February 26, 2005


Iyad Allawi’s occupational government has launched a new TV show, sort of an Iraqi version of reality television. "Terrorists in the Hands of Justice" runs several times a day in Iraq and features the confessions of beaten up "insurgents" who admit to terrible crimes, for instance serial murder. "One man said he stalked 10 college girls who were translators for the U.S. Army, then raped and murdered them. Another said he beheaded 10 people after first practicing on animals," reports NBC News < http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7032644/ >.

It is said the show is "wildly popular" but obviously this claim has to be taken with a grain of salt. Most Iraqis are desperately poor and it is fair to say many do not own televisions and even if they did much of the time there is no electricity. It is also fair to say millions of Iraqis, even if they had televisions and consistent electricity, would refuse to believe anything broadcast by Allawi’s occupational government. "The program’s goals are to convince people the security forces are defeating insurgents, and lift the police’s own morale. Police wanted to televise the confessions to inspire people to give tips, but they’ve had the unexpected effect of turning public opinion here against Syria," writes Richard Engel for NBC.

Even here in the United States, thousands of miles away from Iraq, with a barrage of corporate media propaganda and a seemingly endless stream of pro-Bush pundits, it is obvious the "security forces" are not "defeating insurgents." In Iraq this reality is even more obvious. Blaming Syria and portraying the resistance as a gaggle of serial murderers and animal torturers will not put an end to the violence against "security forces" and foreign occupation troops. More than anything, it would seem, "Terrorists in the Hands of Justice" is an idea devised for American consumers, although the show is not run in the United States. But then it doesn’t need to be. A sound-bite sized chunk of video broadcast on NBC is more than enough, especially if the video contains content Americans are familiar with—violent young men and confessions given to police by ruthless serial murderers preying on young women.

Probably the most important aspect of this obvious propaganda ploy is the accusation that Syria is to blame for the resistance, an effort that dovetails nicely with the Bushcon effort to demonize Iraq’s neighbor in preparation of a bombing campaign, as demanded by the 51st state of the United States, Israel.

NBC also mentions that Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi is on the run, "never sleeping in the same place two nights in a row." According to the Chicago Tribune < http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7032644/ >, "the Iraqi government announced that a Feb. 20 raid in Anah, about 160 miles northwest of Baghdad, led to the arrest of Talib Mikhlif Arsan Walman al-Dulaymi, also known as Abu Qutaybah," described as a "key lieutenant" for the "Zarqawi network" and supposedly responsible for "arranging safe houses and transportation as well as passing packages and funds to al-Zarqawi." Another Abu, this one with the last name Uthman, aka Ahmad Khalid Marad Ismail al-Rawi, "who sometimes worked as al-Zarqawi’s driver," was also arrested.

It would appear the big kahuna of Abus, al-Zarqawi, is nearing the end of his usefulness, as did Osama bin Laden not long after the invasion of Afghanistan. Bigger fish are waiting to be fried in Syria and Iran, per the Likudite-Strausscon game plan, as bigger fish waited in Iraq after the invasion of Afghanistan.

Of course, the Iraqi resistance is not on the run, regardless of televised show trials and the posse closing in on the mythical al-Zarqawi. "A roadside bomb killed three U.S. soldiers and wounded nine others on a patrol north of Baghdad on Friday," the Tribune adds. "The three U.S. soldiers were killed early in the afternoon in an attack in Tarmiyah, about 20 miles north of the capital, raising the U.S. military death toll in Iraq to at least 1,489, according to an Associated Press count since the war began in March 2003."

It would seem, in Tarmiyah, they are not tuning in to "Terrorists in the Hands of Justice."