MEDIA: IRAQI DEMOCRACY?

Santafee: Iraq's U.S.-Appointed Government Shuts Arab TV News Bureau for 'Inciting Murder'

BAGHDAD, Iraq - One of the biggest Arab television news networks agreed Monday to halt reports from Iraq after the U.S.-appointed government raided its offices, banned its broadcasts and threatened to imprison journalists. Media groups said the action called into question the future of a free press in Iraq.

The Iraqi Governing Council banned Al-Arabiya from working in Iraq for "a certain time" for broadcasting an audiotape a week ago of a voice it said belonged to Saddam Hussein.

"We have issued a warning to Al-Arabiya and we will sue," said Jalal Talabani, the current council president. "Al-Arabiya incites murder because it's calling for killings through the voice of Saddam Hussein."

Shortly after Talabani finished his news conference, about 20 Iraqi police officers raided Al-Arabiya's offices in Baghdad's Mansour neighborhood, making lists of equipment to be seized if it continued to report from Baghdad, said station correspondent Ali al-Khatib, reporting live from the Iraqi capital

"Kann man FOX News auch schliessen weil dort George W. Bush zum morden aufruft?"