Iraq Reality TV Plays Confessions
We wrote about this in April, it's big in MSM today. First, from our post:
taking reality tv to new heights or lows, depending on your viewpoint, an Iraqi television station is broadcasting confessions of alleged terrorists obtained during interrogations.
"A man, appearing disheveled and uncomfortable, sits on a wooden chair in a dim room of what appears to be a police station. As an interrogator peppers him with questions, the man says he was part of a gang that kidnapped and murdered Iraqis during the past two years in order to create a split between Shi'ite and Sunni Iraqis. But he says his acts were not holy war. They were blasphemous."
"Police say his name is Ramzi Hashem and he carried out the bombing nearly two-years ago at a Shi'ite shrine in Najaf that killed senior Shi'ite cleric Mohammed Bakr al-Hakim and 100 followers."
"During the interrogation Ramzi Hashem also admits to committing rapes and taking drugs. Prisoners in other interviews on the program say they were paid an average of $150 per killing and after committing 12 murders were given the title of prince (emir) and paid a salary."
The Christian Science Monitor (MSM article linked above) has U.S. experts and soldiers praising the show:
Col. Thomas Hammes, an insurgency expert at National Defense University in Washington, called the show a "powerful first step" in undermining the insurgency. "Obviously, the first thing the government has to do is convince people that it can govern, so that they see the value of coming forward with information," he says.
US officers in Iraq say that the nightly show has encouraged more Iraqis to come in with intelligence tips.
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