Wednesday, February 13, 2008

This account by Robert Fisk about his meeting with `Imad Mughniyyah is like Christopher Hitchens' meeting with Abu Nidal. I mean, it was not Mughniyyah and it was not Abu Nidal that they met. First of all, do you really believe that Mughniyyah would introduce himself to a Western reporter in 1991, and use his own name? In the 1980s, I worked with NBC News as a free-lance consultant, and I was aware of how interested Western media were in the hostage story. Many Lebanese crooks also knew of such Western interest. As a result, I can tell you that there were many blank and fake tapes sold to Western media which ostensibly contained interviews with the hostages. People made money from such fabrications and allegations. Many would offer tapes for $1000.00 and insist that the tape can't be reviewed before hand. And the Western media were so eager for any news about the hostages, that many paid the amount only to be duped, yet again. Tomorrow, Robert Fisk reports about his interview with Hitler in a Hotel in Honolulu.