Blackfive has ‘em all, plus some news from Afghanistan, but here’s one to get you started:
18) Iraqis move into outback to create new peace TV http://www.jordantimes.com/wed/news/news6.htm By Patrick Fort
Agence France-Presse BAQUBA — Courting death in the most dangerous country in the world, six Iraqis have abandoned their families to set up a radio and TV network to promote peace from a heavily guarded desert outpost.Their antenna rising 350 metres out of the middle of nowhere next to buildings protected by American and Iraqi soldiers, the six-member team gushes fervent hope about how their message of cohabitation can quell the sectarian killing fields. Nevertheless most of the original line-up has already quit, overcome by fear of working for the media in a country where 155 industry workers, 95 per cent of them Iraqi, have perished in the four years since the US-led invasion.”I received threats. They say ‘stop doing this job’. But I believe in this job, I can’t quit,” said Samir Khamis, a 28-year-old Sunni Arab and one of the co-founders of the Independent Radio and Television Network (IRTN).Officially inaugurated this week, yet operational for several months, the flagship studio lies a short drive outside Baqouba, the capital of the violent province of Diyala and rife with myriad Shiite and Sunni extremist groups.”I call my family but I haven’t seen them in five months. I ask God to save them and make them safe. We work 14 hours a day, from eight in the morning until 10 at night,” said Samir, convinced the slog will eventually pay off. And the sacrifices are hefty. Deprived of their loved ones, living conditions are tough. The network lacks basics such as running water. What they have in abundance are US and Iraqi soldiers.”We are very secure. We are in the desert but we have everything to broadcast and to live. It is time where we have to try to stop the violence,” said Samir a news reader. Aged just 20, beautiful brunette Donia Abdul Latif is presenter, DJ, editor and producer rolled into one, bringing a youthful ideological fervency to the job and declaring that her dream is to help Iraqis and help them unify.”I am trying to help Iraqis get freedom. Freedom is not to fight or to kill someone. Freedom is to speak freely, to be free in the society, to get dressed the way you want, to do what you want,” said the blue-eyed girl.She also wants to defend women’s rights from growing Islamic conservatism. Donia says her Shiite and Sunni parents are supportive, even if they did try to dissuade her from working for TV for security reasons.“This job is very dangerous for us. It is dangerous to talk freely. But if I am scared and everyone is scared then who will help Iraq? Nobody.” Staff are promoting IRTN as the only independent homegrown media. “There are no independent media in Iraq. We need to unify our people,” says Samir.Despite their independence claims, the news station is guarded round-the-clock by American and Iraqi troops. The United States has also put up most of the network’s provisional budget of between $150,000 and $200,000 for 2007.Other benefactors are the Iraqi government, which has been accused of actively participating in Shiite-Sunni sectarian warfare, and the province of Diyala, north of Baghdad. Americans provide logistical support and buy space for public awareness campaigns.Besides current donations, the giant antenna they are using was actually built on the orders of former president Saddam Hussein in 1986.Samir is adamant Uncle Sam has not morphed into Big Brother: “The Americans are here just for protection. But they don’t control our message. They don’t want to control.” “Some of us may die. That may be the cost of freedom. But let us not be so afraid of dying that we forget how to live… Courage always runs one step faster than fear,” said Shiite co-founder Rafed Mahmoud.”I was never free under Saddam Hussein. Now the terrorists, insurgents and death squads want me to live in fear again. I will not,” he added. The network may want to broadcast messages of peace and unity in a bid to overcome sectarian warfare that has left tens of thousands dead since American troops invaded in 2003, but the vast majority of staff have already quit.Fifty-five people were part of the original line-up: Only six remain. It seems extremists across the board took issue with their message of peace and love, coercing the others through fear or intimidation to quit.Paul McKellips, a consultant behind the project who is paid by the US administration, said IRTN was trying to diversify its revenue and broadcasters and was even looking into how to do e-commerce.”These folks are heroes. We have to help them,” he said.
This is one example of what we’ve all hoped for – Sunni and Shia working together and taking risks for freedom. Do we really want to sign these people’s death warrants by surrendering and leaving?
Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, Perri Nelson’s Website, Mark My Words, guerrilla radio, Adam’s Blog, basil’s blog, DragonLady’s World, The Bullwinkle Blog, Leaning Straight Up, The Amboy Times, Conservative Cat, LaTogaStrappata®, Rightlinx, third world county, stikNstein… has no mercy, The World According to Carl, Pirate’s Cove, Planck’s Constant, The Pink Flamingo, Dumb Ox Daily News, Right Voices, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
