Television returns to Baghdad - but not as they know it

By HASSAN HAFIDH in Baghdad

A week after George W. Bush and Tony Blair personally promised Iraqis a speedy end to Saddam Hussein's rule, Baghdad residents are finally getting the message.

The pledges, recorded by the US President and British Prime Minister at a summit in Northern Ireland, feature on a new television channel broadcast on frequencies once used by Saddam's state media.

"At least we are not seeing Saddam's face, which used to appear nearly every day on Iraqi television for the last 24 years," said Abu Yousif, one of a group of Iraqis watching the new channel in the centre of the Iraqi capital.

The new Arabic network is called Nahwa Al-Hurrieh or Towards Freedom. A specially modified plane called "Commando Solo" is flying over Iraq broadcasting both television and radio for several hours a day.

With power cut in most of Baghdad, only those with generators are able to tune in.

Yesterday, the channel aired for at least two hours. During the broadcast, Bush and Blair promised their troops would leave Iraq as soon as a new government was in place.

Those watching the new network in downtown Baghdad said they had tuned in over the past few days, using a generator to run their television sets.

"We saw it but it was not very clear," said Kamal, 70, who did not give his second name. "There was news and statements. They said don't go out with weapons, that kind of thing."

But locals said the signal was very weak and they still depended for news on international radio stations like the BBC's Arabic service, US broadcast Radio Sawa and Radio Monte Carlo.

Iraqi state television, which featured defiant statements on the progress of the war and patriotic songs praising Saddam, went off the air a week ago as US forces swept into Baghdad.

Production of the station's British content has been outsourced to a private London-based company whose producers and journalists are all Arabs. The Pentagon is also producing content.

Officials say programming will include news, discussions, features, culture and public service announcements.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq war