US newspaper ban plays into cleric's
hands By Nir Rosen
BAGHDAD -
Thousands of Iraqi Shi'ites staged a demonstration in
Baghdad's al-Hurriya square on Sunday to protest the
closure of al-Hawza newspaper, the mouthpiece for
radical Shi'ite leader Muqtada Sadr. They demanded an
apology from the Americans for insulting the Shi'ite
seminary, and all Iraqis.
Al-Hawza was published
every Thursday and sold throughout Iraq. The text of
Muqtada's sermon from the previous Friday was displayed
on the front page. News of Muqtada's latest activities,
such as an invitation to all his
representatives in Iraq to meet him in Najaf, or his
latest pronouncement, were also on the front page.
Al-Hawza contained articles obliquely critical of
moderate leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Typical
headlines were "Kurdistan always belonged to Iraq",
"America kills then apologizes" (with a picture of
Americans abusing an old man), "America releases
prisoners after the Hawza threatens them", "Iraqis of
all religions and sects refuse to watch half naked women
on television".
A very large headline in block
letters was "Facing the arrests and assassinations from
our common enemy: And do not let them tell you that we
have many enemies, we only have one [implying the
Americans]". Muqtada is quoted in headlines as saying
"America benefited from the events in Karbala to make a
war against me", "even if they establish a government I
will not be a part of it", and "the American veto makes
the Iraqi Governing Council unimportant, but if it
removes its veto I will support it".
An article
called "Pens serving the Zionists" was about a Kuwaiti
journalist who criticized Muqtada. "The Iraqi Governing
Council appoints American woman as Iraqi ambassador to
US" says a disapproving article. Another one criticizes
the Kurds for "killing the nation".
"We are
still under the rule of Saddam [Hussein] but with an
American face" began one article, explaining that "one
of the successes of America's occupation here is the
distribution of moral corruption by selling the
pornographic movies and liquor and hashish that America
brought with it to Iraq. They are showing pornographic movies in the
cinemas and people are drinking alcohol in the streets
and showing bad and immoral movies on the Hebrew media
network [a reference to the American-established Iraqi
media network] and Hura TV [a US government-produced
television station] and even in children's movies in
order to create a new generation that is far from the
Islamic religion and has Western ideologies that do not
oppose the Anglo-American Zionist ideology. We ask the
Governing Council about these malicious operations
against Islam and why they do not prevent them."
After many American threats to arrest Muqtada in
the past, the American occupying forces accused al-Hawza
of fomenting violence against them and closed its
offices for 60 days, padlocking and chaining the doors,
handing the editor a letter signed by US civilian
administrator L Paul Bremer, explaining that the
newspaper had violated a ban on fomenting violence. The
letter cited several instances in which the paper had
slandered the occupying forces, such as an article
entitled "Bremer follows the steps of Saddam" and an
article accusing American helicopters of firing rockets
at an Iraqi police station. Buses brought protestors
into the central Baghdad al-Hurriya circle, where they
waved flags and shouted "No to America!" and "We don't
want another Saddam!"
Though the Americans might
be attempting to silence a vocal and vitriolic critic of
their efforts in Iraq, the move plays directly into
Muqtada's hands. Hamid Bayati, the spokesmen for the
Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq,
confirmed that the move would only "provoke Muqtada
Sadr's supporters", and confirm Iraqi suspicions that
Americans are hypocritical and selective in their
application of democracy. The occupying forces have
already punished alJazeera and al-Arabiya, two Arabic
satellite news networks, for broadcasting programs the
Americans found distasteful.
In other articles
in al-Hawza, it accused American soldiers of "killing
policemen in Faluja, even though they knew they were
police", and it urged the police to "stop protecting the
occupation forces from the Iraqi armed resistance".
Interestingly, unlike other Shi'ite leaders and
publications, the resistance was not referred to
negatively with words such as "terrorist" or "criminal".
Instead of the typical pejorative descriptions, al-Hawza
chose the more positive "Iraqi armed resistance".
