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[bucheon bum]

ANOTHER KIND OF CASUALTY IN BAGHDAD
Iraq�s embattled government is tightening its control over the country�s press. On September 10th, the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered the Baghdad office of the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television station to be shut down over its coverage of a controversial draft law now under consideration by the country�s parliament. The bill, proffered by the legislature�s Shi�ite faction, would permit the country�s Shi�ites to form an autonomous region in the south � a proposal characterized by Al-Arabiya in its reportage as promoting sectarianism.

The government�s excuse for going after Al-Arabiya is innovative: counterterrorism. �It is an unjustified accusation against a community when Al-Arabiya says that a draft submitted by the Shi�ites would lead to secession or the division of Iraq,� Iraqi parliament speaker Mahmud al-Mashhadani has said, explaining the decision to shutter the news station. �The prime minister has been empowered by parliament to close any journalistic office because we exist in a time of bloodletting... We will punish provocative news that culminates in sectarianism.� (Agence France Presse, September 11, 2006)

BTW, Al-Jazeera has already been kicked out.