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Iran-backed Hizbullah TV drops inflammatory anti-U.S. content WASHINGTON Hizbullah's Al Manar satellite television has reduced its anti-American propaganda. The Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah, seeking to maintain a presence in the West, has softened its anti-American tone, a new report by the U.S. intelligence community has determined. At the same time, anti-Israeli propaganda has increased. Al Manar television has for the first time condemned the targeting of Iraqi civilians by Sunni insurgents. "Al Manar continues its negative treatment of the United States but has dropped the more incendiary anti-U.S. material seen in the past," the U.S. Open Source Intelligence Center said in a report. "Anti-U.S. material has largely been confined to newscasts and political talk shows." The report was obtained and posted on the website of the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy. The study reflected Al Manar's activities in 2005. Al Manar's reporting on the Sunni insurgency in Iraq has also undergone some change, the report said. For the first time, Hizbullah television has condemned the targeting of Iraqi civilians by Sunni insurgents. "Al Manar's reporting on Iraq adopts a critical tone toward U.S. policies and actions but condemns insurgent bombings targeting Iraqi civilians," the report said. The Bush administration has sought to block Al Manar from being broadcast in the European Union. In December 2004, Al Manar was designated a terrorist financier by the United States. The report said Hizbullah attacks against President Bush have decreased. Until 2005, Al Manar compared Bush to Hitler. In contrast, Hizbullah continues to demonize Israel. The report said anti-Israeli propaganda has been inserted into children's programs on Al Manar. In December 2005, the Brazilian-based Hispamar satellite company ended broadcasts of Al Manar into North and South America. A year earlier, the Intelsat satellite company dropped Al Manar from the United States and Canada. Al Manar continues to broadcast to the Middle East, Europe and North Africa by Nilesat. The major shareholders in Nilesat include the government of Egypt and Arabsat, partly owned by the government of Saudi Arabia. -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
