Radio Free Iraq and Radio Free Iran: Background, Legislation, and Policy Issues for Congress

98-539 F

CRS Report for Congress

Received through the CRS Web

Radio Free Iraq and Radio Free Iran:

Background, Legislation, and

Policy Issues for Congress

Updated January 7, 1999

(name redacted)

Specialist in Foreign Policy and Trade

Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division

Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

ABSTRACT

In early 1998 after recurring conflicts with the Iraqi government on weapons sites

inspections, Congress debated various nonmilitary actions to support removing Saddam

Hussein from power. On May 1, 1998 the President signed the supplemental appropriation

(H.R. 3579, P.L. 105-174) which provides funding for a new surrogate broadcasting service-Radio Free Iraq. In addition, Congress passed, and the President signed, the foreign

relations authorization legislation within the context of the omnibus appropriations (P.L.

105-277/H.R. 4328). It authorizes appropriations for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to

administer Radio Free Iraq and Radio Free Iran. This report tracks legislation and issues

pertaining to these two surrogate services. It will be updated periodically.

Radio Free Iraq and Radio Free Iran

Summary

This report tracks legislation and issues pertaining to implementation of two

new surrogate broadcasting entities: Radio Free Iraq and Radio Free Iran.

Since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. government has continued to apply

foreign policy tools (that had helped promote the overthrow of communism) to

current targeted situations such as the threat posed by radical anti-American regimes

in Iraq and Iran. One such tool is surrogate broadcasting.

After the 1997-1998 confrontations over access to suspected weapons sites in

Iraq, Congress began considering various nonmilitary ways to remove Saddam

Hussein from power, primarily by supporting the Iraqi opposition. One course of

action included establishing objective broadcasting in Iraq and adding surrogate

broadcasting to the existing general broadcasting into Iran. While Congress

supported these actions, the Administration showed less enthusiasm, particularly for

a surrogate service to Iran; many U.S. officials believed that relations with the new

Iranian government could improve and feared a U.S. surrogate service to Iran would

impede progress.

The 105th Congress considered a number of measures relating to broadcasting

into Iran and Iraq. In November 1997, within the context of the U.S. Information

Agency’s FY1998 appropriation, Congress required the creation of surrogate

broadcasting (referred to as the Persian or Farsi service) to Iran. Early in 1998, both

the House and Senate included language in the supplemental appropriations (H.R.

3579) to fund a new surrogate broadcasting service to be called “Radio Free Iraq.”

On May 1, 1998, the President signed the bill into law--P.L. 105-174. Congress also

passed the foreign relations authorization bill (H.R. 1757) which would have

authorized Radio Free Iraq and Radio Free Iran to be administered by Radio Free

Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL); however, the President vetoed the bill on October

21, 1998 because of unrelated international family planning language. Within the

context of the omnibus appropriations legislation (H.R. 4328/P.L. 105-277),

Congress included language to authorize broadcasting in the Farsi language via Radio

Free Iran. Also, the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 (H.R. 4655/P.L. 105-338), signed

October 31, 1998, authorizes $2 million for USIA to assist Iraqi opposition

organizations with radio and television broadcasting into Iraq. (These funds were

not appropriated, however.)

Both Radio Free Iran and Radio Free Iraq began operating on October 30, 1998.

The Administration’s fears of antagonizing the new Iranian government were

confirmed when, three days after RFE/RL’s first Farsi broadcast, Iran withdrew its

ambassador from Prague and vowed to restrict trade ties with the Czech Republic.

Similarly, Iraq officials also made clear its opposition to the broadcasts and said this

would “hurt economic ties with the Czech Republic.”1

1

Reuters, November 3, 1998.

Contents

Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Broadcasting to the Middle East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Congressional Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Broadcasting Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Foreign Policy Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Radio Free Iraq and Radio Free Iran

Background

With the end of the Cold War, advocates of an assertive American foreign

policy have supported applying cold war techniques to address specific new threats

to U.S. security interests, including those posed by the Saddam Hussein regime in

Iraq and the Islamic revolutionary government of Iran. Many, including Lech Walesa

of Poland, President Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic, and Secretary of State

Albright, credit Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s ( RFE/RL) broadcasting during

the Cold War with helping end communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

The Administration and Congress have agreed on using broadcasting once again to

help blunt the strategic threats to the United States, this time posed by Iraq and Iran,

though important issues remain unresolved.

