Comments on: Harvard’s Twisted Report on Israel’s Invasion of Lebanon

By: lastdregs

lastdregs — Thu, 10 May 2007 21:02:22 +0000

lori, if israel abided by U.N. mandates instead of disregarding them then, perhaps, they could expect U.N. neutrality. Oh, poor Zionists, boo hoo.

By: Hue Longer

Hue Longer — Wed, 09 May 2007 22:10:36 +0000

While we’re humping ad hominem’s leg, I too will lose the point, congratulate Ms. Marcus for her grammar, and then scold her for her use of, “While on the topic of fact checking”. It was as unnecessary as me bringing it up. You were already on the subject and it come across as defensive in a sniveling pretentious manner. Please don’t think I meant that you are, we’re just in here to help each other’s writing skills. I myself could use some help in determining what I should have done after, “…bringing it up”. Should I have left the sentence open to help the reader continue with my thought? Perhaps an easy out would have been, … (Or is that, “…”?). Now on to my take of Mexican agriculture and Harvard graduates drop shipping subsidized corn products…I agree with the other guy that said something about that.

By: Vince

Vince — Wed, 09 May 2007 20:39:56 +0000

Israel defeated? Not close. Israel only admits to not crushing Hezbollah but it seriously damaged their terrorist operations. THe problem is that Iran and Syria have subsequently re-armed Hezbollah.

By: John

John — Wed, 09 May 2007 14:38:30 +0000

The simple fact is that Hezbollah defeated Israel. Israel was given green light from everyone to go smash Hezbollah. It failed. And now its leaders including the Prime Minister Olmert are facing the sack. Generals have been fired. Defence Minister is resigning. Israel has admitted that it lost the war. Winograd Commission is a national disgrace for Israel. This was the first time that mighty Israeli military had been crushed by a bunch of guerillas in 30 days. At the end Israel begged the UN to stop the war. Hezbollah was willing to go for much longer. The kidnapped Israeli soldiers are still being held hostage by Hezbollah, and the group still has thousands of missiles with which to terrorise Israel for years to come. Shame on Israel.

By: David S.

David S. — Tue, 08 May 2007 22:22:44 +0000

Franklin:

I’ve read the complete Harvard report.

Fox news is mentioned four times, when its coverage is described as being sympathetic to Israel and unfavorable to Hezbollah, which is a fact. Beyond that, it is not sourced in the footnotes or
anywhere else.

Please cite the part of the report that uses Fox news as a “source”, as you claim. I can’t find it.

The Weekly Standard is only footnoted twice, in reference to Ms. Marcus’s article.

Most of the other sourcing comes from the major news outlets – including the New York Times, Washington Post, and Bloomberg. Some other internal research is cited.

It’s obvious you disagree with the report, but I don’t see how mistating its “sources” makes your case.

On the contrary, your polemics contain no sourcing.

And I’ll believe Anderson Cooper’s version of how Hezbollah was operating over yours – being that I know he was there and recorded the ambulance staging first hand – any day.

By: Lori Lowenthal Marcus

Lori Lowenthal Marcus — Tue, 08 May 2007 14:24:04 +0000

So long as you are touting yourself as an expert at fact checking – how about doing some of your own? You cite the piece I wrote about the UN’s posting of Israel’s positions during the Second Lebanon War, and refer to me as “AIPAC’S Lori Lowenthal Marcus.” How much more delicious for you had you only done some fact checking – I am actually a regional president of the ZIONIST ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA – we’re even scarier than AIPAC for people like you.

Whatever Kalb’s editorializing was on my research, the facts I reported were just that: facts. During the Hezbollah war last summer, the UN posted information about Israel’s troop movements in news releases it placed, inter alia, on its website. That is a violation of its mandated neutrality and the requirement that it refrain from the provision of any information regarding either side during military conflicts. That’s a fact. The UN’s fealty to this standard was reflected in its refusal to provide Israel with videos and other evidence it had of an earlier Hezbollah kidnapping of Israeli soldiers in 2000. Neutrality uber alles. You may think it was just fine for the UN to publish Israeli military information on its website or you may not, but the fact is they were not permitted to do that.

While I’m on the subject of fact checking, you might want to check a book on grammar : according to US standards, commas always go within the quotes, when using quotes, there must always be a close quote, and dropped words and letters tend to distract readers’ attention. I hope your book editor is paid well.

I won’t bother with your substantive (I’m sure you and your fans consider them to be substantive, I find them to be as ironclad as your sloppy journalism) allegations.

And, to quote someone who may be your source of military intelligence, Gomer Pyle: “Surprise, surprise, surprise!” I am a Harvard Law graduate – class of ’88.

By: samir B

samir B — Tue, 08 May 2007 12:52:32 +0000

Your article is intersting enough to be read twice.
Let me state first that I do not belong to a “closed sect” nor to a “religiously fundamentalist sect” I am a Lebanese born Christian and tolerant to all religions, including Judaism. Educated at the American university of Beirut, I clearly see the bias attitude of the Official American policy in the Middle East area. For so many years, this policy have negatively affected our lives and deeply jeopardized our future in this area.
Fundamentalism expansion has roots in injustice . Your article is pretty sound in providing us with deep analysis of facts correcting mistakes in the former report.