Thursday, May 28, 2009

Ahmad Mansur: a new low

People have criticized Ahmad Mansur before: his interview shows (Shahid `Ala Al-`Asr) showed his interviewing skills but also exposed his political biases. Last week, I saw him interview Michel `Awn: and he grilled him in the most inquisitive and tough way, which is more than fine provided he uses that style of interview with all his guests. I watched it because I heard that he has become a tool in Hariri Inc. Sure enough: I watched his interview with Mini-Hariri today: what a contrast. He was so soft with mini-Hariri that it was liked when Larry King interviewed Frank Sinatra. Yet, the multiple questions unwittingly showed the viewers how dumb mini-Hariri is despite Mansur's efforts to throw soft balls at him. But I heard before that Mansur has been receiving his marching orders from Hariri press office, and today--without requiring any evidence--he proved it beyond the shadow of a doubt. Jut compare last week's style of interview with today's style of interview. He even let mini-Hariri say that he does not use money for political purposes. And he let him say that his camp never interfered in the Hariri tribunal when the tribunal sources told the New York Times that the Hariri camp tried to postpone the release of the four generals until after the election. But I never trusted Mansur: ever since I watched him interview Jihan Sadat.
PS MEMRI would not translate this interview because mini-Hariri spoke ill of Israel. Do you notice that MEMRI carries remarks by Lebanese leaders against Syria but always manages to skip their remarks against Israel. Relying on MEMRI to know about the Arab press is like relying on Bush's rhetoric to learn about the English language.