MEMRI Activities in Iraq on Al-Manar TV

April 28, 2004 Al-Manar TV (Lebanon)

The Hizbullah television channel, Al-Manar, hosted Dr. Said Dudin, from the One World Institute in Germany, and Jassem Al-Halafi, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, to discuss MEMRI's activities in Iraq. Following is a verbatim translation of excerpts from the program:

Moderator: Dear viewers, we apologize that the facts and statistics we presented are attributed to Zionist research and media. We began getting news about Iraq from enemy sources because most of the Arab media today are, apparently, too busy with things that are more important than the Zionists' aspirations in Iraq and Iraq's infiltration by many Zionist squads specializing in car bombs and by the Zionist terrorist General Yigal Carmon, who specializes in recruiting Arab agents for the Mossad. Iraq has also been invaded by an army of assassination experts who, since the beginning of the occupation, have assassinated some 100 Iraqi scientists. Dear viewers, the Zionist invasion of Iraq is the topic of this week's program.

Dr. Dudin: This is General Yigal Carmon, and the American occupation representative can go into any computer and type "Yigal Carmon Iraq" and he will find out that this man has a very dangerous center, called MEMRI in Iraq and this is only one example.

Moderator: I ask our producer, Abd Farhat, to show us the picture of the terrorist Yigal Carmon. Mr. Jassem, please listen to this. This is the picture of the terrorist Yigal Carmon. On August 1, 2003 the Baghdad branch of MEMRI institute was opened. MEMRI stands for Middle East Media Research Institute. It was established by Zionist colonel Yigal Carmon, counter-terrorism advisor to former Zionist Prime Minister Rabin. This office, Mr. Jassem, is situated in Abu Nawwas Street. We are not speaking of things on another planet. What is your response to this information?

Al-Halafi: I say these things are delusions. These are delusions in the minds of those who plan...

Moderator: Mr. Jassem, you speak of delusions, but we did not invent these things, and I didn't open up Google and find it. These things appear on dozens of websites belonging to MEMRI and there is also a special website for MEMRI Baghdad. Any high-school student surfing the Internet can go into this website and write to the institute, read its studies, and check who works in Baghdad, how many they are, where they live, what they eat and what they drink. How can you say that these things are unfounded?

Al-Halafi: Very well. If the address and all these details exist, there are the people of the brother (Dr. Dudeen), the terror exporters, who are welcome to carry out their operations against the Zionist companies and offices situated in Baghdad. Why do they attack our people? Why did they assassinate Al-Hakim? Why did they bomb Karbala? Let them attack these (Zionists) if they really exist. Why do they blow up our holy places? Let them turn against these targets, if they indeed exist and are known.

Moderator: Who is Yigal Carmon, doctor?

Dr. Dudin: Yigal Carmon is an Israeli military intelligence officer. This is no secret and anyone can read his writings on the Internet. He criticizes Sharon's policies because he views them as moderate. He is a bloody fascist who translated his bloody fascism into horrible crimes in occupied Palestine. Any detainee in Aanssar camp in South Lebanon knows who this bloody fascist is. He was the commander of the agents of Lahad's forces and there he acquired his expertise in the oppression of peoples. This was when he was the commander of the mercenaries of the Lahad forces. Some of the people who work with him are Zionists who write for the American press? Unit 503 which he commanded, specializing in explosives training and preparing car bombs using state-of-the-art technology.

I don't think that any Iraqi patriot can commit a horrible crime like the massacre in Karbala. Only a man with a bloody fascist mentality can do it. I believe that they are interested in an internal Iraqi struggle, as an exit from the crisis the resistance has caused them. This is the background. They don't want to see the truth that is staring them in the face. The truth is that the institute that planned this aggression, committed it, and operates daily in an advisory role in coordination with the aggressors is situated in Baghdad. As the saying goes: "If you don't know, it is a disaster, but if you do know, it is a worse disaster."

Moderator: Mr. Jassem, in your answer to the previous question, you said that if the information about Yigal Carmon and MEMRI is true, the terrorists should go and take care of him. Am I supposed to understand from this that targeting a Zionist operating for the Mossad in Iraqis a terrorist act?

Al-Halafi: No, I was just borrowing the logic of the other guest. I said this according to that logic.I say this is a delusion. Anyone who lives a delusional life can only produce delusional analysis. The peoples need facts, interpretation, real information, and realistic analysis.

Moderator: How do you base?

Al-Halafi: We have many problems and we cannot solve them by delusions. Excuse me?

Moderator: Go ahead?

Al-Halafi: He claims that the perpetrators of the crimes in Iraq were Zionist organizations, and I don't want to defend Zionism or Israel. It is not true. I defend the Iraqi people and the existing facts in Iraq. This would mean that the perpetrators of these operations, those Zionists who committed the operations, have a strong bond with the terrorists, who are referred to as "resistance," because the Al-Zarqawi, the commander of the resistance in Iraq admitted to these crimes.

This logic means that the Zionists have a strong bond with Al-Zaraqawi and the terrorists committing these operations and who label them "liberation." I am happy he admits to that.

Moderator: Mr. Jassem, we did not elaborate on the matter of Al-Zaraqawi, who only Allah knows if he is alive or dead. Any person can claim responsibility for operations through communique?® This is not the issue. You say that what Dr. Dudeen's said about the terrorist Carmon and MEMRI institute? On what basis do you swear it is a delusion? What is the information you possess? Did you check that there are no Mossad agents in Iraq?

Al-Halafi: This I cannot claim. Thanks to Iraq's neighbors, our borders are open and whoever wants can enter Iraq through these countries, Allah be praised. If a Zionist was imported into Iraq, he definitely did not come from the sky but through the countries bordering with Iraq. Instead of blaming Iraq, we should turn the blame to the countries bordering it.

Moderator: Does it make sense that the Zionists would enter Iraq from Iran or Syria? Go ahead.

Al-Halafi: We are responsible for our laws, our capabilities, our policies and our directions. We cannot be responsible for the countries bordering us and for the plots schemed against our people.