U.S. government-sponsored international information and propaganda programs

date back to World War I. The use of radio for this purpose began in earnest during

World War II when President Roosevelt established and operated, for a short time

without the authorization of Congress, an agency for foreign intelligence and

propaganda. Since World War II, international broadcasting has become an

important element of U.S. public diplomacy throughout the world.2

The Voice of America (VOA), the oldest and largest of the government

broadcasting systems, was established during World War II. Under the U.S.

Information Agency, VOA provides general broadcasting 24 hours per day in 52

languages around the world. It provides over 900 hours of programming each week

and employs about 1,200 people. Under its authorizing Act, VOA has three missions:

(1) to provide “a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news”; (2) to

represent all of America and “present a balanced and comprehensive projection of

significant American thought and institutions”; and (3) to present “the policies of the

United States clearly and effectively ... and to present responsible discussion and

opinion on these policies.”3

2

U.S. international broadcasting consists of surrogate and general broadcasting. Surrogate

broadcasting provides independent, uncensored, and accurate news and information of

events in the targeted country (often a closed society), as well as cultural programs of that

country. Surrogate broadcasting includes Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc., Cuba

Broadcasting, and Radio Free Asia. In contrast, general broadcasting, carried out by the

Voice of America, presents a reliable source of international news, U.S. policies, and

American culture to listeners overseas.

3

22 U.S.C.1463.

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is the best known example of U.S. surrogate

broadcasting. (Cuba Broadcasting and Radio Free Asia are other surrogate services.)

RFE/RL began broadcasting in the early 1950s under the auspices of the Central

Intelligence Agency. Today RFE/RL is a private, nonprofit broadcaster funded by

grants from USIA’s Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). RFE/RL broadcasts

approximately 700 hours of programming weekly in 23 languages; it employs some

250 staff journalists in Prague and about 1,000 freelance contributors around the

world. Section 312 of the U.S. International Broadcasting Act of 1994 (P.L 103-236)

states that “it is the sense of Congress” that RFE/RL funding “should” be privatized

by December 31, 1999. The FY1998 omnibus appropriations Act requires RFE/RL

to report before March 1st each year on steps taken to privatize and provide an

assessment of whether government funding for surrogate broadcasting is appropriate

for FY2000 and beyond.

Broadcasting to the Middle East

The Voice of America currently provides U.S. government-supported

broadcasting into Iraq and Iran. VOA broadcasts seven hours per day of Farsi on

shortwaves into Iran, one hour per day of Kurdish language broadcasting into

Northern Iraq, and seven hours per day of Arabic accessible to the entire region,

including Iraq. VOA provides eight weekly feeds to 12 local (FM) stations in six

Arabic countries. In addition, VOA has contingency plans to expand Arabic

broadcasting by two hours per day. The expansion can be accomplished within one

or two weeks. VOA Arabic TV is on the air for 30 minutes once each week.

Additionally, VOA is on the air ten hours per day in English programming to the

Middle East. VOA correspondents in the Middle East feed reports to FM stations in

Amman, Ramallah, and Tunis. Radio Rabat receives two feeds per week, as does

Palestinian radio. VOA also maintains an Arabic dial-in recorded news service with

regularly updated news reports. Begun during the Gulf War, this service has been

used extensively.

Prior to October 30, 1998, RFE/RL did not broadcast specifically into Iraq, Iran,

nor other Persian Gulf countries. It did broadcast into Armenia, Azerbaijan,

Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, some of which could be heard in Iran and Iraq.

RFE/RL had no Arabic, Farsi, or Kurdish language capability for broadcasting into

the region, although it did have broad authority to establish new surrogate services

there, if deemed important.

