MEMRI Releases Report and Video of Sermons from Iraqi TV

4/2/2003

From: The Middle East Media Research Institute, 202-955-9070 e-mail: memri@memri.org web: http://www.memri.org

News Advisory:

On Wednesday, April 2, at an event on Capitol Hill sponsored by Senator Jon Kyl (R-Arizona), The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI.org) presented a previously unreleased twenty-minute video consisting of Friday sermons delivered in Iraqi mosques and broadcast on Iraqi TV over the past six months. This video (with English subtitles) was compiled and translated by the Washington-based non-profit, non-partisan research institute MEMRI, which monitors and translates Middle Eastern sermons, media, school textbooks, and government statements appearing in the media of the Arab and Muslim world.

The video will be available Thursday, April 3 to the media and public as streaming video at MEMRI's website, http://www.memri.org. In addition, MEMRI has issued a comprehensive report on sermons given in Iraqi mosques which will also be available at http://www.memri.org.

Excerpts from the video:

-- "Oh Allah, sink their ships, and down their planes. Oh Allah, drown Bush and Blair. Kill them (Americans) wherever you find them. It is the obligation of the Muslims today, Iraqis and others, to threaten American interests everywhere they are found, to put them on fire, to light their wick, and to sink their ships, with all the power. This is Jihad for the sake of Allah." (March 14, 2003, delivered by Sheikh Abd Al-Razzak Al-Sa'adi at the Umm Al-Ma'arek Mosque, Baghdad)

-- "Oh Allah, strike the Administration of Evil in America. Oh Allah, send them armies whom they cannot see. Oh Allah, destroy them, annihilate them, shake the ground beneath their feet." (February 28, 2003, delivered by Abd Al-Ghafour Muhammad Al-Qaysi, at the Umm Al-Ma'arek Mosque, Baghdad)

To request a copy of the video, or for more information, contact: The Middle East Media Research Institute, 202-955-9070, memri@memri.org