<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=left><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3> </FONT></o:p>Thanks to everyone who helped with information about <EM>The Sun's </EM>media coverage. I've enclosed a copy of our briefing on The Sun below. For those who are interested in how yesterday's demonstration went, you can read a report on:</P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><A href="http://uk.indymedia.org:8081/front.php3?article_id=61404&group=webcast"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3>http://uk.indymedia.org:8081/front.php3?article_id=61404&group=webcast</FONT></A><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">It was also covered by BBC Radio London, and by </SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><A href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2911999.stm" target=_blank>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2911999.stm</A> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><A href="http://media.guardian.co.uk/iraqandthemedia/story/0,12823,928749,00.html" target=_blank>http://media.guardian.co.uk/iraqandthemedia/story/0,12823,928749,00.html</A></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p>[our press spokesperson was a little enthusiastic in guessing at numbers here!]</o:p></SPAN></P></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p><STRONG></STRONG></o:p></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p><STRONG>------------------------</STRONG></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p><STRONG>A Daily Diet of Lies</STRONG></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p><STRONG><EM>The Sun's </EM>War on Iraq </STRONG></o:p></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">The following briefing catalogues the lies, distortions and insinuations that characterise <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Sun</I> and <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">News of the World</I> reporting on the war in </SPAN><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Iraq</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">. It was compiled to coincide with a student-led protest at the offices of News International in Wapping on </SPAN><st1:date Year="2003" Day="3" Month="4"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Thursday 3 April 2003</SPAN></st1:date><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">. We have focused exclusively on ‘news’ reporting. Needless to say, <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Sun </I>and <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">News of the World</I> editorial and opinion pieces tend to be even more biased in their attitude to the present conflict. The following list is in no way exhaustive, as these newspapers have printed far too many falsehoods in the past two weeks to document and rebut them all.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Student Action <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><st1:date Year="2003" Day="3" Month="4"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">3 April 2003</SPAN></st1:date><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Five of the worst Iraq war articles from <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Sun</I><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">1. “Killer evidence against Saddam” </SPAN></B><st1:date Year="2003" Day="31" Month="3"><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Sun </SPAN></B></I><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">31 March 2003</SPAN></B></st1:date><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">. George Pascoe-Watson at US Central Command in </SPAN></B><st1:country-region><st1:place><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Qatar</SPAN></B></st1:place></st1:country-region><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">The article makes an extensive list of insinuations and unsubstantiated claims:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<UL style="MARGIN-TOP: 0cm" type=disc>
<LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“An Iraqi terror camp making ricin poison has been smashed by a huge Allied blitz of 60 cruise missiles.” No evidence has yet been produced to support this claim. In fact, Brigadier General Vincent Brooks, a </SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">US</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> commander in the Gulf, told a news conference on 1 April that no weapons of mass destruction had yet been found in </SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Iraq</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></LI>
<LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“</SPAN><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">London</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> cops found traces of ricin in a flat above a chemist’s shop in Wood Green.” No evidence is produced to link the ricin found in </SPAN><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">London</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> with the potentially non-existent ricin found in </SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Iraq</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">. The main connection seems to be the word ‘ricin’.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></LI>
<LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“Cops also raided the </SPAN><st1:place><st1:PlaceName><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Finsbury</SPAN></st1:PlaceName><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> </SPAN><st1:PlaceType><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Park</SPAN></st1:PlaceType></st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> mosque in </SPAN><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">North London</SPAN></st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> and an Algerian asylum seeker was charged with producing a chemical weapon.” There are no grounds for thinking that the man arrested in </SPAN><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">London</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> has any connection with Ansar al-Islam, whose compound in northern </SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Iraq</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> was destroyed. But the insinuated connection between ‘an Algerian asylum seeker’ and a ‘terror camp’ in northern </SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Iraq</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> could further stir up racist sentiment against asylum seekers. On this issue, see also David Miller (</SPAN><st1:place><st1:PlaceName><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Stirling</SPAN></st1:PlaceName><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> </SPAN><st1:PlaceType><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">University</SPAN></st1:PlaceType></st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">), “They were all asylum seekers” (<A href="http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0303/S00262.htm">http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0303/S00262.htm</A>) <o:p></o:p></SPAN></LI>
<LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“A top US General said the camp had links with al-Qu’aida.” The article assumes that this case has been proven, since this link is the premise upon which the connection to terrorism in </SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Britain</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> is sustained. But the alleged link between Ansar al-Islam and Al Qu’aida doesn’t stand up to close scrutiny. See International Crisis Group, “Radical Islam in Iraqi </SPAN><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Kurdistan</SPAN></st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">: The Mouse That Roared?” (<A href="http://www.intl-crisis-group.org/projects/showreport.cfm?reportid=885">http://www.intl-crisis-group.org/projects/showreport.cfm?reportid=885</A>) <o:p></o:p></SPAN></LI>
<LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“</SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">UK</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> troops found training equipment for nuclear, biological and chemical warfare… at an Iraqi ordnance facility south of </SPAN><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Basra</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">.” The equipment in question amounted to a discovery of protective suits left behind by Iraqi forces (see Hansard </SPAN><SPAN lang=EN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-ansi-language: EN">31 March 2003: Column 653: comments of Adam Ingram, British Armed Forces Minister). The connection made by <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Sun</I> article, as well as by the Armed Forces Minister, is spurious. It is like saying that the </SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">US and British armies have chemical weapons at their disposal in Iraq because they possess equipment to protect them against the use of such weapons. The purpose of reporting a find of chemical weapons suits alongside unsubstantiated claims of a chemical weapons factory is to fit together ‘pieces of the jigsaw’ until an overall pattern of Iraqi possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction is created. What we find, instead, is a patchwork of lies held together by a series of tenuous and unargued connections between quite separate news stories. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></LI>
<LI class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Colin Powell first drew attention to the Ansar al-Islam camp in his speech to the UN Security Council on </SPAN><st1:date Year="2003" Day="5" Month="2"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">5 February 2003</SPAN></st1:date><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">. <I>The Observer's</I> Luke Harding visited it shortly afterwards, and concluded: "If Colin Powell were to visit the shabby military compound at the foot of a large snow-covered mountain, he might be in for an unpleasant surprise. The </SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">US</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> Secretary of State last week confidently described the compound in north-eastern </SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Iraq</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> - run by an Islamic terrorist group Ansar al-Islam - as a 'terrorist chemicals and poisons factory.' Yesterday, however, it emerged that the terrorist factory was nothing of the kind - more a dilapidated collection of concrete outbuildings at the foot of a grassy sloping hill. Behind the barbed wire, and a courtyard strewn with broken rocket parts, are a few empty concrete houses. There is a bakery. There is no sign of chemical weapons anywhere - only the smell of paraffin and vegetable ghee used for cooking. In the kitchen, I discovered some chopped up tomatoes but not much else."(see “Revealed: truth behind US ‘poison factory’ claim’ <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Observer</I>, </SPAN><st1:date Year="2003" Day="9" Month="2"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">9 February 2003</SPAN></st1:date><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">)<o:p></o:p></SPAN></LI></UL>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">2. “Chemical weapon plant ‘is found’” </SPAN></B><st1:date Year="2003" Day="24" Month="3"><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Sun </SPAN></B></I><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">24 March 2003</SPAN></B></st1:date><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">. Brian Flynn<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“A huge Iraqi chemical weapons factory has been discovered, it was reported early today.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">The seizure of a suspected chemical factory in </SPAN><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">An Najaf</SPAN></st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> was first reported by the Murdoch-owned Fox News channel (as well as by the <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Jerusalem Post</I>). But US General Tommy Franks later claimed that he “wasn’t entirely sure” that it was chemical weapons factory. No evidence was ever produced to back the claims. Fox News and <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Sun</I> quietly dropped the story. No correction or retraction was printed, however.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">3. “Killed for TV” <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Sun</I> </SPAN></B><st1:date Year="2003" Day="27" Month="3"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">27 March 2003</SPAN></B></st1:date><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">. Nick Parker and George Pascoe-Watson<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“Sickening TV film showing two executed British soldiers lying in a dusty </SPAN><st1:Street><st1:address><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Iraqi street</SPAN></st1:address></st1:Street><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> triggered outrage and tears last night.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Tony Blair subsequently spoke of the “executed” soldiers, in response to <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Sun </I>article. But the prime minister’s official spokesman later backtracked, saying there was no “absolute evidence” that they had been executed. Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram later expressed “regret” for any distress caused to the families. A number of political commentators have interpreted this as ministerial-speak for an admission that the “execution” claim was unsubstantiated.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">4. “Ship, Ship Hooray” </SPAN></B><st1:date Year="2003" Day="29" Month="3"><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Sun </SPAN></B></I><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">March 29 2003</SPAN></B></st1:date><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">. Michael Lea and Neil Syson<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“Iraqis cheer Sir Galahad as it lands vital food aid.