Two New Jersey Congressmen have expressed outrage that Alhurra, a US-funded Arabic-language television network in the Middle East created to counter the propaganda of media such as Al Jazeera, has broadcast live, hour-long interviews with terrorist leaders and sympathetically viewed Holocaust deniers.

Representatives Steven Rothman, a Democrat, and Frank LoBiondo, a Republican, have called for, among other remedies, the immediate resignation of Larry Register, Alhurra’s non-Arab speaking news director.

To make Alhurra more accountable so that terrorists never again take over the station’s broadcasts, Mr. Rothman, a long-standing member of the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, has requested funding so that all Alhurra broadcasts can be streamed live online every day with English translations.

"No sane person thinks that allowing terrorists to spout off live and unedited on media programs that are intended to promote the US’s image abroad is in our country’s best interests," said Mr. Rothman.

Created in February 2004, Alhurra was founded as a key component of US diplomacy to the Arab world. With three separate feeds via satellite to Europe, Arab nations, and Iraq, Alhurra was developed to showcase the American political process and report on issues that are often overlooked by other Arab media, such as human-rights abuses and government corruption.

Instead, according to investigative reporter Joel Mowbray, writing for the Wall Street Journal, Alhurra, which operates with an annual, tax-payer funded budget of more than $70 million, has been broadcasting reports and feature pieces that feed the antisemitic, anti-Israel, and anti-American attitudes and beliefs already prominent throughout the Middle East.

According to Mr. Mowbray, before Mr. Register arrived, Alhurra’s Lebanese-born Muslim news director, Nouafac Harb, had been making attempts to show Arab viewers the reality of the Holocaust. Elie Wiesel was interviewed on the network, and a program about the 60^th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz was aired.

Things changed when Mr. Register arrived. A former producer at CNN, Mr. Register was hired by Alhurra last November. During his few months with the station, he has allowed sympathetic coverage of the Holocaust denial conference in Tehran last December; a portrayal of the rogue, anti-Zionist hareidi Neturei Karta as mainstream Orthodox Jews who, Alhurra says, number more than one million; and detailed interviews with terrorist leaders such as Hezbollah’s Sheikh Hasan Nasrallah.

On December 7, a speech by Mr. Nasrallah was carried by Alhurra in its entirety, about 68 minutes. At one point in the speech, Mr. Nasrallah was interrupted by gunmen behind him who were firing in the air. Mr. Nasrallah chided them, saying, "The only place where bullets should be is the chest of the enemies of Lebanon: the Israeli enemy."

After the speech, Alhurra carried a 13-minute phone interview with Wael Abou Faour, a member of Lebanon’s governing coalition, who accused Mr. Nasrallah of not being sufficiently anti-US and anti-Israel.

According to Mr. Mowbray, Mr. Nasrallah, during his speech, had accused Lebanon’s governing coalition of siding with the US and backing Israel during the war last summer. Mr. Abou Faour, however, maintained that Hezbollah was closer to the US.

Mr. Abou Faour concluded by saying that any Lebanese faction that assisted "the Israeli enemy" should not be allowed to engage in political discussion, because "the only place they should be [is] in prison."

A few days after Mr. Nasrallah’s speech, Alhurra covered the Teheran Holocaust-denial conference, and included in its report Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke’s praise for Mr. Ahmadinejad. According to Mr. Mowbray, Alhurra’s reporter stationed in Teheran took at face value the conference organizers’ demand for Israel "to provide proof and evidence that certifies the occurrence" of the Holocaust.

According to Mr. Mowbray, an official running the event "was afforded the opportunity to show the open-mindedness of Holocaust deniers: ‘If we actually conclude with our experts through this meeting that the Holocaust is a real incident, we will at that time admit its presence.’"

Alhurra also broadcasted the remarks of the infamous French Holocaust denier and antisemite Robert Faurisson, who informed Arab viewers: "Gas chambers and mass killings of the Jews, in the way that it is pretended [by the Jews], is completely untrue, and an historical lie."

The Alhurra reporter referred to those who actually believe Hitler murdered six million Jews as "Holocaust supporters" and criticized the few conference participants who did not deny the Holocaust, saying "they didn’t enforce their statements with scientific evidence."

At the end of the report on the conference, Alhurra referred to Israel as "the Jewish state on Palestinian lands."

Six weeks later, Alhurra did a follow-up story on the Neturei Karta, a small fringe group which boasts on its website that its members number, at most, in the thousands. Alhurra credited them with a million members.

