One 16-year-old boy said insurgents forced him to shoot two policemen. Another Iraqi who said his mother was a pimp recalled how he had to rape and kill two university students. The televised accounts - which the government insists are confessions obtained without any duress - are part of a campaign to scare Iraqis away from joining a raging insurgency. With alarming tales broadcast on state-run Iraqiya television, the government hopes to gain the upper hand in a propaganda war against insurgents. The programme began several weeks ago by featuring Iraqi men who said they trained in Syria to carry out terrorist attacks in Iraq. Damascus denies supporting guerrillas in Iraq.Now Iraqiya is broadcasting stories of ordinary Iraqis who say they were paid a few hundred dollars to kill and rape - and who now say they regret getting caught up in the insurgency. It is not possible to verify the authenticity of their tales. In the latest installment, a group of grim-faced Iraqis sit near a wall. Each one is interrogated by the aggressive host, whose face never appears on camera. "You are a former policeman aren't you? Say it. Say you left an honourable job for a bad one," the host yells at one of the men being questioned. Two of the Iraqi suspects had bruises on their faces. Interior Ministry spokesman Sabah Kathim said the interrogations were legitimate. "There is no doubt that the interrogations were not conducted under duress. They are straightforward just as you see them on television," he said.
Most of the men said they used the money gained from insurgents to drink alcohol, a practice increasingly frowned upon in a country that has become more religious since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. "So you say you are fighting Jihad (holy war) and yet you drink," said the host. Most of the men said they had menial jobs. One father of 10 who said he killed for the insurgents was an intelligence officer under Saddam. Another said his name was Saddam Hussein.