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U.S. Taxpayer-Financed Arabic Network Was Set Up to Counter Al-Jazeera, Not Echo It

[Wall Street Journal] Joel Mowbray - To understand the challenge faced by Al-Hurra, the U.S. taxpayer-financed Arabic TV network, consider the case of Yasser Thabet, formerly a broadcast editor at Al-Jazeera where he was part of a relatively small group who decided to broadcast bin Laden's propaganda videos unedited. Last summer, Thabet wrote a loving tribute on his personal website to Soha Bechara, a woman who attempted to assassinate a general of the main anti-Hizbullah forces, the South Lebanese Army. After the execution of Saddam Hussein, Thabet unleashed a vitriolic attack on Iraqi Shiites, whom he called "a group of murderers." Lamenting that "the execution of Saddam was a political and historical mistake," Thabet wrote fondly about how the "corpse" of Saddam had managed "to incite its people to retaliate and resist." In March of this year, Thabet was hired as chief editor of news by Al-Hurra.
2007-06-08 01:00:00
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