Maliki turns to state TV to help rally against Iraq militants

BAGHDAD // Iraq’s state television is working overtime.

The prime minister, Nouri Al Maliki, has enlisted the help of official TV channels to persuade Iraqis to confront an Al Qaeda offshoot that has seized wide tracts of the country, but the unifying call has been blunted by his sectarian reputation.

Since the humiliating loss of much of Iraq’s north to Islamic State insurgents, the official Iraqiya channel has been churning out patriotic videos of marching soldiers, heavily-armed commandos and even singers and actors to rally the public behind the government.

The theatrics are reminiscent of life under Saddam Hussein, whose propaganda machine put a positive spin on disasters such as his 1990 invasion of Kuwait or the 1980 to 1988 war with Iran.

Instead of increasing confidence in Mr Maliki, the campaign has highlighted what critics said was the Shiite Muslim premier’s failure to unite Iraq against Islamist insurgents.

“We laugh, of course with pain, when the government repeats the same b******t as Saddam,” said Qassim Sabti, a 60-year-old artist.

Mohamed Al Shaboot, head of the Iraqi Media Network that broadcasts Iraqiya, said feedback about the videos from viewers across the political and religious spectrum had generally been good.

“There have been some voices that did not approve of these kind of activities, saying they recalled the patriotic songs that filled TV screens under Saddam Hussein,” he said.

“But there’s a big difference because our songs emphasise love of homeland and steadfastness and tolerance, while the songs of Saddam’s time glorified one person – certified worship of the one and only leader focusing on Saddam’s personality.”

Still, many Iraqis see Mr Maliki as a polarising figure who has deepened sectarian divisions, and Iraqiya as his propaganda arm rather than the unifying public service it says it is.

His marginalisation of Sunni Muslims has caused some to find common cause with the Islamic State, which aims to reshape the Middle East and impose its radical ideology.

Mr Maliki has defied calls by Sunnis, Kurds and even some Shiites to step aside in favour of a less polarising leader needed to lead a unified response to the insurgency.

The man who spent years in exile plotting against Saddam seems content to use the same tactics the dictator employed to create an impression of invincibility.

“Maliki is presenting himself as a national leader pitted against Sunni militants. The message is, if you’re against me you’re with the terrorists,” said Ramzy Mardini, a non-resident fellow at the Washington think-tank Atlantic Council.

State TV has recently been giving plenty of air time to footage of columns of Iraqi soldiers marching in a Baghdad parade ground near a crossed-swords monument to the war with Iran erected by Saddam and left intact by his successors.

While Saddam had a firm grip on his army, Mr Maliki has presided over the decline of the 800,000-strong force built and trained by the US into a hollow institution riven by corruption and sectarian divides.

Soldiers deserted their posts en masse last month in the cities of Mosul and Tikrit, which fell at an alarming pace to the Islamic State and allied Sunni groups.

Iraqis now see Iranian-trained Shiite militias as a powerful force rivalling the military’s ability to challenge the well-equipped, disciplined militants, whose conquests have been documented on social media websites.

Verified viewing habits of Iraqis are hard to come by, but many among all communities often tune in to non-state satellite channels such as BBC Arabic and Al Jazeera, where they get a very different take on the news.

State television’s best efforts to inspire confidence in the country’s armed forces have been met with scepticism by some.

One video often broadcast pays tribute to The Golden Division, a Shiite-dominated anti-terrorism unit under Mr Maliki’s command that Sunnis claimed has targeted their community.

“We are lions ... We are the red death,” croons Mohamed Abdel Jabar, a popular singer known for his romantic ballads.

The man wearing a uniform to match the commandos twirls a pistol and bounces to the beat as the heavily-armed men march in a crouched position, their weapons cocked.

Still, in an increasingly fragmented country, such images offer hope to some.

A 22-year-old soldier watching traffic in central Baghdad while fiddling with his machine gun said the songs were “a good thing because they motivate us ... Soldiers play them after they pray and before they go to attack [militants] and before they storm buildings and carry out raids.”

But others, some among those involved in the morale-boosting drive, feared that the videos would only stoke sectarian strife.

“These bloody songs are part of the problem and not part of the solution,” said Amr Asi Jabar, a poet who wrote the lyrics to Righteous Men – one of the songs frequently aired on television.

The campaign has not reassured people such as Abeer Majid. The Sunni mother fled the Shiite Sadr City for the neighbourhood of Dora, fearful for her family’s safety.

“We don’t need songs. We need more tangible steps,” said Ms Majid.

* Reuters