Insurgent channel back on the air in Iraq

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/16061749.htm

BAGHDAD, Iraq - When Iraqi government officials pulled the plug on al-Zawraa TV earlier this month, they thought they'd finally stamped out a channel known for reporting live from "occupied Baghdad" and declaring Saddam Hussein's death sentence "a sad day for Iraq."

Two weeks later, however, the Sunni-owned station is back, and bloodier than ever.

"Virtuous clerics, tribesmen, merchants, farmers, work together as one hand to liberate Iraq," a crawl at the bottom of the screen urged Monday. Saddam-era martial music boomed as an insurgent video montage began: a sniper hitting an American soldier snacking on a sandwich, a U.S. Humvee bursting into flames as it hit a roadside bomb, Sunni Muslim militants vowing to overthrow Shiite leaders who are portrayed as agents of Iran.

"This is as violent as it gets," said Bassam al-Husseini, the senior government adviser who'd sought the order banning the channel for its coverage of Saddam's trial. "Now they've become officially irhabiyah," he added, using the Arabic word for "terrorist."

Al-Zawraa TV is the station of choice for nostalgic Baathists, militant Islamists, Iran-hating Sunnis and anti-American Arab nationalists. Driven underground by a court order on Nov. 5, the day Saddam was sentenced to death, the satellite news channel has re-emerged in recent days, broadcasting from an unknown location and devoid of any pretense of neutrality.

[magellan]

1. I suppose it provides an alternative

...to the US blessed propoganda on the other channels -- those that haven't been shut down.

edit: subject line