Mr. Mowbray said Alhurra’s angle on the group was clear from the anchor’s introduction: "They always put Israeli officials in a bind, who can’t seem to understand how Jews can oppose Zionism, or how a Jew can encourage the Iranian President in his opposition to Israel."

In the story, various Neturei Karta-niks sputtered outrageous falsehoods about supposed "Zionist cruelty, including torture, detention, [and the] burning of their synagogues."

"None of these libels were challenged, let alone debunked," said Mr. Mowbray.

In this, Alhurra is doing little more than aping the media outlets already rampant in the Arab world, where Holocaust denial and conspiracy theories to explain world events (Jews and/or Israelis and/or the Bush administration perpetrating the 9-11 attacks and notorious forgeries such as "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion") are ubiquitous, even among the educated.

"Arab media do not challenge this mindset, but usually indulge it," said Mr. Mowbray, insisting that combating "this nonsense" should be "ground zero in our quest to inject truth and information into the Arab world."

"If we can’t do this, how will we ever be able to counteract the jihadists who preach to the masses that America is waging war on Islam?" he said.

According to Mr. Rothman, when Mr. Register was asked about his numerous decisions to give terrorists an open microphone, the Alhurra news director defended his decisions, saying that, in order for Alhurra to have "credibility" in the Arab world, it must air anti-American and anti-Israeli viewpoints.

Mr. Mowbray has pointed out that the Bush administration, particularly Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, has strongly defended Alhurra. Testifying under oath at a House Operations Appropriations subcommittee hearing in March, she characterized Mr. Abou Faour’s commentary as "critical" of Mr. Nasrallah, inferring that she believed Alhurra’s coverage of the Hezbollah leader had been fair and balanced.

Mr. Mowbray did not doubt that Ms. Rice had testified in good faith, because, he said, as things stand now, "there is no practicable way that Foggy Bottom, or anyone else for that matter, can effectively monitor Alhurra."

The network is overseen by the Congressionally created Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), an independent nine-member panel, which, according to Mr. Mowbray, lacks the ability to conduct even basic auditing.

"English transcripts are provided only on request—which rarely happens. Worse, there is no good channel for whistleblowers to communicate with the board without fear of retribution," he said.

In going against Mr. Register, Messrs Rothman and LoBianco are finding themselves head-to-head with Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes and the rest of the BBG panel that oversees Alhurra.

According to Mr. Mowbray, not only is Ms. Hughes "a stalwart supporter of Mr. Register," but when the question was raised with the BBG panel about investigating Mr. Register’s questionable editorial decisions, the only BBG member who thought it was a good idea was the outgoing chairman Ken Tomlinson. The rest, said Mr. Mowbray, are "ardent Register partisans."

During a Congressional hearing last month, Ms. Hughes told lawmakers she has heard nothing but "high praise" and "rave reviews" about Mr. Register.

At the hearing, she did not hear such admiration from Mr. Rothman.

"Why on G-d’s earth would we want to sponsor a live interview with Nasrallah?" he asked her.

Ms. Hughes responded that the broadcast "was a violation of our policy" and "a mistake." She explained that Alhurra has a written policy not to provide a live platform for terrorists.

But when Mr. Rothman asked if it would also be a mistake to have the anti-Israel Hamas leader, Ismail Haniya, who "expressed joy that 9-11 rubbed America’s nose in the dirt" on live broadcast, Ms. Hughes said only that she "would have to know more about the context."

According to Ms. Hughes, Alhurra’s overseers have a "rapid response team" to counter any problems that occur on the broadcasts.

Mr. Rothman disapproved, explaining that the marketplace has plenty of news stations and that Americans "are not in the business of offering people who want to spout propaganda against the US an opportunity to do so on our dime, on our station, just so we can respond. In my opinion, that’s not a good use of our money. The world is hearing enough propaganda against the US and our allies. We should be spending 100 percent of our time talking about our perspective on the world events of the day. We don’t have to give hate-mongers and enemies of the US an open mike in a live format," he said.

Further, he said, the station’s "rapid response team" does not work. "It’s like saying we’re going to let terrible people do terrible things, and the way we’re solving that is I’m going to be told about it afterwards. No, no, no. That’s exactly what’s happening. What we should do is make sure that the policy is: We don’t let these people on the air in the first place in this form," he said, adding that while he is "all for freedom of speech and giving people a wide variety of views, but certainly not hate speech, and evil-doers are not people we want to pay to put on the air."

He maintained that presenting people on different sides of an issue to debate is fine. "But that’s different than giving terrorists and those fomenting terrorism a live platform," he said.

Defending Alhurra and Mr. Register, Ms. Hughes said that while she wants to be "a good steward of taxpayer funds" used "in a way that promotes America, our values, and our policies," she also wants to make sure the network’s programs are "credible."

