Radio Sawa Broadcasts President Bush’s Speech Into Iraq
Radio Sawa broadcast President Bush’s address to the United Nations directly to the people of Iraq, along with world reaction to the speech.
Iraqis tuned to Radio Sawa’s frequency, AM 1548, were able to hear Bush tell the U.N. General Assembly that it must stand up to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Bush said U.N. resolutions calling for Iraqi disarmament “will be enforced – or action will be unavoidable.”
“We cannot stand by and do nothing while danger gathers,” Bush said in New York Thursday. “We must stand up for our security and for the permanent rights and hopes of mankind.”
Radio Sawa (www.radiosawa.com), U.S. international broadcasting’s youth-oriented radio station in the Middle East, broadcast Bush’s speech in its entirety twice on Thursday night. The speech was translated into Arabic, with soundbites in English.
In addition, Radio Sawa, which has a stream dedicated to Iraq, also included clips from the speech in its regular newscasts twice an hour. Newscasts were expanded.
The radio station included reaction to the speech from U.S. and international officials as well as from Iraqis.
Radio Sawa, launched on March 23, 2002, is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week, Arabic-language service aimed at listeners under 30. The station, which is under the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), is distributed on FM, AM and shortwave as well as digital satellite and Internet.
The BBG is a nine-member, presidentially appointed body which supervises all U.S. government-supported international broadcasting, including the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Radio and TV Marti, and WORLDNET Television.