Neil MacFarquhar: reporter of rumors

I doubt that the National Inquirer would have run this story.  And don't you like when MacFarquhar takes swipe at Aljazeera and Al-Arabiyya's coverage of Syria as if this paper any better?   "On Sunday, the opposition put a video on YouTube making the poisoning claim, which was run by Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Arabiya satellite networks, both of which report virtually anything that puts the government in a bad light....The original claim on the video said an opposition group called Al Sahaba — referring to the original companions of the Prophet Muhammad — had recruited a bodyguard of one of the senior officials two months ago.  The bodyguard struck Saturday night, according to the statement read on the recording. Using a tasteless, colorless and odorless poison, he put 15 drops into a meat stew that had been ordered for dinner, instead of the mere five needed to cause death, the statement said. It said eight senior officials were hospitalized at the elite Al Shami hospital and the staff was secluded, its cellphones taken away and other patients transferred."