Pacridge
DP Veteran
The network and web site of Aljazeera have called for a boycott of the proposed Jan. Iraqi elections. Aljazeeza, for those of you who have been living in out space for the past few years, is a completely bias Arabic cable news network based out of Qatar. So basically it's no big surprise for them to not support the elctions. In fact pretty much anything we try to do, they're going to be against. I think if Bush and his people wanted to "take out" a few of Aljazeera's staff he could do so simply by suggesting they breath. Their immediate reaction would undoubtably be suffocation.
So why give a s**t what they say? Well while people here don't listen to them people in the middle east, including Iraq, do listen. And they listen in large numbers. They're basically the only game in town over there and they ability to spew spin would make Rupert Murdoch proud.
This, in part, is what they had to say about the upcomming elections:
"The planned election will change the political composition of Iraq to suit the interests of the occupation authorities. The change will also lead to ethnic, sectarian and religious divisions that the Iraqi state and people had succeeded to avoid."
And there's more:
"The coming election will give power to every politician who has assisted the invaders and collaborated with them to consolidate the occupation. Therefore, we believe that even after the election, the decision-making process will be taken in the US embassy in Baghdad and the elected government will be no more than a vehicle to carry out Washington's decisions."
The interm Iraqi government, at one time, threw these guys out of the country. I think they've since allowed them back in, mainly due to popular outcry (this network is very popular), but even when they were out it really had little effect since they were still able to broadcast and a large persentage of the Iraqi people get their TV via satellite. (Edit as of 12-11-2004: According to the Aljazeera Web Site they are still not allowed to operate witnin Iraq and seven other Arab nation for that matter)
I don't know about anyone elses thoughts, I but I feel if we can't get these elections going we're most certainly taking steps backwards.
Here's the link to their entire article:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D1C660D3-31C9-44C5-925F-4070AC17D606.htm
So why give a s**t what they say? Well while people here don't listen to them people in the middle east, including Iraq, do listen. And they listen in large numbers. They're basically the only game in town over there and they ability to spew spin would make Rupert Murdoch proud.
This, in part, is what they had to say about the upcomming elections:
"The planned election will change the political composition of Iraq to suit the interests of the occupation authorities. The change will also lead to ethnic, sectarian and religious divisions that the Iraqi state and people had succeeded to avoid."
And there's more:
"The coming election will give power to every politician who has assisted the invaders and collaborated with them to consolidate the occupation. Therefore, we believe that even after the election, the decision-making process will be taken in the US embassy in Baghdad and the elected government will be no more than a vehicle to carry out Washington's decisions."
The interm Iraqi government, at one time, threw these guys out of the country. I think they've since allowed them back in, mainly due to popular outcry (this network is very popular), but even when they were out it really had little effect since they were still able to broadcast and a large persentage of the Iraqi people get their TV via satellite. (Edit as of 12-11-2004: According to the Aljazeera Web Site they are still not allowed to operate witnin Iraq and seven other Arab nation for that matter)
I don't know about anyone elses thoughts, I but I feel if we can't get these elections going we're most certainly taking steps backwards.
Here's the link to their entire article:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D1C660D3-31C9-44C5-925F-4070AC17D606.htm
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