BROOKE GLADSTONE: From WNYC in New York this is NPR's On the Media. Bob Garfield is away this week. I'm Brooke Gladstone. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the U.S. Army issued orders to seize the only TV station in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. The division commander said the aim was to block that station's continued broadcasts of Al Jazeera. According to the Journal, the officer charged with carrying out the order refused because she found it inconsistent with the Pentagon's stated aim of protecting such citizen rights as free speech, and she was relieved of duty. But the U.S. government is not the only critic of Al Jazeera and other Arab media. Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed is the editor in chief of Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper published in London. During the war, he wrote that overblown reports of Iraqi resistance would lead to a rude awakening, as in 1967, when Egyptians, misled by news reports, were shocked to learn that they had lost the war with Israel. Mr. Al-Rashed, welcome to the show.

ABDUL RAHMAN AL-RASHED: Thank you for having me.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:Now during the war you wrote a number of editorials criticizing the Arab media's coverage, especially Al Jazeera. What bothered you the most?

ABDUL RAHMAN AL-RASHED:From the beginning, they kept repeating the Iraqi information minister. They had, you know, Iraqi talking heads for days and nights about how patriotic the army is and how they're going to win the war. They let the people that to the last minute the Americans were not winning; they did not get Basra; they are so far from Baghdad it will take them days before they reach Baghdad -- stories after stories of amazing fighting in different towns -- at the time when the American force is already in Baghdad -- and of course it was a big shock to everybody because the media made them believe this is going to be a long war and the Iraqis were winning!

BROOKE GLADSTONE:There is a historical precedent for this kind of coverage. The 1967 war between Egypt and Israel and the 1991 Persian Gulf war when Saudi newspapers went several days before explaining to readers that Iraq had actually invaded Kuwait. What kind of impact long-term do you think that this kind of reporting has on the relationship between the Arab people and the Arab media?

ABDUL RAHMAN AL-RASHED:I think they had a shock for a few days and the media even confessed for misleading the public, but then they come back again and -trying to make issues - so people forget. The main issue they talk about today, for example, the Americans coming here to steal the Iraqi oil -- and nobody said the Americans been in the Gulf for 40 years they've been operating the oil - been in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Emirates - and nobody stole anybody's oil. It's a partnership - it's working very well. So-- with different issues you can keep them busy from one day to another day, but the message hasn't changed really which is the same old message of radicalism. I think it, it's getting from bad to worse.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Specifically, how did Al Jazeera manifest that radicalism?

ABDUL RAHMAN AL-RASHED:They came up with different stories like the American used many nuclear bomb; the Americans deceived the Iraqis; the Americans did this, they did that -- when the Iraqi people found out they are free and they can talk about what happened to them in the past 20 years, Al Jazeera ignored this fact and they concentrated on the faults of the Americans in Iraq but no one bothered to say why these Iraqis are queuing to see what happened to their loves ones who disappeared -- 300,000 Iraqis - no one knows where they are - they disappeared in the past few years.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: You said that they accused the Americans of using nuclear bombs?

ABDUL RAHMAN AL-RASHED:Yes, the second day of the Baghdad fall they reported that someone told them in London, an Iraqi person, the American used many nuclear bombs, and they kept repeating the same news again and again, and the news bulletin - and any - that was the only TV station I would say showed something like that.

BROOKE GLADSTONE:When you were criticizing the coverage of Al Jazeera and other Arab media during the war, you were criticized in turn for doing so, weren't you?

ABDUL RAHMAN AL-RASHED: Before the collapse of Saddam' regime, the majority of writers were on the other side. I was with the minority. And--

BROOKE GLADSTONE: And you were accused of being brainwashed.

ABDUL RAHMAN AL-RASHED:Brainwashed - completely. Then -- after the collapse of the dictator, I received a lot of people supporting or apologizing, and then I think, yes! I mean I should be criticized; I mean I like to have an, an a -- you know a debate; my nightmare is what happened before. It was one kind of opinion and that was the dominant opinion in the television -- or newspapers -- or, or radio. And that was really the, the scariest part.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Okay. Well thank you very much.

ABDUL RAHMAN AL-RASHED: Thank you very much.

BROOKE GLADSTONE: Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed is the editor in chief of Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.