Saddam Hussein and Al-Jazeera

The Associated Press reported on January 3 that the London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat broke the news that a videotape found in Baghdad after Saddam Hussein's ouster shows a former al-Jazeera manager thanking Saddam's sadistic son Uday Hussein for his support.  The AP report quoted al-Jazeera manager Mohammed Jassem al-Ali telling Uday that "Al-Jazeera is your channel."  The AP also quotes Uday as saying that "some ideas" he proposed in previous meetings with al-Ali led to "some changes" in al-Jazeera's political coverage.

The AP story creates room for a perfectly reasonable explanation that exonerates al-Jazeera from institutional wrongdoing.  After all, al-Ali was fired from al-Jazeera shortly after the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.  The Associated Press states, "No reason was given, but many in the Arab press speculated al-Ali had been receiving support from Saddam's government."

So, lone corrupt manager gets fired, no big deal?  Not according to a new report published yesterday at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies website.  From the description provided on FDD's website, the new information that was found in Iraq seems nothing short of explosive.  The FDD reports that one of the appointments to al-Jazeera's editorial staff that Uday praises is Ahmad Mansour, "a prominent reporter who has since been criticized for providing greatly exaggerated reports of civilian deaths during U.S. couterinsurgency operations in Fallujah."  Al-Jazeera anchor Dr. Faysal Qassem is also shown on tape meeting with Iraqi officials, including Iraqi intelligence officers in Doha.

It also appears that journalist Hamida Nahnah may be implicated in the U.N.'s Oil-for-Food corruption scandal.  Nahnah, who received oil vouchers from Saddam's regime estimated to be worth millions of dollars, is shown on tape embracing Uday, thanking him for his generosity, and stating, "The campaign to defend Saddam's regime is about to start worldwide, thanks to the support."

It is unclear at this point how deep the corruption runs, but this is surely a story worth following.  Footage of the newly discovered videotapes will be aired by Alhurra beginning today.

UPDATE, JAN. 9, 2005:  The Associated Press now corrects the article referenced above.  According to the AP correction, al-Ali does not actually tell Uday that "al-Jazeera is your channel."  Instead, "[t]he words were spoken by Odai, who said he was quoting what had been said previously by the manager, Mohammed Jassem al-Ali."  This correction doesn't change the substance of my post, that this story could be quite significant if FDD's depiction is accurate.  According to FDD, Saddam's regime used outright bribery to strongly influence al-Jazeera's editorial slant, and several of the al-Jazeera personnel who Saddam arranged to bring to the network are still applying their unique brand of spin.