Iraq Media Developments: More on interrogations from the Chicago Tribune

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April 17, 2005

More on interrogations from the Chicago Tribune

"People now realize the terrorists are not all-powerful because they see them on TV being captured," said Udai al-Jubouri, a military engineer whose Dora neighborhood in southern Baghdad is among the most dangerous areas of Iraq. "People believe only what they see. The people in the stores and the tea shops who were encouraging these kinds of attacks now do not support them."

Chicago Tribune
April 17, 2005 Sunday

Iraq tunes in to see rebels get grilled; For insurgents, rough justice on reality TV

By Colin McMahon, Tribune foreign correspondent. Nadeem Majeed contributed to this report.

The imam delivered the kind of plug that even network television money can't buy: Go home, the cleric instructed worshipers at the end of evening prayers, and watch "Terror in the Grip of Justice."

Not that the flock at Al-Zuwiya mosque in Baghdad needed to be reminded. "Terror in the Grip of Justice" is a cultural phenomenon in Iraq.

The setup of the reality TV program is as straightforward as its name. Iraqi police and military interrogators badger, bully, coax, cajole and question suspected insurgents. They tape the sessions and then air them nightly on state-owned Al-Iraqiya TV.

The confessions often are gripping, the crimes monstrous. Sometimes the suspects, who have yet to be tried if even formally charged, are garrulous. Other times their sullen manner, confessions that seem scripted and visible bruises suggest persuasion was brought to bear. Critics label it unreality TV.

But as unsettling as the premise might be to judges at The Hague or professors at Harvard Law School, it makes for terrific television.

"There is no way that you can complain about human rights for these people--they are traitors," said Alaa al-Saffar, an Iraqi journalist, offering a view so common that many Iraqis express bafflement that the treatment of the suspects might be considered unfair. "This is not like your country. This situation is so bad here. This is what we need to do."

And it's working, say al-Saffar, Iraqi officials and U.S. authorities. The program has stripped away a sense of invincibility around the insurgents, fans say. It shows that Iraqi forces are arresting people and not just saying so. And it has encouraged average Iraqis to stand up to the insurgents and cooperate with Iraqi police and soldiers, proponents say.

"People now realize the terrorists are not all-powerful because they see them on TV being captured," said Udai al-Jubouri, a military engineer whose Dora neighborhood in southern Baghdad is among the most dangerous areas of Iraq. "People believe only what they see. The people in the stores and the tea shops who were encouraging these kinds of attacks now do not support them."

Habib al-Sadr, director general of the Iraqiya network, said the show scores high and low. It helps the fight against terrorism, he said, and it gives the battered Iraqi people a taste of the vengeance they crave.

As for the principle of innocent until proven guilty, al-Sadr said, "There is no doubt these people are terrorists, mercenaries and killers."

Though some suspects start off protesting their innocence, by the end of the taped session most admit to whatever is put before them.

A former Mosul police lieutenant, Shuqair al-Farishi, has appeared on the program at least three times, looking more desperate with each interrogation. In his last appearance, he had black and blue circles around his eyes that had not been seen before.

Al-Farishi and a comrade, Hussein Sheikhu, admitted to killing two Christians--"because they were collaborators"--to raping and killing at least 10 young women and to working for a Syrian agent.

The suspects said they did not kill any Americans, a point the interviewer jumped on to ridicule them for attacking only Iraqis. A thread of the show is that attacks on U.S.-led troops are really not an issue, and interrogators refer to American forces as "the occupier."

Power position clear

The interrogations are a mix of familiarity, drama, ridicule and menace. Al-Farishi and others are addressed by their first names, and in one episode the interrogator jovially suggested making a whole program about al-Farishi alone. There is little doubt that the inquisitor, who does not appear on camera, has all the power.

"Where did you kill Ahmad Juma?" the interrogator asks Sheikhu at one point.

"We kidnapped him," Sheikhu replies.

"Who killed him?"

"I killed him, sir," Sheikhu declares.

Later in the same interrogation Sheikhu is called "contemptible." The interrogator tells the men, "May Allah grind your bones." And al-Farishi is ridiculed for being evasive about an alleged Syrian handler.

"Are you stupid or are you just pretending?" the interrogator asks.

Al-Sadr, the Iraqiya executive, said the humiliation serves a purpose. "A lot of average Iraqis thought these terrorists were like Superman. The satellite TV channels show them with their huge bodies, waving swords, beheading people as if they were slaughtering any animal.

"`Terror in the Grip of Justice' shows that they are losers--jobless, mercenaries, people with no morals and no ethics," al-Sadr said.

The men in the program often do seem small, weak or wicked. Not only do they admit to horrific bombings, kidnappings and murders, they confess to violating the same Islamic precepts they claim to enforce. Suspects tell of alcohol and drug use, rape and homosexuality. They almost always say they did it for the money.

Network threatened

Al-Sadr and others at Al-Iraqiya have been threatened if the show goes on. The network closed off the boulevard in front of its headquarters and extended its security cordon more than a block beyond. To reach al-Sadr's small office, which is crammed with two flat-screen TVs, a large refrigerator and an air-conditioning unit set to "Arctic," a visitor must pass four heavily armed security checkpoints.

"I get warnings in my e-mail. They post them in articles on the Internet," al-Sadr said. "They dropped a letter in the garden of my home."

Critics who accused Al-Iraqiya of faking or coercing the confessions were invited on air, al-Sadr said. No one responded, he added, and that includes a group of Sunni Muslim scholars who deem the insurgents legitimate resistance fighters.

Foreign human-rights activists suspect the detainees were abused in Iraqi jails that have returned to some of the habits from the Saddam Hussein era. The top Iraqi rights official said the show raised some concerns, but he has shown little interest in investigating.

American officials skate over the questions of legal ethics and human fairness. Referring to intelligence reports, they say the show has angered some insurgent groups. They take that as a sign that it's working.

cmcmahon@tribune.com

Posted by Matthew Burton on April 17, 2005 at 11:31 PM in Al-Iraqiya/Iraqi Media Network, Prisoner Confessions | Permalink

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