"Its chief targets are the US-led forces and 'collaborators.'" As long as there are American and coalition troops in Iraq, why is al-Zawraa still on the air? "Insurgent TV channel turns into Iraq's newest cult hit," by Michael Howard for the Guardian:
An American soldier slumps in the turret of his tank, felled by the infamous Baghdad sniper. A Humvee is vapourised by a roadside bomb. Rockets launch from a pick-up truck to shouts of "Allah u Akhbar [God is great]".
Back in the studio a TV anchorman, dressed in fatigues, urges viewers to rise up and fight the invaders. "We will not surrender. Either death or victory," he vows, while warning US forces and their "Iranian" friends in Iraq's government that they face a shameful defeat.
This is al-Zawraa TV, a 24-hour satellite station that lionises Iraq's insurgency to the drumbeat of Saddam-era martial music. It is a crude and dizzying mix of images and videos harvested from jihadi websites - and a cult hit. There are grainy loops of car bombs and mortar attacks interspersed with images of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and bloodied children. "Mujahideen" are seen training. Clips of Michael Moore's film, Fahrenheit 9/11 are thrown in for good measure.
Its chief targets are the US-led forces and "collaborators". But it reserves some of its strongest venom for the Safawis, a derogatory term used by Sunni Arabs to describe Iraq's resurgent Shia political and religious establishment. The name harks back to the Persian Safavid empire which ran amok in Baghdad in the 16th century.
The radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi militia, thought to be behind many of today's anti-Sunni attacks, are excoriated as "murderous gangsters", while the Shia-led government is labelled as Iranian stooges. "We are not against the Shia, we are against the Safawis," the station proclaims.
Al-Zawraa started life as a mostly song-and-dance channel, but following the closure of its Baghdad offices by the Iraqi government in November for "inciting violence" it made an abrupt change of tone.
Iraqi officials say al-Zawraa is a mouthpiece for the Islamic Army in Iraq, a Baathist-dominated insurgent group. It is transmitted from an unknown location into the Middle East and north Africa by the Egyptian-owned Nilesat network.
The station is owned by Mishan al-Jibouri, a member of Iraq's national assembly who had his parliamentary immunity stripped earlier this year following allegations of embezzlement. US officials in Iraq say he is in hiding in Syria.
Al-Zawraa has proved a hit with disaffected youth in Baghdad. "I watch this channel every night," said Samir Aziz, 22. "I don't like encouraging violence, but it is something unusual in the argument against the Americans. I am hooked."
Must be protected under the free speech clause in the democratic Iraqi constitution.
Why ain't we bombing this place?
"Iraqi officials say al-Zawraa is a mouthpiece for the Islamic Army in Iraq, a Baathist-dominated insurgent group. It is transmitted from an unknown location into the Middle East and north Africa by the Egyptian-owned Nilesat network.
The station is owned by Mishan al-Jibouri, a member of Iraq's national assembly who had his parliamentary immunity stripped earlier this year following allegations of embezzlement. US officials in Iraq say he is in hiding "
....LOOKS like Egypt and Syria are players in the terrorist game....Yawn...no surprise....
oops. the rest is: say he is in hiding in Syria.
Next SST mission..remove batteries from NileSAT.
"Jihadist TV channel a hit in Iraq"
I will be more interested in this story when the title changes to; "Jihadist TV channel IS hit in Iraq"
Must See TV for the jihadist losers crowd. Time to pull the plug on it.
"Al-Zawraa has proved a hit with disaffected youth in Baghdad."
....apparently all Muslim youths are disaffected ...and probably mentally disturbed if you were to judge their behaviour worldwide....
"Al-Zawraa has proved a hit with disaffected youth in Baghdad."
What about the midnight basketball programs? Can't we have more programs like this for the poor disaffected yoots?
Slogan:
Basketballs Not IED's!
It's probably beamed up from a minaret somewhere. Find the broadcasting facility and take it out... find al-Sadr and repeat.
"It is transmitted from an unknown location into the Middle East and north Africa by the Egyptian-owned Nilesat network."
Well, sounds like a good opportunity to try out one of our new weapons systems on that pesky Nilesat. I think a metalstorm fullisade should do the trick nicely...
I love free speech - it lets me see the enemy really close up and understand what I am against ...
Kathryn: this is a troll surely ... do you *really* expect anyone around here to agree with you? Or do you just plan to sit back and fan the flames so the KosKidz can laugh at JihadWatch yet again ...
GAZE
(hat-tip: lgf for their very useful suggestions on "how to deal with trolls")
"Find the broadcasting facility "
.....this is easily done ... whether or not any action is taken is the question....it takes about 10 seconds to triangulate the radio or tv signal to locate the broadcast location......gps coordinates are then fed into a cruise missile navigation system. problem solved minutes later....
I realize the number of my days are numbered by God. We all are frail human beings.
What lovely entertainment to help form the minds of their children. Kind of like Sesame Street on acid.
This is nothing new. I just returned from Iraq. Local national interpreters hired by US forces sit around on the military bases there and watch their Jihad TV. They actually have 2 or 3 channels to pick from on average. I could tell story after story about my discussions with these interpreters, and my scorn for their religion, their god, their pervert prophet, and their way of life. Piss on islam.
Can somebody please explain why we're still sending foreign aid to Egypt? Their aid and comfort to our enemies (permitting the use of Nilesat to broadcast anti-US propaganda) should be grounds to terminate the arrangement.
Clips of Michael Moore's film, Fahrenheit 9/11 are thrown in for good measure.
Michael Moore finally finds a suitable audience for his propaganda. He must be proud.