Following are excerpts
from an address delivered by Iraqi politician in exile and owner of
Arrai TV Mish'an Jabouri, which aired on Arrai TV on February 18, 2011:
Mish'an Jabouri:
Everybody knows that we support the demonstrations. We supported the
demonstrations of our brothers in Tunisia and in Egypt, and we will
stand alongside the demonstrators in all the Arab countries, who are
struggling for freedom, for democracy, and for reforms. Some of you
might ask how it can be that while we support the demonstrations throughout
the Arab world, our coverage of the events in Libya gives the impression
that our TV channel supports the Libyan leadership.
My response to you is:
Indeed, this is the truth. We try to be transparent and reliable, and
we are not prepared to deceive our viewers or to deceive ourselves.
So the question is: Why?
We believe that the confrontations and the mass demonstrations, sweeping
over the Arab world today, should be focusing on America's collaborators,
bastilles, and servants. The masses began with the toppling of Ben Ali
and Hosni Mubarak, and we will continue with the toppling of all the
other collaborators with the US, because they are the source of all
the afflictions, the corruption, the injustice, the oppression, and
the backwardness of the nation, and because they support the enemies
of this nation a the expense of its peoples.
This description does
not apply to the Libyan leadership. In our view, objectivity requires
us to say that it is important for the Libyan leadership to continue
to exist at this critical phase in the history of the Islamic nation,
in order to confront imperialism, invasion, and occupation.
[...]
Today, we remember what
happened in 2004, 2005, and 2006, when the collaborators with the US
looked down upon us, and began to strut about like peacocks, thinking
that their time had come, drawing strength from declarations issued
by the White House.
Today, the US cannot
even support them with words. On the contrary, at times it even urges
them to leave office, out of fear of the wrath of the peoples, and out
of fear that the demonstrations will shift from the Tahrir squares,
to the embassies of the American evil in the region. The US has been
forced to take the stand it took in order to avoid such a disaster,
and to avoid the scenario that took place in 1979 in Iran.
[...]
In my view, it is in
our interest for the winds of change to continue to blow, and to rock
the thrones of the collaborators with the US. We say to our Libyan brothers,
to the citizens who are protesting: Our hearts are with you, but it
is in the interests of us all that Libya be more stable at present.
I am convinced that Libyan Leader Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi has the ability
and the wisdom to resolve the problems that led to these protests.
[...]
I admit that I have never
demonstrated in support of any leader or political party. I have never
participated in any demonstration in support of anyone, but I am prepared
to lead a demonstration in any Arab capital, or in Tripoli, Libya...
I will go there to demonstrate in support of the leader of the Libyan
revolution, Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi, in order to give him the opportunity
to celebrate along with the revolutionaries, the fighters, and the free.
Together we will watch the fall of the thrones on which the collaborators
with the US in our region are seated.
[...]
When all those collaborators
with the US go to hell, Allah willing, the Libyan leadership will be
calmer, and will have the opportunity to address the domestic issues
– and indeed, we call upon it to begin addressing these issues –
because we wish to prove to the world that the national pan-Arab anti-American
enterprise can be successful.
[...]