Other outside information in Iraq and Iran comes from a number of sources.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) provides a general news service (similar

to VOA) for both Iraq and Iran, as does Radio France and Deutche-Welle (from the

Netherlands). Several dissident organizations broadcast in Iraq, but many believe

that they have little credibility. Israel provides a surrogate broadcast service in Iraq

which also reportedly has little credibility, since most Iraqis continue to regard Israel

as a sworn enemy. CNN broadcasts television programs into Iraq and Iran, although

it is questionable how many citizens see it. A satellite dish, required for CNN

reception, is something most Iraqis cannot afford and is illegal to own both in Iraq

and Iran (although somewhat tolerated in both countries). In addition, the CNN

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broadcasts are primarily to large hotels in key cities and are entirely in English,

making them incomprehensible to most local people. In contrast to information via

airwaves, print media is the most censored information in Iraq. Only Arabic

newspapers and magazines are tolerated, and even those are heavily edited. Iranians,

on the other hand, have access to a wider range of foreign media and the press there

is relatively free, compared with Iraq.

Congressional Actions

The 105th Congress considered a number of measures expanding broadcasting

into Iraq and Iran. In November 1997, Congress added an amendment to the State

Department and Related Agencies appropriations legislation (H.R. 2267/P.L. 105119) requiring in FY1998 that $4 million of RFE/RL’s appropriation be used for

surrogate U.S. broadcasting in Farsi into Iran; Congress provided no new funds,

however. RFE/RL (with capped appropriations of $75 million) established a new

Farsi language service.

At a February 1998 congressional hearing, within the context of the U.S.

Information Agency (USIA) appropriations and hearings on Iraq, Administration

officials and Members of Congress began exploring the option of using broadcasting

to assist Iraqi opposition forces in overthrowing Iraq’s president Saddam Hussein.

David Burke, Chairman of the USIA’s Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG),

responded to a question on establishing new surrogate broadcast service for Iraq:

“The population of Iraq are prisoners, and they deserve the fresh air of

truth and honesty and objectivity coming their way, and we should be

allocating resources to that right away.”4

On March 10, 1998, Congress filed a conference report (H.Rept. 105-432) on

the foreign relations authorization legislation (H.R. 1757). The House of

Representatives passed the bill by voice vote on March 26. The Senate passed the

legislation on April 28, 1998. The President vetoed the bill on October 21, 1998

because of unrelated international family planning measures. Section 1813(b) of

H.R. 1757 would have provided (in addition to $10 million for aid to the Iraqi

Democratic Opposition) authority for $5 million for RFE/RL to establish surrogate

radio broadcasting to Iraq, referred to as “Radio Free Iraq,” with no year specified for

spending. Additionally, Section 1418 of the same legislation would have authorized

$2 million in grants for each FY1998 and FY1999 to go only to RFE/RL developing

a “Radio Free Iran” broadcasting service.

On May 1, 1998 the President signed FY1998 supplemental appropriations (S.

1768/H.R. 3579; P.L. 105-174) into law. This law provided $5 million to RFE/RL

for surrogate broadcasting to Iraq and required the BBG to submit a plan within 30

4

Hearing, House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State; testimony by

David Burke, Chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, USIA, February 26, 1998.

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days of enactment on establishing the surrogate service.5 The funds are to be

available until Sept 30, 1999, and the broadcasting service must be called “Radio

Free Iraq.” With passage of the bill, Senator Lott had stated, “This is a bipartisan

amendment...a start to a political approach to changing the regime in Iraq.”6

Just prior to ending the second session of the 105th Congress voted on measures

relevant to U.S. surrogate broadcasting into the Middle East. On October 20, 1998

Congress passed H.R. 4328, popularly referred to as the omnibus appropriations act.

It authorizes RFE/RL to establish surrogate broadcasting to the Iranian people in the

Farsi language and to be referred to as “Radio Free Iran”. It also requires the BBG

to report to Congress within 60 days after enactment of the provision (which would

be about December 20, 1998) on the costs and implementation of the surrogate

service to Iran. The President signed the bill on October 21, 1998 —P.L. 105-277.

Also in October 1998, Congress passed the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 (H.R. 4655).

It authorized $2 million to be appropriated to the USIA for FY1999 for radio and

television broadcasting by Iraqi opposition organizations. The measure became law

(P.L. 105-338) on October 31, 1998, although these funds were not appropriated.

Broadcasting Issues

The Broadcasting Board of Governors and RFE/RL considered a number of

broadcasting issues in the process of establishing Radio Free Iraq and Radio Free

Iran: which transmitters to use, possible jamming by the local governments, the

hiring of staff, and where the staff should be located. An additional concern is

RFE/RL privatization, due to occur by December 1999.

