Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives
Iraqi TV Monitoring
500 hours of off-air recordings of round-the-clock broadcasts by Iraqi State Television (IST) just before and during the first three weeks of the American-led invasion of Iraq, from March 17 to April 7, 2003, when IST broadcasting broke down. The programs show great variety, from hourly news blocks, political commentaries and roundtable discussions on the ongoing war, to numerous patriotic propaganda songs. The materials include lengthy religious programs broadcast on Fridays, extensive coverage of Saddam Hussein's and Ba'ath Party public engagements, and English-language press conferences held by the Information Minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf.
Part of the Monitoring of the Iraqi and Kurdish Television collection.