"Unfortunately, in the region that Alhurra is trying to reach, most of the sources of news are very biased against America, against Israel, against many of our policies. And so mass audiences are seeing this," she said.

Further, she said, there was little the BBG could do about the programs at Alhurra because "there is a firewall that is designed to prevent political appointees from making political decisions about broadcasting."

That "firewall," she said, would prevent her from "interfering with editorial decisions" made by Mr. Register.

Mr. Rothman countered by asking her if she would advocate giving Osama bin Laden "45 minutes of free air time."

"Absolutely not, and our policy prevents that," said Ms. Hughes.

"So whatever part of the firewall permits us to say we shouldn’t give 45 minutes of live broadcast time to Osama bin Laden is the same part of the protocol of this BBG that should be used to prevent hate speech," said Mr. Rothman.

Rep Nita Lowey (D-NY), who chaired the hearing, seemed to support Ms. Hughes, explaining that some observers in the Middle East criticize Voice of America "because they feel it’s not authentic, that we are just presenting our point of view."

Ms. Lowey suggested that Ms. Hughes could "bring in some of the journalists" so that they could "have a lively discussion off-camera, not at the hearing."

Mr. Rothman, who had already urged the BBG to update the Alhurra website with real-time broadcasts with English subtitles and to maintain an archive where all Alhurra programs are stored, has now translated that request into a bill that will require the station to act.

He and Mr. LoBiondo are also demanding that Mr. Register be fired, maintaining that the news director’s decisions demonstrate that he "does not understand the purpose of Alhurra."

"The oppressed people of the Arab world are not turning to Alhurra to hear the same hate-mongers that they can hear on Al Jazeera or any other station in the Middle East. They tune into Alhurra to learn about the US and hear our perspectives. Mr. Register is beyond help if he thinks his job is to turn Alhurra into another Al Jazeera. It’s time for him to go," said Mr. Rothman.

Mr. LoBiondo said Mr. Register’s actions "severely damages our diplomatic efforts in the region."

"It is clear to me that Mr. Register’s gross mismanagement constitutes his inability to lead this critical diplomatic initiative, and I believe his resignation should be demanded by Secretary of State Rice," he said.

Mr. LoBiondo said he had discussed "this critical issue" with Mr. Rothman and agrees that "the monitoring system of Alhurra must be strengthened to ensure that an accurate, positive representation for the US is broadcast to the Middle East."

Mr. Mowbray said increased oversight and transparency would certainly help clear up "the current mess at Alhurra."

"If someone outside Alhurra had been able to view the Nasrallah speech merely by going online, for example, Ms. Rice certainly would not have been fed false information," he said.

Firing Mr. Register is important, he said, because it would send a message to the people already monitoring the network and its employees that they can report dubious editorial decisions without fear of reprisal.

"After all, if you can’t get fired for using US taxpayer dollars to provide a platform for Islamist terrorists and help further Holocaust denial, then wouldn’t Congress and the Bush administration be communicating that pretty much anything goes?" said Mr. Mowbray.

Other lawmakers who are joining the battle against Alhurra as it now operates are Reps Dan Burton (R-Ind) and Robert Wexler (D-FL). Along with Messrs Rothman and LoBiondo, they are circulating a letter to fellow House Foreign Affairs Committee members asking Ms. Rice for an investigation into Alhurra.

There is also the possibility of legislation that would bar all US overseas broadcasting networks, including Radio Farda and Voice of America, from airing terrorists.

According to one Washington insider, there is interest from Senators and Congressmen about problems not just with Alhurra, but also the others.

In Boston, Dr. Charles Jacobs, who heads the David Project Center for Jewish Leadership, an organization that works to defeat the ideological assault on Israel on campuses and elsewhere, said that, under Mr. Register’s direction, Alhurra is failing the moderate Muslims who look to the US for help in their struggle against Islamist Fascism.

"If the West is truly interested in engaging moderate Muslims and political liberals in the Arab world, why are we continually pandering to their enemies? Why do some members of Congress have meetings with sworn enemies of moderates and liberals like the Muslim Brotherhood and thug-in-chief of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, instead of meeting with embattled reformers? Why do otherwise intelligent people engage groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations when their words and deeds show them to be opposed to American values and goals? There are Arab/Islamic groups opposed to CAIR," he said.

"What is it about the Middle East that pushes Americans to abandon their best traditions in the name of ‘realism’ or a cultural relativism that proclaims that our political belief in ‘liberty and justice for all’ doesn’t apply to Middle Easterners?" he said.