BBC PROPAGANDA

Dear Steve Herrmann, Editor, News Online

The BBC NEWS website’s article “After the invasion: Iraqis speak” reads:

"The BBC News website spoke to four Iraqis and asked them for their memories of the invasion, what life has been like in the country since and what they feel the future holds."

By chance, the four people have something in common...

FIRST PERSON: "I do not think the occupation is necessarily the problem"

SECOND PERSON: "I would not call it an invasion, I would call it a liberation"

THIRD PERSON: "When the fighting was over we came back. We were amazed when Saddam's statue came down and we said to ourselves: "Now things are better"

FORTH PERSON: "Now, I think things here are now slowly becoming stable and we finally are starting to have a working government. They are trying to find solutions to stop things getting out of hand, like after the shrine bombing"

Just a few months ago a poll undertaken for the Ministry of Defence, showed:

82 per cent of Iraqis are "strongly opposed" to the presence of coalition troops;

72 per cent do not have confidence in the multi-national forces;

67 per cent of Iraqis feel less secure because of the occupation;

less than one per cent of the population believes coalition forces are responsible for any improvement in security;

It must have been quite difficult for the BBC to find these four Iraqis who seem belonging to a very tiny minority if we have to believe to the Ministry of Defence’s poll.

Any self-respect left at the BBC?

Kind regards,
Gabriele Zamparini

***

Dear Gabriele Zamparini

Thank you for your e-mail regarding the BBC News website article "After the invasion: Iraqis speak."

You refer to four individual quotes taken from the people featured in this article. However a fuller reading of their testimony suggests that the Iraqis to whom we spoke have mixed and in some cases pessimistic opinions about the invasion and its aftermath. For example, Tara Rashid also notes "prospects for the future are very bad", Samiah the engineer says "three years on and you cannot feel any change for the better" and Hassan Kharrufa says "our daily lives have changed little, we still live in fear".

The BBC News website regularly speaks to Iraqis from all walks of life and is committed to displaying a diverse array of opinion on its pages.

Thank you again for your e-mail.

Kind regards
BBC News website

***

Dear “BBC News website”,

You must be kidding!

Whoever you are behind that “BBC News website”, you are so shameless to deny the evidence. Your reply is an insult to the intelligence of your readers, who are those who pay your salary.

You can’t hide your complicity in mass murder and crimes against humanity anymore and the spectres of those hundred of thousands of brothers and sisters you helped to murder will follow you for the rest of your life.

In disgust,
Gabriele Zamparini