I just read your New York Times op-ed "Release My Friend!" (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/opinion/09kristof.html?_r=1&hp), which, in the form of an open letter to King Hamad of Bahrain, requests the release of Hassan al-Sahaf.
Don't misunderstand me, Nick. I hope your friend has not been tortured in his Bahraini prison cell, and I pray that he will be swiftly released. But this world is not all about you and your friends, and there are hundreds of thousands of persons like Hassan al-Sahaf being abused and murdered in prisons throughout the Muslim Middle East.
Let's talk about another one of your friends, Roger Cohen. In June 2009, in a New York Times item entitled "Questions About Iran? Ask a Witness" in your column "On the Ground" (http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/questions-about-iran-ask-a-witness/), you wrote:
"I’m delighted to welcome back Roger Cohen, my fellow Times columnist, from Iran. For the last couple of weeks, frankly, I’ve been gnashing my teeth with jealousy, both over Roger’s two-week visa to Iran (which left him there after other reporters had to leave) and over his superb columns and videos.
He has agreed to take your questions about Iran and what it was like there, so fire away.
But since I’m here at the keyboard, I get first dibs…"
"Superb columns"? Not a mention of how Cohen attempted to persuade his readership over the course of some six months that "Iran is not totalitarian." Not a mention of how Cohen largely ignored Iran's horrific persecution of Baha'is, Kurds, Sunnis and homosexuals. Not a mention of how Cohen wrote an op-ed "What Iran's Jews Say," but failed to state that his interviews were conducted via a government-appointed interpreter (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2009/06/was-roger-cohens-what-irans-jews-say-in_17.html).
But why should Cohen's coverage of Iran disturb you? Although you covered events at Tahrir Square at great length, you ignored the ongoing persecution and murder of Egypt's Christian Copts. Was it because this didn't comport with your storyline exalting the Arab Spring?
Back to your Bahraini friend, Hassan al-Sahaf: I fervently hope that he will soon be released, but, as earlier stated, he is only one of hundreds of thousands of persons jailed and undergoing torture throughout the Muslim Middle East. The Arab Spring notwithstanding, murder and intolerance persist in Egypt and Tunisia.
Nick, where are your columns on the Kurds, Copts and Baha'is?
It's not all about you and your friends.
Although it is not pertinent to Kristof's coverage of events in the Middle East, there is also the matter of Kristof's defense of his friend Greg Mortenson. Although Mortenson has been accused of lying and fraud, Kristof wrote in a recent column:
ReplyDelete"But let’s not forget that even if all the allegations turn out to be true, Greg has still built more schools and transformed more children’s lives than you or I ever will."
Despicable.