Al-jazeera
Iraq's US-installed interim Governing Council has prohibited Aljazeera satellite channel from covering its activities for one month. "Al-Jazeera was forbidden from covering from January 28 to February 27," the channel's Baghdad bureau chief, Abd al-Haq Saddah said on Saturday. "We wanted to attend the press conference by (current council president Adnan) Pachachi today but we were stopped at the door," he said.
| "Beat it! Youse ain't welcome here!" |
"The decision was then faxed to our headquarters in Doha," Saddah said, adding that the Governing Council took its decision based on the station's programme "Opposite Direction", which it said had criticised the interim government. During the press conference, Pachachi said Al-Jazeera had broadcast a "provocative programme in which one of its participants was very excessive (in their remarks) and made accusations against certain council members." The programme, aired on 27 January 2004, focused on "Israel's infiltration into Iraq" and featured panelists, Dr Nur al-Muradi, the spokesman for the Iraqi Communist Party and Hamid al-Kafaiee, the spokesman for the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC). The discussion, the channel said, raised issues such as "Israel's ambitions in Iraq, accusations directed against some Iraqi political leaders of spying in favour of Israel and the role of Israel in the invasion of Iraq".
| I don't think Israel has to "spy" on Iraq at the moment. Iraq doesn't have any military secrets right now. All they have are terrorist problems, which are actually common to both countries. |
Al-Muradi said "Israeli infiltration into Iraq, was no exagerration, but the truth". According to al-Muradi, there was, "since 1902, a project of settlement of one million Jews in Iraq but after the Balfour declaration, the project of settlement in Palestine became de facto where Jews emigrated from Iraq to Palestine". He said "the infiltration (into Iraq by Israel) began from three areas: economical, military and the political powers". Al-Muradi also accused some members of the IGC of co-operation with Israelis. "You must not be astonished", he said "if you saw (Ariel) Sharon wandering in the streets of Kurdistan".
| Yeah, yeah. Damn those Zionist Kurds. You can read a bit more at the site, if you've a mind to... |
|