Al Sharq al Awsat, evidently uncowed by the threats which led it to close its Baghdad office, publishes an interview today with Falah al Naqib, Iraq's Interior Minister. I'm glad to see the paper continuing to report from Iraq - as the elections approach, we really need Arab newspapers and television working there. There was a really depressing story in al Hayat yesterday about how foreign journalists are exhausted and fearful, while local stringers mixed up reality and rumours; it painted a generally dismal view of the media conditions in Iraq right now (see Iraqpundit too).
In the interview Falah al Naqib continues the interim Iraqi government's campaign against al Jazeera, including the accusations that al Jazeera encourages terrorism and even supports it materially; but backs down a bit on the Omar Haddid controversy. Here's a quick translation of the relevant sections:
Naqib: "It is certain that there is no cooperation [between the Interior Ministry] on the part of the Arab satellite television stations... there are Arab stations which contribute to expanding the terrorist activities or at the least encouraging them.... Al Jazeera, this station is hostile to Iraq. Before it was with the regime of Saddam, and it is hostile in the way that it broadcasts the news.... According to information, it helps these [terrorist] groups materially."
The specific examples Naqib offers aren't very compelling - he gives one instance of how a group of thieves were allegedly described as mujahideen - and he doesn't provide any evidence at all of the alleged material assistance given by al Jazeera to the terrorists highlighted in the headline.
Asked about the Omar Haddid controversy, Falah al Naqib is more cautious than Sha'alan was: "I saw that al Jazeera broadcast a very young man and said that he was Omar Haddid, and I personally can't confirm that... I can't say whether he was the individual or somebody else. But it is certain that there is a wanted terrorist named Omar Haddid among the people of Fallujah."
This suggests a backing down from the sensational accusation that Haddid was coordinating Zarqawi's terrorist campaign with al Jazeera and serving as a courier for money from al Jazeera to Zarqawi.
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