Da DrooK:

Nothing he said would be a problem if he said it on U.S. TV. Iraqi TV could then air the very same footage. The fact that it was done specifically for Iraqi TV serves no purpose but to lend it legitimacy.

...given that it doesn't follow from, but *directly contradicts* the preceding ones: Didn't you just say that it was airing it on *American* TV first that would have "len[t] it legitimacy"?

Confusedly yours,

could vote for Pat Buchanan, after he spent fucking YEARS on "Crossfire" demonstrating what a stupid fucking Neanderthal Nazi he is... Sure, Mike Kinsley always came off as a bit of a wimp in comparison -- but then, who wouldn't, compared to fucking Attila the Hun?!? And at least Kinsley has shown that he HAS more than two neurons to rub together; see, e.g, [link|http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39936-2003Mar27.html|Our Kind of Law (Washington Post)] (only available for about ten days more; then it goes into their for-pay Archive).

So, uh, yeah: I'm reasonably familiar with that kind of program.

But I still don't think there's any such complex "lend it legitimacy" reasonings behind this whole thing as you assume; FWIW, it seems much more likely to me that they just asked the guy if he would mind answering some questions on air, and he felt he couldn't very well say no -- after all, *he* wanted people to answer *his* questions.

And your opinion of "the skeptical Iraqi" is somewhat insulting, BTW: People fucking SPEAK ENGLISH nowadays, or at the very least, they know someone they trust who does. There would be no issue of "easily doubt[ing] the translation"; at least, much LESS so than the issue they get having it done by their own: "So, is this just some total nutjob; a 'deserter' or 'traitor' saying anything Saddam wants him to? Or is there someone just outside the picture holding a gun on him?" Given those possibilities, which I'd think would be the first to occur to your "skeptical Iraqi", anything copied from Yank TV would probably seem *more* credible to him, not less.

...it's "propaganda", dammit!

And this goes for several of you others, too, not just Drew.

You know who you are... I hope!