Both Radio Free Iraq and Radio Free Iran (Farsi or Persian language service of

RFE/RL) began broadcasting on October 30, 1998. The two surrogate services offer

24-hour on line new service over the internet. Radio Free Iran airs 45 minutes (soon

to be increased to one hour) of news, interviews, commentary and call-ins on

shortwave broadcasts which it repeats with updates once each day. Radio Free Iraq

shortwave broadcasts consist of 1 hour of news, commentary, and interviews with

outsiders which is also repeated once each day with updates. The goal by the

summer of 1999 is to have each service broadcast 3 hours of original programming

each day with 1 repeat (for a total of 6 hours in each country).

The transmitters for the broadcasts are in various countries within the region.

IBB overseas the use of all the broadcasting facilities. The transmitters used for the

new surrogates may change from time-to-time, depending on transmitter availability,

as VOA is also using them. According to RFE/RL, ongoing transmitter issues

include increasing transmitter capability, particularly in Kuwait, if expanded

surrogate broadcasting is to occur. RFE/RL is also seeking adequate medium-wave

5

The BBG sent its report to the relevant House and Senate authorizing and appropriations

committees on June 4, 1998.

6

Congressional Record, March 23, 1998, p. S2408.

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transmitter capability for broadcasting in this region. Both types of transmitter

expansions will require an increase in funds, they say.7

RFE/RL is authorized to fill a total of 12 or 14 staff positions to work directly

with each of the two new surrogates. As of December 1998, RFE/RL has hired

between 8 and 10 people for each service, although as many as 43 employees

including regional specialists, interpreters and broadcasting monitors are providing

indirect support for these new broadcast services. Generally, the staff for Radio Free

Iran and Radio Free Iraq are located predominately in Prague, but a few will be in

Washington, New York and London.

Establishing these new surrogates has taken time. Newly-hired RFE/RL

journalists, researchers, and broadcasters for Radio Free Iran and Iraq are learning as

they go on how to report in a closed society. For the most part, the staff reporting

into Iraq/Iran now were not with RFE/RL in its early days of reporting into Russia

when it was closed. Therefore, there is a certain amount of inexperience and reinventing the wheel in operating Radio Free Iraq and Radio Free Iran. Another

difficulty for the new staff, perhaps hindering their effectiveness, has been that they

are navigating between two entirely different foreign policy situations —

broadcasting into Iraq vs. into Iran.

About mid-year, appointment of the directors for the new broadcast entities

occurred. On July 30, 1998 RFE/RL announced the appointment of Dr. Stephen C.

Fairbanks, formerly with the State Department, the Foreign Broadcast Information

Service, and the Peace Corps, to Director of RFE/RL’s Farsi language service. A

month later, RFE/RL announced the appointment of Ambassador David Newton,

formerly ambassador to Iraq from 1984-1988, ambassador to Yemen from 19941997, and a Middle East expert with the Department of State.

The potential audience for these surrogate broadcasts is expected to be low at

first, but may gradually increase over time. According to experts on Iraq, in

particular, the people are starved for objective information about what is going on

inside their own country. Iraqis may not trust the surrogate radio broadcasts at first,

because they will likely attribute anti-regime news or cultural information to U.S.

propaganda. Over time, however, when the Iraqis are able to verify accounts to be

true, the audience of Radio Free Iraq will likely gain in popularity, according to

proponents.8 Nevertheless, Iraqi authorities have said that they will not even bother

to jam Radio Free Iraq broadcasts saying, “We believe our people are immune to

hostile propaganda.”9 Iranians, on the other hand, already have access to a wide

range of foreign media. Therefore, Radio Free Iran might have even more difficulty

competing and establishing a following.

7

Conversation with Paul Goble, RFE/RL, December 12, 1998.

8

Telephone conversation with Dr. Adeed Dawisha, Professor of Politics, George mason

University, April 30, 1998.

9

Iraq says it won’t bother to jam broadcasts by U.S.-backed radio, by Leon Barkho,

Associated Press, December 1, 1998.

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According to RFE/RL, interviews of people leaving Iraq indicate people are

tuning in to Radio Free Iraq out of curiosity. In Iran, on the ground interviews

indicate an audience for Radio Free Iran, as well. In both cases, however, there is no

indication of whether people are believing what the broadcasts are relaying.

