Friday, April 09, 2004

I think I may read

The Asia Times more often. This is objective reporting:

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.
...
The occupying forces have already punished alJazeera and al-Arabiya, two Arabic satellite news networks, for broadcasting programs the Americans found distasteful.
...
An editorial [from al-Hawza] 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".


This article is worth reading. In the first paragraph it tells you what al-Hawza means.
...Oh, all right! Here: "Al-Hawza [the religious seminary] is our leadership."
I mention this to explain what looks to be a confusion in the first paragraph cited. I.e. the protesters seem to believe that Bremer closed down the seminary, instead of a small circulation partisan newssheet.

Update: And objectivity requires that other points of view be recognized as well. There are more that two sides to every story. Here's another side.

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