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By Jamal Dajani�
San Francisco Chronicle

I am forever the skeptic when it comes to war-time reporting, and it's not just because I am a member of the media.

My skepticism was born in Jericho (the West Bank) as a child, during the Six-Day War in 1967. Back then, we did not have a television, and I remember huddling in the "radio room," as my grandmother called it; I would later refer to it as the "war room."

This was where we'd spend most of our time during the war, away from the broken glass caused by Israeli fighter-jets racing through the sound barrier. When my grandmother was in the room, we could not touch the dial; it had to be fixed on the Egyptian broadcast "Sawt El Arab" or Voice of the Arabs.

"Report number 42," the announcer would say; and through the crackling sound of my grandmother's ancient shortwave radio, we would all strain to hear the war updates.

"The Egyptian forces have repelled the Zionist army ... the Jordanian army advanced to ..."

I believe that it was on the second or third day of the war, as we were listening to these victorious reports, that we felt a rumbling throughout the house. It was caused by the advancing Israeli armored units and the fleeing Jordanian ones.

"Report number 57 ... Arab armies are advancing toward Tel Aviv," Sawt El Arab kept on reporting.

During the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, as cruise missiles were landing on Baghdad, field reporters for Al Jazeera and Abu Dhabi gave us up-close, immediate coverage of the first war scenes. American anchors, however, hung back, relegated to roof-top reporting from their hotels in Kuwait City. Even when they entered Baghdad later, U.S. anchors continued to hone their "embedded" journalism, a reporting style they excelled in.

In spite of the excellent and brave reporting done by many of the Arab news anchors, my skepticism toward the Arab media was not entirely dispelled, because several Arab outlets regularly quoted the Iraqi Minister of Information at that time, Muhammad Sai'd Al Sahaf, as a reliable, impartial source for updates.

"The Iraqi army is sending back the 'Oulouj' (the mercenaries) in body bags ... back to where they had crawled from," Sahaf would frequently boast when referring to the U.S. and British troops. On many occasions, his statements were marketed as facts. Remembering Sawt Al Arab, I knew better.

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By Uri Avnery

IN HIS latest speech, which infuriated so many people, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad uttered a sentence that deserves attention: "Every new Arab generation hates Israel more than the previous one."

Of all that has been said about the Second Lebanon War, these are perhaps the most important words.

The main product of this war is hatred. The pictures of death and destruction in Lebanon entered every Arab home, indeed every Muslim home, from Indonesia to Morocco, from Yemen to the Muslim ghettos in London and Berlin. Not for an hour, not for a day, but for 33 successive days - day after day, hour after hour. The mangled bodies of babies, the women weeping over the ruins of their homes, Israeli children writing "greetings" on shells about to be fired at villages, Ehud Olmert blabbering about "the most moral army in the world" while the screen showed a heap of bodies.

Israelis ignored these sights, indeed they were scarcely shown on our TV. Of course, we could see them on Aljazeera and some Western channels, but Israelis were much too busy with the damage wrought in our Northern towns. Feelings of pity and empathy for non-Jews have been blunted here a long time ago.

But it is a terrible mistake to ignore this result of the war. It is far more important than the stationing of a few thousand European troops along our border, with the kind consent of Hizbullah. It may still be bothering generations of Israelis, when the names Olmert and Halutz have long been forgotten, and when even Nasrallah no longer remembers the name Amir Peretz.

IN ORDER for the significance of Assad's words to become clear, they have to be viewed in a historical context.

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By Mahan Abedin
www.SaudiDebate.com

In a wide ranging interview with Mahan Abedin Pirouz Mojtahedzadeh, Professor of Political Geography and Geopolitics at Tehran's Tarbiat Modares University and Chairman of the Urosevic Research Foundation in London, gives his view of current issues affecting the Middle East.� Focusing on Saudi Arabia and its relations with Iran, Professor Mojtahedzadeh discusses the fallout from Israel's onslaught against Lebanon, the impact of the conflict on Saudi Arabia and other regional states, as well as Iran's nuclear plans.

Mahan Abedin: Why did Saudi Arabia show such a strong reaction against Hezbollah at the beginning of the conflict?

Pirouz Mojtahedzadeh: It was not clear at the outset which party had started the conflict, especially in light of the American and Israeli propaganda blitz which blamed Hezbollah for triggering the hostilities. Moreover, Saudi Arabia and some other Arab countries were worried the conflict would undermine the consensus they had developed on Arab policy towards Israel. These countries have convinced themselves that the Arabs can never militarily prevail over Israel and hence prefer to avoid any form of serious tension with the Jewish state.

