-Caveat Lector-
"The British government is adamant that President Saddam is hiding
such weapons and that if he insists in the declaration that he is
not, it will provoke a crisis."
Of course, the above sentiment is not held by British talking heads
alone, but it certainly spotlights the fact that this whole "weapons
inspection" is strictly a manipulative propaganda ploy to put a spin
of credibility on the Allied plans to bomb the hell out of Iraq. No
matter what Iraq does, it loses in this matter. It's not a matter
of "if" but "when" the bombs start dropping. The clock is
ticking...
Allies strive for Arab hearts and minds
· Britain issues new dossier on Iraq's human rights record
· US cranks up propaganda machine
Ewen MacAskill and Brian Whitaker in Cairo
Saturday November 30, 2002
The Guardian
Britain is to step up its propaganda battle in the Arab and wider
Muslim world next week as part of preparations for the potentially
decisive Iraqi declaration on weapons of mass destruction.
The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, is to publish a Foreign Office
dossier on Monday setting out the brutal human rights record of the
Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein.
"In the Arab and Muslim world, we have just got to keep reminding
people about the nature of the person we are dealing with," a
Foreign Office source said.
Various other initiatives are planned for next week, including a new
station, Radio Sawa ("together"), set up by Washington, which has
begun to try to woo the Arab world.
Combined with this, the US is dropping leaflets across southern Iraq
in an effort to demoralise the population.
Planes dropped 360,000 leaflets over the southern no-fly zone on
Thursday following US-led attacks on unmanned communication
facilities between al-Kut and Basra.
Iraq is required by a United Nations resolution to declare by
December 8 all biological, chemical or nuclear-related weapons or
components in its possession, if any. The British government is
adamant that President Saddam is hiding such weapons and that if he
insists in the declaration that he is not, it will provoke a crisis.
Mr Straw, who will visit Turkey on Tuesday, is planning an interview
with Muslim media outlets in the Arab world and in Britain next week
to put across a message that war is not inevitable and that a route
to peace is open to Iraq if it chooses to follow it.
A similar message will be conveyed in a signed article by the prime
minister, Tony Blair, today in Jang, an Urdu daily widely read in
Britain as well as Pakistan and south-east Asia.
The British government has been more energetic than the US since
September 11 in the pursuit of hearts and minds in the Muslim world.
Mr Blair, in the immediate aftermath of the Twin Towers attacks,
succeeded in persuading the US president, George Bush, and the state
department to stress that the "war on terrorism" was not a war
against Islam.
The dossier, a follow-up to one published in September that was
supposed to make a case that Iraq was developing weapons of mass
destruction, pulls together human rights abuses in Iraq over the
last two decades and focuses on the treatment of women and of
prisoners.
For legal reasons, Britain, unlike the US, cannot justify an attack
on Iraq on the grounds of regime change. The Foreign Office source
denied that the dossier was designed to make such a case.
The source said President Saddam's behaviour towards his own people
explained why he could not be trusted with weapons of mass
destruction. "His disregard for human life is why we can't let him
have these weapons," he said.
The Foreign Office is also making longer-term plans to try to
encourage changes in the Middle East through educational and
cultural programmes, dealing especially with democracy, human rights
and freedom of women.
More generally throughout the Middle East, the US is attempting to
win hearts, if not minds, with Radio Sawa.
At a cost of $35m (£22.5m), it broadcasts almost non-stop music - a
sugary mixture of Arab and western pop, carefully researched to
appeal to the under-30s. There are also brief news bulletins in
Arabic every half hour.
Radio Sawa is intended to replace Voice of America's Arabic service,
which has proved unpopular in the region.
The Public Broadcasting System of the US is planning to broadcast a
two-hour documentary on the life of Mohammed, the prophet of Islam,
on December 18 and a day later rebroadcast a two-hour documentary on
the diverse interpretations of Islam around the world.
The documentaries are mainly for internal consumption within the US.
The American leaflet drop on Iraq on Thursday is the fifth such in
the last two months. It is designed to demoralise air defence forces
and to discourage workers from repairing equipment damaged in air
raids.
One leaflet warned Iraqis in Arabic not to attempt to repair
fibre-optic cables.
"You are risking your life," it said. "The cables are tools used to
suppress the Iraqi people by Saddam and his regime, they are
targeted for destruction."
Another leaflet, addressed to Iraqi air defence forces, says: "The
destruction experienced by your colleagues in other air defence
locations is a response to your continuing aggression towards planes
of the coalition forces.
"No tracking or firing on these aircraft will be tolerated. You
could be next."
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian
Newspapers Limited 2002
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,851063,00.html
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