Regards, Ivan
Posted on 02/12/2005 5:16:24 PM PST by MadIvan
The television show has uncomfortable echoes of a terrorist video, as an amateur cameraman pans to a frightened captive confessing all and begging for mercy.
This time, though, the wretched figures on screen are not innocent victims but their alleged tormentors - terrorists in prison who are the reluctant stars of Iraq's equivalent of Crimewatch.
The Iraqi government has opened a new front in its war against kidnappers and murderers by broadcasting regular televised appeals for information about their crimes, along with the numbers of telephone hotlines that the public can call.
In an attempt to boost the morale of the country's law-abiding majority and strike fear into the insurgents themselves, much of the programme is taken up with video footage of criminals who have been caught. During each hour-long broadcast, a series of suspects admits to murders, bombings and kidnappings, often breaking down in tears and claiming to have been brainwashed by foreign terrorist masterminds.
The films are released by the office of Iraq's prime minister, Ayad Allawi, in an effort to boost public confidence in the fledgling security forces and reminding would-be insurgents of the fate that might await them.
The broadcasts have undertones of the televised show-trials of Saddam Hussein's era, however, fuelling fears that Mr Allawi's regime is resorting to draconian methods in its efforts to extract information from insurgents.
Iraqi police and troops have struggled to contain an upsurge of car-bombings and killings since the relative calm of the election two weeks ago. With the final results of the poll imminent, the authorities are preparing for another security clampdown, including a six-day border closure to prevent trouble during the Shia Muslim festival of Ashura. At least 17 were killed and 21 injured yesterday when a car bomb exploded outside a hospital in the mainly Shia town of Musayyib, south of Baghdad.
The television video clips are filmed by security forces working for Iraq's interior ministry and distributed every few days to local satellite television stations - including the new coalition-backed Al Iraqiya, which is based in Baghdad's US-run Green Zone - and are mostly broadcast late in the evening.
Abdul Salaam al Dari, who works in Al Iraqiya's newsroom, said: "We are not producing this programme. The films are sent to us from the communications directorate of the prime minister's office. They want us to show them to the people."
Because of the risk of reprisals from insurgents, the films' presenters are never seen. Instead, each compilation starts with an anonymous voice-over that declares: "Now we shall see how the Iraqi heroes and police arrested the criminals and terrorists."
One recent broadcast featured a group of men arrested in Mosul who were accused of kidnapping a fellow Iraqi and making a video in which they brandish a blade at his neck. An Egyptian named Abdel-Qadir Mahmoud then admits to being among the swaggering, masked figures seen threatening the hostage. "How do I say this?" he tells an unidentified interrogator. "I am sorry for everything I have done." In other tapes, suspects are asked whether their ringleaders were true Muslims and whether they prayed or fasted. Many suspects claim they were forced into their crimes by the threat of violence or lure of money.
One chilling segment, broadcast last week, showed a shrouded corpse in a mortuary. The unseen presenter promised law-abiding viewers: "This is how we will treat the people beheading you."
The programmes include a phone-in, during which callers can appeal for information on the murders of family members.
Sarah Leah Whitson, of the international monitoring group Human Rights Watch, which recently accused the new Iraqi police service of mistreating prisoners, questioned the way in which the films were made. "We have serious concerns about whether these confessions are legitimate and fairly obtained," she said.
Few Iraqis who watch the programmes seem troubled by the apparent absence of due legal process. "You can tell the guys have been tortured, even though there are no physical marks on their faces or upper bodies," said Omar Ahmad, a hotel manager. "But nobody cares. People are happy to see this."
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
HAAA-Ha!
Time for non-Iraqis to return home.
Tit fo' Tat!
Good for the Iraqis!
Kind's like the old Army training films.
... Don't let this happen to you........
An Interesting Change in just who's doing the begging.
Lovin' it, over here....
Good for the new Iraqi Gov.
The sooner the insurgant terrorist buttwipes are banished the sooner people can get on with freedom
I'd trade in the SciFi channel for this one.....
I'll hand them a hankie.
Good tactic.
ecept for the night SG-1 is on. Let's not get too carried away. LTCOL Carter is a HOT-HOT-HOT! Most of the ToKra Gals are the same.
I know I sound like the ultimate armchair general when I express glee over this kind of thing but I don't care. These terrorists are invisible cretins working in the dark. Dragging one into the light, and seeing these "brave warriors" crying like the babies they've made orphans is not a bad thing.
Yes, good for the Iraqis! Upon my first read of the heading, I was expecting another kidnapped hostage by the murderous "insurgents".
Good post.
IRAQ'S MOST WANTED --- a great TV show!
Ive been waiting for Galactica since the premier a year ago and for the past two Fridays, I fell asleep at 9 p.m. missing the last 2 episodes..........I hate when that happens!
Daon't even ask what my snipe country MID-WATCH coffee consumption is from about 2pm until about 9pm.
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