BAGHDAD, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- The U.S.-appointed government in Iraq has banned two of the Arab world's most popular TV channels, The Hindustan Times reported Tuesday.
The Iraqi Governing Council reportedly voted in a private session to expel reporters from the al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya satellite stations for allegedly inciting violence in Iraq and supporting insurgency against the U.S.-led coalition.
The move leaves Paul Bremer, the U.S. civil administrator in Baghdad, facing an acute dilemma -- whether to enrage the Arab world by approving the resolution or to veto it and risk a confrontation with his most senior Iraqi supporters, the paper reported.
The resolution called for reporters on the two channels to be banned from Iraq for one month pending a review of their broadcasts.
"Inciting violence is what these channels proclaim," said Mudhar Shawkat, a senior member of the Iraqi National Congress who voted for the ban.
"They show men in masks carrying guns, and call them 'the resistance.' They're not the resistance; they're thugs and criminals," Shawkut said.
