Anti-Subjugator

Unbelievable really. But then so many unbelievable things happen that it's no longer really unbelievable. Because the Arab airwaves were filled with vile anti-Semitic propaganda, the US create a new satellite TV stations called Al Hurra, which means "The Free One" (as in, free person, not a slave). What a great move. It's exactly what the doctor ordered. It is part of the War on Terror, to get these alternative opinions out into the marketplace.

Now look what has happened. Al Hurra is being turned into a clone of Al Jazeera (ie Jihad TV). And who should complain? Mithal al-Alusi, an Iraqi politician who believes in making peace with Israel, being part of the free world etc. I would have thought the solution was obvious. Just get a link from al-Alusi and maybe the Iraqi bloggers to someone in the US government and then to Al Hurra, so that basically these decent Iraqis get to choose exactly what is broadcast on Al Hurra. It should be THEIR station. The US should just provide the muscle to get THEIR voice out into the Arab world. Basically, via the US government, these Iraqis should be able to get people sacked.

I'm disinclined to let the Iraqis go direct to Al Hurra, because I do think that it should remain a US station. So anything that is broadcast should officially have come from the US. The Iraqis give suggestions, and the US implements those suggestions. Much the same way as the Iraqi government currently sets Iraqi law, and the coalition merely helps enforce those laws. But the US is free to give suggestions to the Iraqi government. But ultimately the buck stops at Maliki and the US's hands are clean. This is very important. And the buck for Al Hurra should stop at Bush, not al-Alusi. But the US should take al-Alusi's suggestions seriously, in the same way that Maliki hopefully takes the US's suggestions seriously.

Now why doesn't the US do this very obvious thing???