Another article warns that "America is
untrustworthy and this is why [Iran's Ayatollah
Ruhollah] Khomeini called it the big devil because it
came specifically to destroy Islam and to halt the
export of the Islamic Revolution from Iran". Yet another
article claims that "American forces have started
throwing their dead into the sea, fearing public opinion
[in America] and also fearing that people will vote against the young
[George W] Bush in the next elections". The newspaper
urged people to "watch the Iranian Sahar channel [which
specializes in Islamic programming] because it shows the
real aims of American politics and the hidden truth of
the British and their goals ... After [US Secretary of
State] Colin Powell failed in the United Nations he came
to Iraq to represent the American leadership of the
coalition forces and to visit the areas attacked with
chemical weapons in order to harm the people. They want
to show that America is the peacemaker of the world.
America hates Islam and Muslims as proven by the
American slogan the war against terror."
Another
article called "Our enemies the Masons" describes Masons
as "a secret movement joined with the Zionists and
possessing millions of soldiers throughout the world of
all nations and religions and it takes over the weak
minds and weak spirits who have no religion. It is
founded by Jews and it aims to destroy all other
religions."
An editorial stated that "everyone
knows that the West is a bitter enemy to Islam. No sane
man can believe that America supports the interests of
Muslims". The editorial speaks of "the many insults
against religious figures ... statements denigrating the
religion of Muslims ... the perversion of anything said
by Muslims to make it sound like they support
terrorism".
The editorial describes Bremer as "a
Zionist Christian follower of US President George Bush.
Because Bremer is as foolish as the man who sent him, he
thought that it would be easy to erase Islam from the
souls of 25 million people in Iraq and complete his and
the West's desire to erase Islam from the earth ... does
this third rate intelligence agent and terrorism expert
think he can erase the religion of God? Bremer does not
know more than the intelligence officers of the previous
regime who tried to remove Islam from the hearts and
minds of men and women whose faith was strengthened as a
reaction. Bremer is foolish because he failed in the
goal of trying to erase Islam from the lives of people
who lived with and by Islam for many centuries. These
people were only defeated when they strayed from Islam."
The author complains that "the great religious
leaders kept silent". He quotes the Prophet Mohammed as
saying that "He who witnesses a bad deed must change it
with force. If he cannot he must try giving advice. If
he cannot he must try to change it with his heart." The
author states that the "religious leaders" (implying
Sistani) cannot even do these things. Bremer is accused
of being hostile to Islam and giving tacit approval to
the looting of Iraq's cultural heritage and oil as well
as the violence in Iraq.
The punishment of yet
another media outlet can only confirm the worst views
Iraqis have of Americans and draw parallels with the
censorship imposed by the previous government. Shi'ites
view themselves as an oppressed and persecuted sect.
Muqtada Sadr himself often warns of his impending
martyrdom. By closing down the newspaper the Americans
are supporting these fears. and continuing to squander
the goodwill they might have received from Shi'ites in
the beginning of the occupation, when they had disposed
of Saddam. Al-Hawza only had a circulation of a few tens
of thousands. Muqtada reached his supporters through his
sermons, CDs of which were then sold throughout the
country, through statements posted on the walls of his
local offices, and through the sermons of his local
representatives. Closing al-Hawza will not prevent him
from reaching his audience, it will only increase his
supporters.
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invitation to all his
representatives in Iraq to meet him in Najaf, or his
latest pronouncement, were also on the front page.
Al-Hawza contained articles obliquely critical of
moderate leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Typical
headlines were "Kurdistan always belonged to Iraq",
"America kills then apologizes" (with a picture of
Americans abusing an old man), "America releases
prisoners after the Hawza threatens them", "Iraqis of
all religions and sects refuse to watch half naked women
on television". 
pornographic movies in the
cinemas and people are drinking alcohol in the streets
and showing bad and immoral movies on the Hebrew media
network [a reference to the American-established Iraqi
media network] and Hura TV [a US government-produced
television station] and even in children's movies in
order to create a new generation that is far from the
Islamic religion and has Western ideologies that do not
oppose the Anglo-American Zionist ideology. We ask the
Governing Council about these malicious operations
against Islam and why they do not prevent them."
vote against the young
[George W] Bush in the next elections". The newspaper
urged people to "watch the Iranian Sahar channel [which
specializes in Islamic programming] because it shows the
real aims of American politics and the hidden truth of
the British and their goals ... After [US Secretary of
State] Colin Powell failed in the United Nations he came
to Iraq to represent the American leadership of the
coalition forces and to visit the areas attacked with
chemical weapons in order to harm the people. They want
to show that America is the peacemaker of the world.
America hates Islam and Muslims as proven by the
American slogan the war against terror." 
