Thursday, October 12, 2006

The Revolution Will Be Televised

Gunmen in Iraq stormed a TV station and killed eleven workers.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen stormed the offices of a new satellite channel in Baghdad on Thursday and killed 11 employees in the biggest attack yet on media in Iraq.

Iraqi media organizations, government-run or funded by religious or political groups, are frequent targets for militant groups as attacks by Sunni Arab insurgents and sectarian death squads continue to convulse the country.

"We strongly condemn this terrorist act which muzzles the reality and targets journalists," Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told a news conference.

Hassan Kamil, executive manager of Shaabiya satellite channel, said gunmen raided the station's office in eastern Zayouna district at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT), killing guards, technicians and administrative staff.
Now why would the gunmen be so down on this particular station?
Shaabiya is owned by the National Justice and Progress Party, a small secular party which contested the last two elections but failed to win any seats in parliament.

Shaabiya has so far only done test broadcasts, mainly of patriotic songs. Kamil said the staff had been a mix of Sunnis, Kurds and Shi'ites and that the station had no political agenda.

Kamil said among those killed was the head of the party, Abdul-Rahim Nasrallah, who was also head of the station's board of directors.
So the death squads are going after secular Iraqis who are obviously a threat to their plans. Broadcasting a secular message obviously multiplied the threat.

What does this mean? I think it means that one of the most important things we can do in Iraq is to help bring in more Electricity in order to help brave Iraqis like the ones working at this satellite TV station get their message out.

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