The world of �Cops� according to Iraq

Iraq TV show wins viewers, breaks ground as part of media �sea change�

KIRKUK, Iraq - Shattered glass, body parts, a blood-splattered blue sedan: the grainy video pans over the scene as Iraqi officers comb the site of a drive-by assassination.

It�s �Cops� Iraqi-style, minus the �Bad Boys� soundtrack but otherwise roughly modeled after the American TV show.

Created to make government more transparent, �The Cops Show� featuring Kirkuk officers in action is the first of its kind in the country and is breaking new ground in Iraqi television. A live call-in portion gives the public the chance to praise the security forces or gripe about them.

Screened weekly on Kirkuk Television, which broadcasts in this northern city of nearly 1 million people, �The Cops Show� has opened the floodgates in a community long suppressed.

�During Saddam Hussein�s time, it was very different,� station manager Nasser Hassan Mohammed said. �You were unable to ask questions. You couldn�t say anything bad about police.

�Now people can call in directly. Anyone has the right to do this. This is the difference now. This is freedom.�

The show�s popularity has not gone unnoticed by its enemies, and the studios are heavily guarded. The station�s employees regularly get threats, Mohammed said, adding that he himself was hit by more than two dozen bullets during an assassination attempt in May 2004.

The station remains undeterred, Mohammed said.

�After liberation, many things changed. Many dreams were realized. We use freedom and democracy,� he said. �Our duty is to show people that freedom.