Saddam's son builds his powerbase on Western rock

The pop band REM had reached the climax of their concert. "Thank you!" the lead singer bellowed to the fans, "you've been amazing." The crowd screamed and the tinny radio speakers in the Baghdad taxi duly dissolved in a snowstorm of static.

The driver was tuned to Iraq's most popular radio station, VOI FM, owned by the notorious "Mr Uday" - Saddam Hussein's elder son and potential successor. The acronym stands for "Voice of Iraq FM" but given its eclectic, Westernised programming, it makes an unlikely national mouthpiece.

Unexpectedly, in this land of ferocious anti-Bush and Blair propaganda, VOI pumps out American and British music 24 hours a day, treating consumers to fruit supposedly forbidden by the ruling Baath Party. Its disc jockeys speak in English, not Arabic, as do callers to the phone-ins.