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">The comments of several aid agencies went unreported by <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Sun</I>, however. See Kate Holton, “Aid Groups say military see aid as propaganda tool” (<A href="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L28442812.htm">http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L28442812.htm</A> ). This Reuters piece reported several aid agency perspectives on the Sir Galahad shipment, including the following:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“To put it in context, we have been waiting for the Sir Galahad for days with its 200 tons of food. Under the oil for food programme ... 16,000 tons a day were supplied, so you are looking at 80 Sir Galahads a day just to restore the normal supply” John Davison, Christian Aid<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“What they are doing is not humanitarian aid but a 'hearts and mind' operation and that is quite different” Lewis Sida, Save the Children's Director of Emergencies<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">5. “Enemy of the State” <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Sun</I> </SPAN></B><st1:date Year="2003" Day="1" Month="4"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">1 April 2003</SPAN></B></st1:date><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">. Trevor Kavanagh<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“Treacherous MP George Galloway was branded an enemy of the state last night after he urged the Arab world to rise up and kill British troops in </SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Iraq</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">.” This front page lead article is the most virulent of <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Sun’s </I>daily character assassinations. In response, George Galloway MP has offered the following statement of support to anti-war students protesting at the offices of <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Sun </I>on </SPAN><st1:date Year="2003" Day="3" Month="4"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">3 April 2003</SPAN></st1:date><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“I would like to greet the students demonstrating against this blot on the country's landscape. <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Sun</I> is owned by Rupert Murdoch; so patriotic that he has been a citizen of three different countries in fifteen years, a kind of serial patriotism which is the last refuge of such scoundrels. If the "dirty digger" is the chief pimp, what words can be found to describe those hirelings who write for them? <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Sun</I> lives in the sewers and sometimes ascends to the gutter. All right thinking people should eschew it and it's cancerous racist pornographic propaganda.”<B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><o:p></o:p></B></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Also rans…<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“French Smear Dead” </SPAN></B><st1:date Year="2003" Day="2" Month="4"><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Sun</SPAN></B></I><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> 2 April 2003</SPAN></B></st1:date><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“Sick French yobs daubed a swastika and vile anti-war slurs at a cemetery for 11,000 British troops.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">This article takes an unrepresentative example of far right extremism as typical of French opposition to the war. The swastika smear is presented as a typical example of “Anti-British feeling [which] has been whipped up in </SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">France</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> since President Jacques Chirac refused to let the UN back action against </SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Iraq</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">.” The same day’s editorial makes this connection even more directly: “The treachery of their President has stirred up in them a burning hatred of </SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Britain</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> and </SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">America</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“Brits Glory Night” </SPAN></B><st1:date Year="2003" Day="30" Month="3"><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Sun</SPAN></B></I><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> 30 March 2003</SPAN></B></st1:date><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">This ‘news’ article is typical of the tone struck by <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Sun</I> reporting, which dehumanises Iraqi soldiers and revels in news of their deaths:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“Best victories yet as our boys storm in … They evaded hundreds of fanatical Iraqi militia to DESTROY five T55 tanks with handheld </SPAN><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Milan</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> missiles and WRECK more than five mortar positions. A propaganda TV station was BLASTED and a bunker sheltering a paramilitary death squad was BLOWN UP. Among other operations in the south of </SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Iraq</SPAN></SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> during a night of British glory, 320 senior Ba'ath party militia were KILLED and 300 Iraqis taken PRISONER.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">It also reports that “In nearby Az Zubayr, Desert Rats of 2 Royal Tank Regiment Battle Group routed a nest of al-Qa’eda terrorists and secured the town.” No evidence of an al-Qa’eda connection is presented to back up this claim.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“Rebels executed” </SPAN></B><st1:date Year="2003" Day="28" Month="3"><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Sun</SPAN></B></I><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> 28 March 2003</SPAN></B></st1:date><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“Saddam Hussein is using hated Fedayeen paramilitaries as mobile death squads to execute rebels and quell uprisings.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">This article misreports as fact an assertion made by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“Army wives are spat on by Germans” </SPAN></B><st1:date Year="2003" Day="26" Month="3"><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Sun</SPAN></B></I><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> 26 March 2003</SPAN></B></st1:date><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">One of several xenophobic articles that have littered the pages of <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Sun</I> since the start of the conflict.