MA: Do you think the Saudis were really worried the conflict would cause greater ripples of instability in the region?

PM: This is the kind of conclusion which Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt reached at the outset of the conflict. This in part prompted their strong stance against Hezbollah. But as the conflict developed these regimes were no longer able to maintain that the hostilities were sparked by Hezbollah alone. The ferocity of the Israeli reaction convinced even the most stubborn sceptics that Israel had been planning for this conflict for a very long time.

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By Edward N. Luttwak
The Jordan Times

In the immediate aftermath of the October war of 1973, the Arab world rejoiced because the myth of Israeli invincibility had been shattered by Egypt's crossing of the Suez Canal and the Syrian offensive that swept across the Golan Heights. In Israel, there was harsh criticism of political and military chiefs alike, who were blamed for the loss of 3,000 soldiers in a war that ended without a clear victory. Prime Minister Golda Meir, Defence Minister Moshe Dayan, Chief of Staff of the Israeli� army David Elazar, and the chief of military intelligence were all discredited and soon replaced.

Only afterwards did a sense of proportion take hold, ironically by the Egyptian and Syrian leaders before anyone else. While commentators in Israel and around the world were still mourning or gloating over Israel's lost military supremacy, both Egyptian� president Anwar Sadat and Syrian president Hafez Assad soberly recognised that their countries had come closer to catastrophic defeat than in 1967, and that it was imperative to avoid another war. That lead to Sadat's peace and Assad's 1974 ceasefire on the Golan Heights, which has never been violated since.

It is easy to read the 1973 war only in retrospect. Israel had been caught by surprise, because good intelligence was misinterpreted in a climate of arrogant overconfidence. The frontal sectors, left almost unguarded, were largely overrun. The Egyptians had an excellent war plan and fought well, and Syrian tanks advanced boldly, attacking in wave after wave for three days and nights. Within 48 hours, Israel seemed on the verge of defeat on both fronts.

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By Simon Tisdall
The Guardian

He arrives amid a hurricane of swirling brown dust and deafening noise. A dense, rolling cloud of straw and dirt sweeps across the parched field, enveloping turbaned dignitaries, battering the hoisted green, white and red flags of Iran, and forcing thousands of enthralled onlookers to shield their eyes.

As the rotors of the venerable American-made Huey 214 chopper spin slowly to a halt, and the murk clears, a great, human noise replaces the sound of engines. It is not cheering; more like a giant, murmuring sigh, punctuated by shouts of joy and the screams of women.

For Meshkinshahr, a city perched on the desiccated Caspian steppes and mountains west of Ardabil, this dramatic descent to earth has the momentous significance of a prophetic visitation. Local elders say there has been nothing like it in years. Children are out of their heads with excitement.

But President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, clambering out of the helicopter cabin with a big smile on his face, is getting used to it. His visit, part of a magisterial three-day, nine-city procession through Ardabil province in north-west Iran, is the 18th such meet-the-people expedition since he took office one year ago this month.

Mr Ahmadinejad's extraordinary comings and goings are a cross between American-style town meetings, itinerant Islamic evangelism, and pure political theatre. Think Bill and Al's "excellent adventure" during the 1992 US presidential campaign; think Saladin on a soap box; then add a straggly beard, wrinkly, unexpectedly twinkly eyes, a gentle, open-handed style, and a genuine ability to connect - and you have Mr Ahmadinejad, a local hero (he was formerly governor of Ardabil), a would-be champion of Muslims everywhere, and an unlikely grassroots superstar.

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The Mosaic Intelligence Report brings you the most important news and views from the Middle East. An offshoot of Link TV's Peabody Award-winning "Mosaic: World News from the Middle East," a daily compilation of translated television news reports from throughout the Arab world, MIR highlights issues and events that you don't see in mainstream Western media.

The Mosaic Intelligence Report recently launched a daily blog, which offers Mosaic video and news, links to staff articles and a forum for readers and Middle East experts to share their opinions and perspectives on the current crisis.

Join the bloggers and share your constructive insight here.

