"Gasolina" - The Kurdish National Anthem - in Spanish c/o Uncle Sam

Radio Sawa originated in Washington, it blasts out over parts of the Middle east, where it was installed instead of Voice Of America. A 24/7 Arabic language station that “broadcasts an upbeat mix of Western and Arabic pop music along with up-to-the-minute news, news analysis, interviews, opinion pieces, sports, and features on a wide variety of political and social issues”

Radio Sawa has the sort of political depth of “People” or “Hello” and the accuracy of “The National Enquirer” – it’s Currency Converter does not include Iraqi Dinars for example.

Irony is something most residents pf the Land of the Free think is something you do with a freshly laundered shirt – well this station has with true unintended irony provided the Kurdish Militias with their new marching song. "Gasolina” a pumpy reggaeton mega-hit, which was a chart-topper in many countries.

The Puerto Rican, swarthy , brilliantined super star melds the Spanish street talk “"le gusta la gasolina" which means I Iike to cruise in my car with my baby which makes the song very "pegajosa" . Aparently every cafe, shop, blares this catchy distinctive heavy beat tune endlessly summoning the youth of the Kurdish Crescent to their National goal of Independence.

Of course the Kurdish youth have hi-jacked the meaning, presumably because there are so few Spanish speakers amongst them, but excitedly believe that they will soon be realising the wealth and dreams the Puerto Rican artsiste enjoys in the videos, when Kirkuk and Mosul fall to them and the oil gushes dollars in their treasuries and everyone will own fast red cars and pneumatic Latin beauty’s ride to with them.

This is of course a curious success of an American funded taxpayers radio station which received heavy criticism in 2004 .

In a State Dept Inspector’s report accepted that Radio Sawa, touted by the Bush administration as a success in reaching out to the Arab world, has failed to meet its mandate of promoting democracy and pro-American attitudes, according to a draft report prepared by the State Department's inspector general. But the US$22mn station was so concerned with audience it , had been so preoccupied with building an audience through its music that it failed to adequately measure whether it is influencing minds.

Moreover, it found there was a lack of uniform quality control at Radio Sawa. Some current and former staffers complained that correspondents' reports were uneven, with some reporters quoting "word for word" biased articles that appeared in local newspapers and Middle East news services.

Two independent panels of Arab-language experts hired by the inspector general's office gave the programming a mixed review, saying it did not match al-Jazeera in terms of quality and that parents would prefer that their teenagersdid not listen to Radio Sawa because its broadcasts contained such bad Arabic language.

Today there is a news item about Chavez' visit to Libya to see Gadaffi after his London trip. The same day the US stopped slaes of arms to Venezuela and Contileezza Rice announced full diplomatic relations with Libya. (Pic Radio Sawa website (c) US Government)

At a press conference in London's City Hall on Monday, Chavez called Bush "the biggest perpetrator of genocide the world has known."The BBC quoted Chavez further as calling the U.S. leader "an assassin" and "an immoral man who should be put in jail by an international court."

No doubt the success of supplying the Kurds with a unifying marching song across their diverse streams of independent peshmergas in Spanish must be some sort of record.

You can order the CD from Amazon here , or at a HEFTY discount for Lord Patel’s readers the CD and Video together here.

MP3 download here, Sounds catchy – I have this wonderful dream of the Kurdish irregulars seizing Mosul to the sound of a Puerto Rican pumpy reggaeton mega-hit. Brings to mind the scene of the pumped up GI’s in Fahrenheit 911 entering their troop carrier to the screeching sound of “Die Motherfucker!!!”

Lyrics in Spanish and in English / American with fascinating notes from 63 language analysts and experts on reggaeton hip hop culture. (Parental Warning)

If you are foolish enough to own a mobile you may even download a ringtone.