[R-G] Many Iraqis jeer U.S. media campaign

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/06/07/Many-Iraqis-jeer-US-media-campaign/UPI-93481244385792/

Top News

Many Iraqis jeer U.S. media campaign

BAGHDAD, June 7 (UPI) -- Many Iraqis have come to ridicule a high- 
priced U.S. media campaign aimed at polishing the military's image and  
promoting democracy, observers said.

The Arabic-language newspaper Baghdad Now is one of the products  
dismissed in Iraq as U.S. propaganda, The Washington Post reported  
Sunday.

Baghdad Now portrays Iraqi soldiers as efficient civil servants and  
shows Iraqis of all sectarian backgrounds working in harmony, said  
Ziyad al-Aajeely, director of Iraq's nonprofit Journalistic Freedom  
Observatory.

"The millions spent on this is wasted money," al-Aajeely said. "Nobody  
reads this."

During the last six years, the U.S. government has spent hundreds of  
millions of dollars on billboards, printed material, and television  
and radio airtime aimed at marginalizing extremists and fostering  
reconciliation in Iraq, the Post reported.

While U.S. officials declined to speak publicly about the  
effectiveness of the campaign, a U.S. Army officer in Baghdad who  
asked to remain anonymous said Iraqi soldiers mock Baghdad Now.

"They say it's childish," the officer said. "Baghdad Now makes a good  
fuel source at the Iraqi checkpoints."