was a commander in "The Army of Muhammad," led by 'Izzat Ibrahim, who was Vice-chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council under Saddam Hussein. He also detailed how his group was primarily supported by Iran, and in particular generals and colonels of the Iranian intelligence. He explained he witnessed them giving out to fighters one million dollars and cars filled with weapons.



The confessions mentioned in this article as well as many others added daily, can be view at www.memritv.org



Steven Stalinsky is Executive Director of The Middle East Media Research Institute.

http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=17545

Looks like I got my answer.



http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11947