The criticism Arabic news Channel Al-Jazeera has received throughout this war, from the US and British governments will probably only increase its popularity in the Arabic world.

Al-Jazeera has been able to use its local knowledge of the Middle East and is now more than ever being perceived as a major voice for disaffected Arabs who have been force fed information for far too long. Whilst the channel has been criticised for portraying Iraqi propaganda the Western 24 hour news channels have also been guilty of airing British and US propaganda.

Ordinary Arabs will see any criticisms of the channel as just another tactic by the US Government to stifle their opinions.

British and US channels have been unable to compete with the channel within Iraq. And watching from your armchair you get the feeling they are extremely annoyed they don't have the exclusives they hanker for.

The minute by minute coverage on all the news channels has also led to countless reports and rumours being trashed hours later. This has only heightened people's concerns that we are only being shown what the US military wants us to see.

It is familiar ploy used by politicians who know full well they must win the battle in people's hearts and minds every single hour of every single day. What we do hear are the same words...liberation, freedom, weapons of mass destruction, terrorism etc. It is as if everyone has been given a dictionary of war rhetoric to make us believe we are fighting for a reason.

War is brutal and bloody where normal people like us are killed for someone else's purpose. It was surprising that in the first week of the war among broadcasters only the BBC's Radio Five Live and Channel Four News stood out from the crowd by reporting the claims of both sides as 'claims' and not as facts.

In particular the media is playing a crucial role in defining the people of Iraq. If they are not tyrants who want to kill our troops they are evil men who want to kill their own. If they are not oil rich sheikhs who plunder their country, they are poor uneducated townsfolk who desperately want to be liberated.

Iraqi propaganda will disappear when Saddam is overthrown but British and US propaganda will continue way after this war is over.