Washington — President Bush issued a televised address Thursday to the Iraqi people, launching a massive media campaign that includes a daily newspaper and television and radio broadcasts.
It's all part of a campaign to win Iraqi hearts and minds.
"The nightmare that Saddam Hussein has brought to your nation will soon be over," Bush said in the address, which was subtitled in Arabic. "In the new era that is coming to Iraq, your country will no longer be held captive to the will of a cruel dictator."
The address, broadcast on the new station Towards Freedom TV, included a similar message from British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Both leaders assured Iraqis that the coalition would keep its commitment to eradicate Saddam's regime.
The Department of Defense is running the information campaign. Five hours of TV programming will be transmitted five days a week from military aircraft and ground facilities to the stations that previously carried Iraqi state television. Translations also will be broadcast on radio signals.
In southern Iraq, coalition forces were to begin publishing Thursday an Arabic-language daily newspaper called "The Times," with an initial circulation of 10,000 copies.
President Bush's video address to the Iraqi people is played in the press briefing room in the West Wing of the White House. It was broadcast Thursday on Iraqi TV.
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