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“Allies to Storm in Tonight” <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Sun</I> </SPAN></B><st1:date Year="2003" Day="24" Month="3"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">24 March 2003</SPAN></B></st1:date><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></I></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">The Sun </SPAN></I><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">confidently forecast an imminent ground offensive on </SPAN><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Baghdad</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">. It did not happen.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“Stop-It Rally ‘Flop’ <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">News of the World</I></SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> </SPAN><st1:date Year="2003" Day="23" Month="3"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">23 March 2003</SPAN></B></st1:date><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“… fewer than 150,000 took part compared with 2 million on February 12.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">On </SPAN><st1:date Year="2002" Day="16" Month="2"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">16 February 2002</SPAN></st1:date><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> the<I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"> News of the World</I> reported “750,000 anti-war marchers.” (In fact, the original march took place on 15 February). The later report uses the Stop the War Coalition estimate rather than the initial police estimate in order to accentuate the difference in numbers between the two marches. The Stop the War Coalition estimate for the 22 March demonstration was “at least 500,000,” making it the biggest anti-war demo in wartime.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“</SPAN></B><st1:City><st1:place><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Basra</SPAN></B></st1:place></st1:City><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> ours today” <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">News of the World</I> </SPAN></B><st1:date Year="2003" Day="23" Month="3"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">23 March 2003</SPAN></B></st1:date><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“British and US troops gained total control of the key city of </SPAN><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Basra</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> this morning – despite fanatical Iraqi defenders using civilians as human shields.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Basra</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> is still not under British control. Despite frequent reports of an uprising in </SPAN><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Basra</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">, no independent source was able to verify this story. Unembedded reporters consistently denied it. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“10,000 Surrender” </SPAN></B><st1:date Year="2003" Day="22" Month="3"><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Sun</SPAN></B></I><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> 22 March 2003</SPAN></B></st1:date><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“ALLIED forces were last night closing in on the key city of </SPAN><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Basra</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> -as a whole Iraqi division surrendered. <BR><BR>The CO of the 10,000-strong 51st Mechanised Division became the first senior field commander to capitulate.” <BR style="mso-special-character: line-break"><BR style="mso-special-character: line-break"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">These claims were not substantiated. On Sunday 23 March, the New York Times wire service reported that US officials had “discovered that the ‘commander’ of the surrendered troops was actually a junior officer masquerading as a higher-up in an attempt to win better treatment.” On 31 March, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon stated that </SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">“We currently hold around 8,000 prisoners of war… There have been as yet no defections of very senior politicians or very senior military commanders…”</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“On in 9, or Home in Pine” </SPAN></B><st1:date Year="2003" Day="21" Month="3"><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Sun</SPAN></B></I><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> 21 March 2003</SPAN></B></st1:date><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“… two Sun men had to pull on gas masks and run for cover yesterday as </SPAN><st1:country-region><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Iraq</SPAN></st1:place></st1:country-region><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> unleashed a terrifying volley of Scud missiles.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">On Thursday 27 March, Hans Blix reported that there was no evidence that Iraqis had used banned weapons (a category that includes Scuds) in the war.<B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><o:p></o:p></B></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“The Brits are Coming” </SPAN></B><st1:date Year="2003" Day="21" Month="3"><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Sun</SPAN></B></I><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> 21 March 2003</SPAN></B></st1:date><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">“… almost immediately, the Commandos and American soldiers captured the strategically important border town of </SPAN><st1:City><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Umm Qasr</SPAN></st1:place></st1:City><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> with hardly a shot fired.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">In common with other news media, <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Sun</I> failed to question initial reports of the capture of Umm Qasr. Military sources announced the fall of Umm Qasr nine times. By </SPAN><st1:date Year="2003" Day="25" Month="3"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">25 March 2003</SPAN></st1:date><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">, <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">The Sun </I>had changed tack: “Crack British marines swept into Umm Qasr yesterday – vowing to finish off what the Americans had failed to do.” (Neil Syson, “Our Boys Go In to Defeat the Snipers” </SPAN><st1:date Year="2003" Day="25" Month="3"><I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">Sun</SPAN></I><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"> 25 March 2003</SPAN></st1:date><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana">).<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Verdana"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P><BR><BR><P>Check out <A href="http://www.ismproject.net/">www.ismproject.net</A> - Independent Student Media Project</P>
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