Foreign Policy Issues

Some Members of Congress perceived the foreign policy objectives for

establishing Radio Free Iran and Radio Free Iraq as being comparable. According

to Senator Brownback, a key sponsor of creating a surrogate broadcasting service to

Iran, “The recent elections [in Iran] illustrate the will and desire of the people of Iran

for freedom, democratic institutions and lifestyles. Now is the time to give them one

more tool to support this desire. The Iranian people are among the most oppressed

people in the world. They have very little access to outside information, to diverse

political, civil and religious thought.... Radio Free Iran is just one part of a multifaceted approach to the problem Iran poses to the security of the United States and

to our friends and allies in the region.”

Similarly, surrogate broadcasting into Iraq is part of a broader strategy

consisting of a wide array of actions to address Saddam Hussein as a threat to U.S.

security. That broader strategy, according to an open letter to the President from 28

prominent foreign policy experts, might include recognizing a provisional

government in Iraq, restoring a safe haven in Northern Iraq in which the provisional

government would have authority, lifting sanctions in liberated areas of the country,

and releasing frozen assets to the control of the provisional government in Iraq.10

In contrast to congressional views, the Clinton Administration was reluctant to

embrace either new surrogate service, but especially Radio Free Iran. While the

Administration supported increased Farsi-language broadcasting by VOA, it did not

support a surrogate service for Iran. At a time when there has been a change in the

Iranian government and potential for improvement in U.S.-Iranian relations, State

Department officials voiced their position on the congressionally-mandated creation

of Radio Free Iran, saying that, “no one should misinterpret [Radio Free Iran] as an

attempt to undermine the Iranian government or in any way diluting the very clear

position we have that we are encouraged by the developments in Iran, that we believe

that the best way to overcome the differences between our two countries is to have

an authorized and acknowledged dialogue.... Improvement in the breadth and

diversity of information in the public media will add to the political debate, which

we note is already taking place in Iran. Whatever happens with this radio

broadcasting, we think it will enrich what is already a lively political debate in

Iran.”11

10

Open Letter to the President from the Committee for Peace and Security in the Gulf,

Congressional Record, March 2, 1998, p. S1179.

11

State Department briefing, April 15, 1998.

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While the Administration was more supportive of establishing Radio Free Iraq,

most foreign policy officials believe that it is a small foreign policy tool with a very

long-run perspective that can only contribute to accomplishing U.S. foreign policy

objectives and support the Iraqi opposition if used in concert with policy options.12

Many in Congress supported establishing surrogates in Iraq and Iran as low-cost,

low-risk efforts to support freedom, but others claimed that the effects of the

broadcasting would be too slow, with unmeasurable results. The cost is relatively

low at the present time --$5 million for Radio Free Iraq (comparable to the initial

funding for Radio Free Asia) and $4 million for Radio Free Iran. If audiences in

these countries never become established, however, or if the target country

governments are successful in jamming the broadcasts, then the value of surrogate

broadcasting into these countries and the corresponding $9 million may be

questioned.

The Administration’s fears of antagonizing the new Iranian government were

confirmed when, three days after RFE/RL’s first Farsi broadcast, Iran withdrew its

ambassador from Prague and vowed to restrict trade ties with the Czech Republic.

Similarly, Iraq officials also made clear its opposition to the broadcasts and said they

would “hurt economic ties with the Czech Republic.”13 In December 1998, at the

time of the U.S. attacks on Baghdad, Czech officials increased security around the

broadcasting headquarters in Prague.

Radio Free Iraq Director David Newton stated that RFE/RL expanded its

broadcasts into Iraq to two 2-hour broadcasts daily following the December air

strikes on Baghdad. The original daily 2 hours was live, with one repeat daily.

While the U.S. government funds Radio Free Iraq, it does not influence its content.

Newton stated, however, that “we share the same goals of democracy and human

rights. We are using truth and objectivity to get through the totalitarian wall. We

reported reaction from around the world--positive and negative, and from the Middle

East, positive and negative.”14

12

See CRS Report, Iraq: U.S. Policy Options, by (name redacted), 98-393F.

13

Reuters, November 3, 1998.

14

Reuters, U.S.-backed Radio Free Iraq increases broadcasts, by John Mastrini, December

18, 1998

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