Here is a fawning, hagiographic profile of Syrian opposition writer, Yassin Hajj Saleh. Of course, for the purpose of full disclosure, I should state right at the outset that Yassin and I engaged in a bitter polemical-political feud last year. But here is the problem: What does the writer of this article, Alexandra Sandels, know about the man, when she can't read Arabic, and he only writes in Arabic? Secondly, she cites: "He's got total credibility: He was in prison and is part of that crowd still
inside Syria, not living outside the country for 30 years," said Joshua Landis..." Yes, Joshua. It is true that he lived inside Syria but I doubt that you have read any of his articles in Arabic to judge the matters of credibility. There is more to credibility than staying inside Syria. Hajj Saleh has credibility among the supporters of the Syrian National Council and Free Syrian Army but has lost support when he supported foreign intervention and when he supported the Free Syrian Army. I bet that Joshua does not know that he is aligned with the Lebanese pro-Saudi clients and he himself has not uttered one word of criticisms against GCC dictatorship. Does Joshua and Alexandra know that he wrote a pathetic fawning obituary for Rafiq Hariri, for example, and defended him against his Lebanese critics and even praised his elegance? For a corrective view of Saleh and his writings, read my critique here. Don't get me wrong: Hajj Saleh is indeed a leading intellectual for the Syrian opposition, but not without his critics as this article maintains. I have to admit that despite my disagreements with him especially that there is a dearth of intellectuals on the side of the Free Syrian Army. Lastly, you know that Alexandra was out to put a propaganda take and that she may not know much of the subject matter when she wrote this: "He writes a regular column in Al Hayat, a leading pan-Arab newspaper." Leading pan-Arab newspaper, Alexandara? It is not leading and not pan-Arab alas. It is the mouthpiece of Prince Khalid Bin Sultan. Do you see how much you miss when you read Western media on the Arab world?