WASHINGTON, 15 June 2003 — Cheering throngs take to the streets of Baghdad to celebrate the fall of Saddam Hussein, grateful Iraqis thank US-led forces for their liberation, food and medical aid pour into the port of Umm Qasr.

These images, broadcast around the world over the past two months, have largely been replaced by more skeptical reports questioning the rationale for the war on Iraq, but they remain a staple of US-government produced television “news” stories now available to the public over the Internet.

In these professionally shot and edited spots, produced by the State Department and ranging from two to three minutes in length, good news is the only news as the altruistic virtue of the United States is extolled without a hint of irony.

The videos, intended for private viewing as well for rebroadcast by television outlets, incorporate news footage of events in Iraq, sound bites from US officials and “man-on-the-street” interviews and are edited together with narration from unseen speakers.

They come with transcripts with space for television stations to note time codes for certain bites on a logsheet and a glossary of broadcast terms, including “nat snd” and “M&E” for “natural sound” and “music and effects.”

The majority were produced late last month and placed with little fanfare on the State Department’s website but languished in relative obscurity until Friday when the department compiled them at one Internet address (http: www.state.gov r pa obs 20766.htm) and publicized the link.

“Freedom in Iraq,” the department headlined its statement announcing the link to the eight fully edited, broadcast quality and ready-to-air reports, the latest of which were completed on May 22.

“The dawn of liberation: See historic footage of Iraqis toppling a statue of Saddam Hussein. Witness the jubilation in Saddam City as the spirit of freedom is realized,” it says in its preview for “Baghdad Liberated” video, a three-minute report about events on the ground in Iraq on April 9.

“As they rolled into Baghdad, the American troops were cheered by hundreds of Iraqis gathering in the streets,” an unseen male narrator intones over the now-famous footage of the toppling of a huge statue of Saddam Hussein.

“The act symbolizing the end of Saddam’s 25-year reign of cruelty and terror ... The fear of repression gone, jubilant Iraqis kicked the statue of the fallen dictator as they dragged it through the town,” he says.

“Relief and joy were expressed throughout the city,” the narrator continues as the screen fades to sound bites of Iraqis thanking the United States and President George W. Bush follow.

The scenes then shift to shots of Secretary of State Colin Powell vowing to rebuild Iraq and White House spokesman Ari Fleischer describing Bush’s reaction to the toppling of the statue.

In a two-minute report, Iraqis in the United States are seen rejoicing at Saddam’s ouster. “The televised images from Baghdad prompted celebrations from Iraqi Americans all across the United States,” the narrator says over shots of cheering crowds in Detroit, Michigan, home of the largest US Arab community.

“Iraqis there seemed to revel in the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime as much as they did in Baghdad,” the narrator continues, as snippets of reactions are shown including shouts of “We love the United States ... They helped us” and “I love Bush. I love USA because they give Iraqi people their freedom.”

The voice of the invisible narrator then returns to close the report with the words: “For Iraqis living in the US the nearly quarter-century-long nightmare in their homeland is now drawing nearer to being over.”

Five “reports” in the series are set in Umm Qasr where British and US forces re-opened Iraq’s only deep-water port after seizing the city on March 25.

“When Coalition forces secured this port, they secured a future for the people of Iraq,” the department says of its segment on Iraqi dockworkers ecstatic at being able to return to work.

The actual report contains an interview with tugboat supervisor Abdul Hussain Mahmood Ahmed and closes with the narrator saying: “Now Ahmed and his men will have a chance to see Iraq become prosperous and secure as they work steadily to bring life back to the port of Umm Qasr.”

Another story about Umm Qasr ends with shots of ship-loading equipment as a female narrator speaks: “Cranes stretch to sky as if reaching for a dream and now, with Iraq’s liberation, the dream is a step closer to reality.”

Although eager to advertise the videos, the State Department seems unsure of its target audience.

Despite the fact that many of the interviews were conducted in Arabic, they have been translated for the all-English language soundtracks.