FLC
Dear all,
As the head of Hizbullah¹s media office, I wish to alert the editors
of the Atlantic that one of its contributors, Thanassis Cambanis, has
fabricated a quote attributed to me in his recent article ³Hezbollah
Considers a Future Without Syria's Assad². I am referring specifically
to this excerpt: ŒOne Hezbollah official, Ibrahim Mousawi, told me
that at root, the interests uniting the resistance axis would persist.
"I don't like to make predictions based on a murky situation," he
said. "But it's hard for me to imagine that a future regime in Syria
would not see its interests aligned with the resistance."¹
In this connection, I would like to clarify the following points:
In the first place, I did not grant Mr Cambanis an interview with
myself or anyone else in the party. Hizbullah¹s media freeze was made
very clear to him from the outset of his visit both by myself and my
assistant, Ms. Wafaa Hoteit. In fact, Mr Cambanis did not even request
an interview with me once he had been informed of our recent media
policy. Second, given Mr Cambanis¹ knowledge of the media freeze, the
brief and informal chat I had with him was clearly off the record.
Most importantly, in the brief course of our discussion, not once did
I say anything along the lines of the quote he falsely attributed to
me. To the contrary, I expressed my conviction that the majority of
Syrians support their government and have always supported the
resistance and would most likely continue to do so in the future. That
is all. How he misconstrued this to mean that Hizbullah believes its
interests would be aligned with a potential opposition-led regime is
beyond my comprehension. I urge the Atlantic to rectify this
deliberate falsification of facts on Mr Cambanis¹ part so that its
readers are not misled.
Sincerely,
Ibrahim al Mousawi
'The Atlantic' stands by Cambanis
Max Fisher, the Atlantic's international editor replies to Mousawi that "...the article is correct and stand by its contents. Cambanis's notes reflect that the meeting was on the
record and that his quotes are accurate..." That they have worked with him for
months, do not doubt his account & will not post a correction...
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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