THE U.S. quietly unveiled Al-Hurra this week, its own Arab-language satellite channel that is an American answer to the middle-eastern news channel, al Jazeera.

Al-Hurra, which means “The Free One,” is based in Virginia and run by the same executives who operate Voice of America. The satellite channel can be seen across the Middle East and north Africa.

Al Jazeera is the Qatar-based Arab news network that many critics view as sympathetic to al Qaeda since the channel broadcasts messages from Osama Bin Laden.

During Al-Hurra’s weekend launch, the channel aired an exclusive interview with President Bush and promotions full of obvious symbolism. There were tight shots of eyelids slowly opening, wild horses running free, and men and women opening windows to allow a flood of light to rush in.

Some Arab critics slammed the channel as “propaganda,” but Hisham Kassem, a leading advocate for human rights and the publisher of the English-language Cairo Times, told a British newspaper that he thought that another media outlet wouldn’t hurt the already crowded Arab media world.

“I say let a thousand stations bloom. Let’s have a Chinese station, a European station,” Kassem said. “If it’s going to be propaganda – we’ll have to wait and see – but if so, then when I want to see the American government’s point of view, I’ll know where to look.”

In other quarters, critics were more skeptical about the channel’s launch, and many of Sunday’s Egyptian newspapers slammed Al-Hurra’s arrival.

“Empty Al-Hurra channel . . . [U.S.] Handmaiden won’t clean the muddy face,” screamed a headline in the latest Arab-language paper El Osboa.

The article argued that Arabs’ fury with the United States will not change as long as it “blindly bows” to Israel.

In Bush’s exclusive interview, the President focused on the progress toward democracy in Iraq.