Saddam considers journalists leading figures

Iraqi President Saddam Hussain considers journalists "leading figures in society", who are free to write without restrictions, said a prominent journalist from Baghdad yesterday.

Wadeea Al Modaffar, Chairman of Iraqi Journalists Union (IJU) in the Southern Region, maintained that the press is free in his country, in spite of American propaganda which would suggest otherwise.

"There are many newspapers and magazines that criticise the Iraqi regime. There is no media censorship in Iraq, but due to the current political situation in the region, all journalists are uniting against the pressure exerted by the U.S.," said Al Modaffar, Editor in Chief of Al Basra newspaper, who was invited by the Dubai Press Club to address a conference entitled "Iraqi Media - 12 Years of Siege".

"Before the Gulf War, there were some 30,000 newspapers published in the country every day. Now, we are publishing 7,000."

Dr Sabah Nahi, Vice President of the IJU, stressed that journalists in Iraq are undergoing tough times, and there have been no efforts by the UN to help alleviate some of their hardship.

"There is a shortage of pens, paper, ink, computers, faxes and all kinds of instruments that a journalist needs to do his job. The siege and the Gulf War destroyed most of the media organisations, as well as printing houses," he said.

"The siege targeted Iraqi journalists, to paralyse their capabilities and disarm them of their instruments so as to weaken our role in the country."

Dr Nahi said the IJU has repeatedly sent the UN Committee 661 a long list of basic necessities for day-to-day operations, such as equipment and machinery.

"While the IJU considers these to be necessities, the committee dismisses them as superfluous," he said.

He pointed out that communication with the outside world has been effectively cut off due to U.S. incursions, and Iraqi journalists cannot even interact with their foreign counterparts.

Al Modaffar commented: "Imagine, our journalists only began using the Internet two years ago!"

The sanctions have also banned the import of all kinds of foreign media publications, said Dr Nahi.

"Nor have Iraqi journalists been able to travel anywhere apart from Jordan, Syria and Egypt, because of the sanctions and the siege," he said.

"They have not met – or interacted with – members of international media organisations to exchange expertise."

As such, Dr Nahi said Iraqi journalists have been deprived of any opportunity to gain experience and insight from their Arab colleagues.

"Our journalists have suffered a lot in the last 12 years," he lamented.

"Still, we are proud of our journalists who managed to surmount the obstacles. Hand-in-hand, our journalists have issued more than 36 publications all over Iraq, in addition to launching a satellite channel and a youth channel," he continued.

"In doing so, Iraqi journalists succeeded in breaking many barriers that the U.S. siege and UN sanctions have placed before them."

Dr Nahi refuted the charges of the U.S. and UN, indicating Iraq did not possess seven nuclear warheads.

He said this was amply demonstrated in the course of a tour organised for an international press delegation, which included CNN, BBC, ITN and Al Jazeera.

"The day the international press delegation visited the locations where the U.S. claimed the government was concealing the Weapons of Mass Destruction, it was confirmed that there were no such weapons," he said.

Dr Nahi also criticised the modus operandi of the UN inspectors, who invaded the privacy of Iraqi officials and private citizens, by ransacking the presidential palaces, universities, schools, hospitals, and "other places where it is illogical to hide a nuclear warhead".