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Iraq-Jordan
IWPR Short Summary Top Articles of Iraqi Papers
2004-04-28
This is the first summary that I have seen of what is being covered in teh Iraqi papers.

Sadr warns US of ‘hell fire’
(Al-Mada) – Muqtada al-Sadr warned that "hell fire" will be opened on US forces if they implement their threat to kill or arrest him. "The Americans must know that the people will open the hell fire against them if something happened to me," Sadr said.
This is a testable hypothesis.
Paul Bremer, Top Civil Administrator, said last Sunday that a dangerous situation is developing in Najaf because weapons are being stored in mosques, holy shrines, and schools. Sadr reiterated his previous threat to use suicide attackers if US forces enter Najaf or Karbala.
He won't wear the suicide belt himself, of course, he's much too valuable to the movement.
(Al-Mada is issued daily by Al-Mada institution for Media, Culture, and Arts.)

GC moves ahead with election plans
(Baghdad) – Hameed Majeed Moosa, head of the Iraqi Communist Party, said "the Governing Council has chosen me along with Dr. Raja al-Khuzai and other experts to supervise the coming elections.” He mentioned that the GC held a joint meeting with the UN envoy and the CPA to decide the powers of the board, which will work together with the UN envoy to prepare materials to be distributed among the people within 7-10 days. Moosa called on the press to participate in the success of the elections, while Khuzai announced "tomorrow the GC will start its first session about the elections".
Choosing a Marxist always portends success in an open election. Brahimi is such a genius.
(Baghdad is a daily newspaper issued by the Iraqi National Accord.)

(Al-Mada) Cartoon available at link -- A man -- who looks like a real sharpster -- stands by a coat rack and is trying to hang his shirt. He says, "I am perplexed. Shall I hang my shirt or suspend [hang] my membership?" In Arabic, "hang" and "suspend" are the same. It is context that differentiates between them. In this context, we are reminded of the number of people who are suspending their memberships as easily as hanging their shirts.

GC mulls choices for rotating presidency
(Al-Sabah) – Discussion over the rotating presidency of the Governing Council for May and June dominated yesterday’s meeting. Some members suggested choosing two members from the GC’s presidential board to hold the two-month chair, while others suggested keeping to the procedure of choosing according to the alphabet. Al-Sabah has been informed that Naseer al-Chadirchi and Izzul Deen Saleem are most likely to rule the Council due to their being highly respected and efficient.
(Al-Sabah is issued daily by the Iraqi Media Network on behalf of the Coalition Provisional Authority.)

GC rumours ‘groundless’ (Al-Adala) – Rumours about some Governing Councillors being ruled out of future political work are groundless, Al-Adala has learnt. An anonymous source in the GC said its members are symbols of Iraqi patriotic movements, and ruling out any of them would serve nobody. The source added that patriotic powers must be represented in the next government in one way or another. Perhaps more elements will be added to the existing formation. Some believe that unrepresented bodies must be added. Others think adding elements must reassure regional countries, whereas a third group said that reassuring the US is vital.
(Al-Adala is issued thrice weekly by the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.)

New Iraqi flag ‘resembles’ Israel’s
(Asharq al-Awsat) – Hameed al-Kifai, spokesman of the Governing Council, yesterday denied that the new Iraqi flag is similar to Israel’s. In any case, he said, the flag would be temporary until approved by an elected parliament. The GC accepted the flag without noticing the similarities with Israel’s. The GC agreed the flag will include a symbol of peace (white colour), Islam (crescent), and Kurds (yellow), said Kifai. But, the flag, with two blue lines representing the Tigris and the Euphrates, a white background, and a religious symbol, seems similar to the Israeli flag, which has two blue lines representing the Euphrates and the Nile, a white background, and a religious symbol.
And look how successful they've been.
(London-based Asharq al-Awsat, a Saudi independent paper, is issued daily.)

‘Source’ discusses privatisation plans
(Al-Bayan) – A Ministry of Planning source said there are many sectors that should be cancelled or privatised. He added agreements had been signed with a number of ministries in this regard. Privatisation will include some firms with large economic activities in order to be in line with the policy followed in the market economies, he said. Moreover, the State Company for Trading Cars might be the first to be privatised since it has large trade deals and funds a large number of businessmen. Its privatisation could also create competition in the market. As to its employees, who will be dismissed if it is privatized or cancelled, they will be waiting for job opportunities in other ministries, he concluded.
(Al-Bayan is issued thrice weekly by the Islamic Dawa Party, chaired by Ibrahim al-Jafari, Governing Council member.)

Mad cow appears in Iraq
Not true, Barbra Striesland is not doing a Baghdad concert. Where do they get this stuff?
(Al-Nahdhah) – A medical source revealed that symptoms of mad cow disease exist in Iraq, declaring that field visits to some Iraqi neighbourhoods affirmed the existence of the disease. About procedures taken to avoid mad cow, the source advised stopping imports of meat from countries known for having that disease. He added that Iraq has lately became an open market, and is increasingly liable to seeing its animals infected. He urged breeders to slaughter their animals in licensed slaughter houses after having them medically tested.
(Al-Nahdhah is a daily newspaper issued by Adnan al-Pachachi, GC member and head of Independent Democrats Movement.)
Posted by:Super Hose

#8  LH, maybe they are followers of Proebrazhensky. If the party gets in power, the strongman will purge them and implement a 5-Year Plan. :-)
Posted by: Super Hose   2004-04-28 10:48:41 PM  

#7  BTW, from everything Ive read the Iraqi Communist Party has been about as consistently supportive of democracy in Iraq as anyone. They suffered terribly under the Baathists, and are now pretty much "post communist" They are firmly secularist though. which in Iraq is a very good thing.
Posted by: Liberalhawk   2004-04-28 4:49:30 PM  

#6  eL, I don't think this diatribe would even register on a spittlemeter calibrated for use with NK bromides.
Posted by: Super Hose   2004-04-28 1:56:47 PM  

#5  Sadr warns US of ‘hell fire’

Odd, I'll bet we have just such a thing loaded up and with Tater's name on it. C'mon out, we'll show you.
Posted by: eLarson   2004-04-28 12:15:08 PM  

#4  Torah! Torah! Torah!
I said promised land Moshe!
Not promised continent.

Nat. Lamp movie poster circa '73
Posted by: Shipman   2004-04-28 11:12:24 AM  

#3  seems similar to the Israeli flag, which has two blue lines representing the Euphrates and the Nile, a white background, and a religious symbol.

LOL. This is a slander based on the false claim that the Zionists wanted a state "from the Nile to the Euphrates" In fact the blue stripes on the Israeli flag are based on the design of the traditional Jewish prayer shawl or Tallit.


Of course that was in a Saudi paper,published in Londonistan, not an Iraqi paper.
Posted by: Liberalhawk   2004-04-28 10:04:48 AM  

#2  B, for me the summary gave me more of a sense of how Iraqi life is filling out. As an American, my picture of Iraq is that there is nothing else going on in the country except Najaf, Fallujah, Al-Sadr, Iranian/Syrian infiltration and that UN loose cannon spouting inflammatory statements at random.
Posted by: Super Hose   2004-04-28 5:00:18 AM  

#1  we are soo losing the propaganda war. This is IMHO, the Bush administration's biggest tactical error.

Mad cow? How about some reports of all the schools and aid we are giving? Spirit of America? Why is it getting as little media play there as it is here?

Come on guys! Whose in charge of pscyh ops?? Maybe it's time to find somebody effective.
Posted by: B   2004-04-28 4:39:44 AM  

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