Publication:Chattanooga Times Free Press
Date:Saturday, March 26, 2005
Section:Front Page; Page:1

By Edward Lee Pitts
Military Affairs

CAMP CALDWELL, Iraq -- A television program showing taped confessions is turning the Iraqi people against insurgents trying to disrupt post-election Iraq, according to translators based here.

Sometime after Iraq's January elections Al Iraqiya TV, a state-run television station, used U.S. start-up money to broadcast nightly taped interrogations with captured insurgents. The program, roughly translated as "Terrorism and the Hand of Justice," shows insurgents staring at a camera and answering questions posed by an off-screen interrogator.

"All over Iraq, 99 percent of the people are watching this show," said Majdy, a U.S. translator from Khanaqin, about the nearly hourlong program that airs nightly at 9:00 local time.

"The other 1 percent are sleeping or working," said Ali, a translator from Baghdad.

To protect the translators working for the United States and their families, full names are not used in this article.

"This is the hottest thing going right now," said Capt. Rick Walters, information operations officer with the 278th Regimental Combat Team, which is stationed here. "It's the 'Survivor' and 'American Idol' of Iraq."

The show fleshes out to the average Iraqi a portrait of the typical bomb maker or gunman. Their comments break the stereotypes many Iraqis held about the roots and motivations behind the insurgency, the translators said.

"Before the show we didn't know who was doing all of this," Ali said.

About a dozen translators gathered around a small television inside a tent to watch the program here Friday night. The show's introduction includes images of soldiers running, explosions and children crying, all unfolding to beat-heavy music.

The rest of the program showed the faces of several men answering questions such as, "Why were you doing these killings?" and "Who paid you for these killings?"

One man, after giving his name and hometown, recounted the details of a mission to kill Iraqi police officers.

The Iraqi viewers are learning many of the insurgents are committing their acts for selfish reasons and not over a holy war or to defend Iraq, according to Saad, a translator from Baghdad.

"People thought they were fighting against the Americans to make Iraq free again," he said. "But now they are learning they are just working for the money."

The program reveals that insurgents get paid about $200 for setting a roadside bomb, $200 to $500 for a car bomb and as much as $5,000 for detonating a car bomb near a mosque, according to Ali from Baghdad.

The translators said captured suspects frequently admit to receiving alcohol, drugs and sex as additional rewards given to them for a successful attack.

"They are not working according to our religion, and that is making the people mad," Saad said.

Ali said the show refutes a common claim that insurgents are trying to liberate Iraq from U.S. forces by revealing how insurgents mainly target Iraqis.

"People know that the coalition is not the enemy now," Ali said. "These people are the enemy now, and they have to fight them."

Officers with the 278th recently admitted to getting better intelligence from Iraqis since the elections.

Maj. Tim Cleveland, operations officer with the 278th's 1st Squadron, said he has no problems if the upswing in information leading to arrests is because of a television program.

"It is poking a hole right into their argument that we are the infidels here to take over," he said. "It exposes the enemy for who they are."

Iraqi government officials credited these taped confessions for tips such as the one leading to the U.S. and Iraqi forces' joint raid of a suspected insurgent camp that killed 85 militants this week, The Associated Press reported.

"The people don't care about them (insurgents) anymore," Saad said. "They were making a mistake when they supported these people and trusted them. They are not afraid of them anymore."

Majdy said the program also reveals that many of the captured insurgents had criminal records before the U.S.-led invasion two years ago and many of them were released from prison when ousted dictator Saddam Hussein opened the jails with mass pardons just before the invasion.

"It reminds me of 'America's Most Wanted' or one of those shows," said Capt. Walters.

The show also depicts many insurgents as foreigners, primarily Syrians, according to Majdy. This message has reached villages with such power that foreigners no longer are walking the streets of Iraqi market places with as much frequency, Ali said.

At the end of one interview during Friday's show, the monotone interrogator asked one prisoner if he was ashamed of what he had done and if he had any advice for young people watching.

"Let them find a good job," the man said, according to a translator. "This is not safe."

E-mail Lee Pitts at lpitts@timesfreepress.com

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