U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon
Calls for Less Censorship,
Fails to Mention U.S. Ban
Of Hezbollah Satellite TV
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Map source: CIA World Factbook |
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
The U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Jeffrey Feltman, told Lebanese journalists they should shun “self-censorship” to foster more democracy and freedom in their country, according to The Daily Star newspaper of Lebanon.
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Jeffrey Feltman Source: U.S. State Department |
Feltman mentioned a story that re-circulates in Lebanese media reports about a rumored plan to build a U.S. military base in Lebanon. Feltman told the journalists that they were not critical enough of the rumors, The Daily Star reported Monday (May 7, 2007).
What Feltman failed to bring up was the U.S.-led
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censorship of Al Manar, a Lebanese satellite television network. In August of 2006, FBI agents arrested Javed Iqbal, a Staten Island satellite dish salesman because he allegedly offered to sell a satellite package deal that included the Lebanese Al Manar satellite network, according to an August 25, 2006, New York Daily News article. Iqbal’s case has yet to go to trial, but his arrest does raise serious First Amendment issues. The U.S. State Department lists Al Manar as a terrorist-linked organization and, using the Patriot Act, prohibits Americans or American corporations from doing business with the Al Manar network, according to an Aug. 26, 2006, New York Times article. This effectively keeps Americans from hearing the views of the Hezbollah in Lebanon, though Al Manar provides its TV broadcasts on the Internet, when U.S. Internet service providers don’t shut it off because of fear of prosecution(Al Manar in English link). The Arabic word Al Manar is translated into English as either lighthouse or beacon.
The Al Manar network is seen as the mouthpiece for the Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Hezbollah, or Party of God, is aligned with Iran and some U.S. officials claim Hezbollah was responsible for the 1983 suicide bombing in Beirut that killed 241 Marines, according to a May 30, 2003, CNN story. In 2003, a U.S. federal judge ruled Iran was responsible for the bombing and used the Hezbollah to carry out the attack.
