Alhurra’s Baghdad Bureau Mired in Controversy

July 22: This post has been corrected.

When news broke in the spring of 2007 that the Iraqi government was holding talks with local militias, Alhurra, the U.S.-funded television station, was quick to respond. That night, Alhurra's premier talk show from Baghdad, "In Iraq," invited four guests to discuss the issue: a professor, an expert in tribal affairs, a member of a U.S.-backed coalition of tribal leaders and Mishan Jabouri, whom the show identified as a member of the Iraqi parliament.

What "In Iraq" didn't tell its viewers was that Jabouri, interviewed by phone from Syria, was on the run from the U.S. military and the Iraqi police. Interpol had issued a "Wanted" poster for him and Iraq's parliament had stripped him of his diplomatic immunity because of his suspected ties to extremists.

Officials at Alhurra, the Arab-language station that has received nearly $500 million in U.S. taxpayer dollars, say that of all their broadcasts to the Middle East, they are most proud of their broadcasts to Iraq. But a close look at both the content and personnel suggests the problems in the Baghdad bureau and the effort to broadcast programming for Iraqis are as profound as those that afflict the rest of the network.

For one thing, the bureau tilts heavily toward Iran, according to former employees, U.S. government officials and academics who have watched the programs. The executive producer of the Iraq broadcasts, a former bureau chief and several other employees all lived in Tehran before joining Alhurra. State Department officials and U.S. diplomats in Baghdad have privately complained for years that Alhurra's Iraq broadcasts seem more interested in promoting the policies of the radical Shiite regime in Iran rather than those of the United States government.

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