Visit the MIR Blog�
Or Watch The Latest Mosaic Intelligence Report Video

To the Editor,
Your Mosaic program was very one sided and�did not tell the truth about Hizbollah and Israel.� The roots of this war began in�1970 with the return of exiled Ayatollah Khomeini�to Iran. He stated�clearly that Iran's Islamic revolution had to be exported to the whole world to show Islam's power.� Lebanon is only a puppet to Syria and Iran. President Ahmadejinad recieves his orders form Iran's Ayatollahs.� This whole war in Israel and Lebanon is only to take the world's eyes off of Iran's nuclear� ambitions.
Ragnar and Rosemary Gustafson

Dear Sir,
Thank you so much for Mosaic and the Mosaic Intelligence Report. As you know, the American news media (which I've dubbed The Washington Press Corpse) doesn't show US citizens much of anything of import, esp. where the Middle East and Israel are concerned. Mosaic allows us to get the multiple points of view unavailable in the US. Your service in invaluable for those of us who've given up on the US news and want to know what's really going on in the world.
Rob P.

Dear Sir,
Thank you for showing me the other side of the story.
Goes to show the truth will always get out.
Dayton� Wallace

To the Editor,
Thank you so much for your news letter. I too wish to know the whole story
not just the way one side of the world publishes it, or edits it, so that we�
are then, as intelligent humans, able to make up our own mind about the affairs going on
in the Middle East. It seems like over here we get only what they want us to
know but when my daughter and I looked up your site we were
awakened to see that we were not getting the whole story. Thank you for
giving us the facts and letting us then see the truth and see and hear the
suffering on both sides instead of just one.
Thankfully,�
Donna Haxton

To the Editor,
We used to watch LinK TV when we had a satellite dish.� However we keep in touch and love and admire�your film, 'Occupied Minds'.� Grandparents (Bubbes and Zaydes for Peace in the Middle East has run a demonstration and street education program every Friday across the street� from the Israeli Consul (15th and Locust ) noon to one in Philadelphia.� We have had in the past four and a half years from ten to 50 people rain or snow.� These past few weeks supporters have flocked to us because we are the place to go when the crises gets worse.� We know that there can be no justice nor any permanent peace until the occupation is over and the Wall is destroyed.� One of our greatest frustrations�is the propagandized� Jewish community and the lock that Jewish defence organization and Lobby have on American Jews, but we keep plugging.� We have close relations with Arab and Muslim groups and national and international Jewish and Israeli peace groups.� The excessive bombing of Lebanon is hateful and Israel is getting beaten by its own arrogance.� Israeli militarism and its national policy to contain Palestinians or get rid of Palestinians are bad for everyone.� We are Palestinian supporters who believe that our work teaches there is no peace without justice.� Israel cannot not exist in the Middle East unless it recognizes Palestinian�rights and fair distribution of land and water.�
Lois Swartz, Bubbes and Zaydes for Peace in the Middle East.�

Dear Sir,
Thank you so very much for presenting MOSAIC!
It shows a view of the Middle East, and the Mid East conflict, frankly not seen on ANY of the major networks, or dedicated "cable news channels"
Don't let anything get you down!
Continue to broadcast the truth !
Joe Stonbely

Disclaimer:�Mosaic Intelligence Report�will put up as many of your comments as possible but we cannot guarantee that all e-mails will be published.�MIR reserves the right to edit comments that are published.

The Mosaic Intelligence Report (MIR) is a periodical newsletter which will bring you the most important news and views from the Middle East. Relying on Mosaic broadcasts and Middle Eastern press, MIR will highlight issues and events that you don't see in mainstream Western media.

Mosaic: World News from the Middle East features selections from daily TV news programs produced by national broadcasters throughout the Middle East. The news reports are presented unedited and translated, when necessary, into English.
�
Mosaic includes television news broadcasts from selected national and regional entities. Some of the broadcasters are state controlled and others are private networks, often affiliated with political factions. These news reports are regularly watched by 280 million people in 22 countries all over the Middle East.

Mosaic is supported by various grants, foundations and viewers like you. Mosaic is broadcast on Link TV. Link TV broadcasts programs that engage, educate and activate viewers to become involved in the world. These programs provide a unique perspective on international news, current events, and diverse cultures, presenting issues not often covered in the U.S. media. Link TV connects American viewers with people at the heart of breaking events, organizations in the forefront of social change and the cultures of an increasingly global community.

Send Your Comments to [email protected]

or write to:

Jamal Dajani
Director of Middle Eastern Programming
PO Box 2008
San Francisco, CA 94126-2008