U.S. restores TV to Baghdad

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BAGHDAD -- An American-backed Iraqi television channel aired its first live programming this weekend in an effort to provide an alternative to a highly successful anti-U.S. airwave assault by Iran.

"Now I have freedom in selecting and handling the subjects the way I like," TV reporter Mahmoud Faud said. "Now we are able to criticize everybody -- including the Americans."

Mr. Faud is part of the 70-member staff of the Iraqi Media Network, the first new television station to reach the airwaves from Iraq since the April overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

The new channel -- part of a larger radio and television package costing the U.S. taxpayer $15 million for the first three months -- airs twice, between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. daily.

The program begins by showing the Iraqi flag accompanied by the music of "My Homeland," a popular patriotic song.

The newsroom is in a VIP lounge of the Conference Palace, now occupied by Iraq's U.S.-led administration. When the tapes are ready, they are sent over to the al-Salhiya transmission tower across the street from the television station, which was demolished in coalition bombing raids.

Mr. Faud started working for Iraq's state-controlled television three years ago, monitoring international satellite channels that ordinary Iraqis were not allowed to watch. He studied foreign broadcasts and learned how to structure a TV report and do interviews.

"It is the most exciting experience to be bringing my fellow Iraqis some of the truth," said Wisam J. Majeed, one of the new station's computer specialists who doubles as an engineer.

The station's regular fare includes cartoons, Egyptian soap operas, performances by Iraqi folk singers, news and sports reports and man-in-the street interviews -- usually complaining about the shortages in electricity and fuel and the lack of security in the Iraqi capital.