Space.Com September 4, 2002
U.S. Uses Internet/Satellite Images to State its Case Against Iraq
By Leonard David
The Bush Administration's attempt to build the case - at home and abroad - to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein includes the use of high-resolution satellite photos.
An Internet web site run by the U.S. Department of State and established in the waning days of the Clinton Administration demonstrates how shot-from-space pictures are utilized to make the point that Hussein must be replaced.
Numbers of satellite pictures are used on an Internet site, produced and maintained by the U.S. Department of State's Office of International Information Programs (IIP). The IIP was created from elements of the U.S. Information Agency when it merged with the U.S. Department of State on October 1, 1999.
The report, Saddam Hussein's Iraq, was first released in September 1999 and subsequently updated.
"It makes the case that Saddam is a bad man, building while everybody is starving," said Tim Brown, senior analyst with GlobalSecurity.org - a military watchdog group.
"The use of imagery for public diplomacy is well documented. I would expect it to continue," said Brown.
What system was used to take the Iraqi photos is not identified in the Department of State report.
Regime change
For the moment, up for debate is the validity of using on-the-ground United Nations (UN) weapons inspectors to better scout out whether military hardware of mass destruction are at Saddam's disposal. Teams of experts last inspected a number of Iraqi sites in late 1998.
U.S. President Bush has called for a "regime change", with government officials arguing Saddam has a cache of chemical, biological and possible nuclear weapons. Talk of the U.S. invading Iraq has increased, with the Internet being used as a tool in a word campaign to help topple Saddam.
Among the released images taken over Iraq: Shots of various presidential palaces to bolster a case that resources are being misused at the expense of the Iraqi people; damage to Kurdish villages; and the purported illegal transport of oil through the Persian Gulf.
"Saddam's record over the past 10 years.demonstrates that he will never comply with UN resolutions and that he will continue to repress his own people and threaten his neighbors," the web site argues.
"That is why we believe that the only way to address the security needs of the international community and the needs of the people of Iraq is through a new government in Baghdad, one that is committed to living in peace with its neighbors and respecting the rights of its citizens. Iraq, the region, and the world would be better off with a new government in Iraq."
Copyright 2002 Space.Com
