[infowar.de] USA Today 25.03.03: U.S. Allows Broadcasts To Continue

[Georg Schoefbaenker <schoefbaenker -! - aon - at>]

Infowar.de, http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~bendrath/liste.html
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USA Today
March 25, 2003
Pg. 6

U.S. Allows Broadcasts To Continue

By Dave Moniz, USA Today

WASHINGTON ? Six days into the war against Iraq, the United States has yet 
to knock Iraqi TV off the air.

Defense officials and military experts say the Pentagon made a calculated 
decision to keep Iraq's state-run network running so it could monitor 
broadcasts and follow the activities of Saddam Hussein and Iraq's political 
leadership.

U.S. officials also feared civilian casualties if they destroyed 
transmitting equipment, defense officials say.

On Monday, a Pentagon official said the United States would eventually take 
over Iraq's TV network once Saddam is removed from power to keep the Iraqi 
people informed of developments.

Another possible factor in the decision: The Bush administration wants as 
little damage to the country's infrastructure as possible because the 
United States will have to foot the bill for rebuilding Iraq.

In the meantime, Saddam has used television to try to rally the Iraqi people.

"The lesson that you are teaching the enemy will render him not only 
hesitant, but without the courage to again harm you, your nation or 
humanity," he said in a televised address Monday.

During the 1991 Persian Gulf War, allied forces knocked out power in 
Baghdad early in the war. This time, the U.S. strategy is to demonstrate 
that the invasion is designed to remove Saddam from power but not harm the 
Iraqi people.

The Pentagon has refrained from destroying power grids in Baghdad or 
striking targets that could be perceived as attacks against regular Iraqi 
citizens. For several months, the U.S. military has been dropping leaflets 
and broadcasting instructions to Iraqi soldiers and civilians telling them 
how to stay safe during the invasion.

The Pentagon also has the means to broadcast radio messages directly into 
Iraq and could soon begin distributing a new series of messages to coincide 
with attacks against Republican Guard forces near Baghdad.



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