Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
Under such conditions, you can't
trust any Western opinion polls of Iraqis to reflect Iraqi opinions
accurately, for Iraqis can't speak their minds freely:
They don't seem shy about expressing their opinions to reporters for
foreign wire services or newspapers or even demonstrating in front of
U.S. troops:
U.S.-Led Coalition Shuts Down Iraq Paper
By Bassem Mroue, Associated Press Writer
Published: March 29, 2004
"This is what happens when an Iraqi journalist expresses his
opinion," said the white-turbaned Darraja.
"What is happening now is what used to happen during the days of
Saddam. No freedom of opinion. It is like the days of the Baath,"
said Hussam Abdel-Kadhim, 25, a vendor who took part in the
demonstration, referring to the Baath Party that ruled Iraq for 35
years until Saddam Hussein was ousted a year ago.
New York Times - March 29, 2004
G.I.'s Padlock Baghdad Paper Accused of Lies
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
"No, no, America!" and "Where is democracy now?" screamed protesters
who hoisted banners and shook clenched fists in a hastily organized
rally against the closing of the newspaper, Al Hawza, a radical
Shiite weekly.
The rally drew hundreds and then thousands by nightfall in central
Baghdad, where masses of angry Shiite men squared off against a line
of American soldiers who rushed to seal off the area.
"When you repress the repressed, they only get stronger," said Hamid
al-Bayati, a spokesman for the Supreme Council for Islamic
Revolution in Iraq, a prominent Shiite political party. "Punishing
this newspaper will only increase the passion for those who speak
out against the Americans."
"We have been evicted from our offices, and we have no jobs,"
Saadoon Mohsen Thamad, a news editor, said as he stared at a large
padlock hanging from the front gate. "How are we going to continue?"
"That paper might have been anti-American, but it should be free to
express its opinion," said Kamal Abdul Karim, night editor of the
daily Azzaman.
Omar Jassem, a freelance reporter, said he thought that democracy
meant many viewpoints and many newspapers. "I guess this is the Bush
edition of democracy," he said.
