Iranian Filmmaker Nader Talebzadeh on Hurrican Katrina and Jessica Lynch

Following are excerpts from an interview with Iranian filmmaker Nader Talebzadeh, which aired on Jaam-e Jam 2 TV on September 13, 2005.

Nader Talebzadeh: Half of the New Orleans police abandoned its posts. The chief of police officially said to the cameras on the third or fourth day that one third of the force had fled. He said to those who had fled: "You cowards, you abandoned your posts." Nothing happened in the city except for gunfire at night. As you know, in America anyone can buy a gun, just as you would buy eggs. One of the reasons for the collapse of civil order is that many people possess weapons. The policemen were afraid because of the gunfire at night. If they were supposed to collect corpses or supply water to residents, they would have come. But there was gunfire at night.

One of the incidents, which was broadcast only once - but we recorded it - involved firing at a group of policemen. The policemen couldn't identify the source of fire and they were very scared. Following this broadcast, the interview (with the chief of police) took place. I don't believe only one third fled - half of the city's police fled because of the gunfire at night.

[...]

Surely you remember the Jessica Lynch affair. The Americans staged a fake attack on the hospital. They were informed that the Iraqi army was no longer at the hospital, and that they could come to get a wounded soldier there. They were told that the place was empty, because the Iraqi army had left it four days earlier, but still, they staged a spectacular attack. The entire affair was filmed by the NBC. Just like a show, like a film. Only later, it became apparent who Ms. Jessica Lynch was. It was all staged, and the media fully exploited it - the lie about Jessica Lynch and the filming of the operation. But during this real crisis (Hurricane Katrina), in which people were actually trapped in the city, the media was denied entry. The military blocked the media. Even CNN complained once. The international media was not allowed to cover the crises at all, except the BBC, whose policy is very close the American policy. After all, what CNN broadcasts is identical to what BBC World does.