Iraq jammed short-wave radio broadcasts from Voice of America on Friday, the agency's director said. Two of the six frequencies carrying Arabic-language broadcasts to the Middle East were jammed at 5 p.m. EDT (Midnight in Kuwait), said Richard Carlson, director of the U.S. government's overseas radio broadcasting. The jamming signal, which sounds like someone blowing bubbles, has electronic characteristics indicating it is Iraqi, Carlson said. The two jammed frequencies are broadcast from West Germany and the island of Rhodes off the southwestern coast of Turkey and are the most powerful frequencies beamed to the area, he said. Weaker Arabic signals and English-language broadcasts were not affected, he said. However, ``The BBC has had indications they're being interfered with as well,'' he said. Carlson said Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was ``trying to keep his neighbors and his own people from knowing what is going on.'' He said he did not know how much of the signal was getting through to neighboring countries in the region. Iraq has not jammed VOA signals before, Carlson said. The only other country now jamming VOA is China, he said.
