HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK ---------------------------
http://www.jordantimes.com/Mon/news/news6.htm "Twelve days of surgical bombing was never going to turn Serbia around. Let's see what 12 weeks of less than surgical bombing does. Give war a chance." "Every week you ravage Kosovo is another decade we will set your country back by pulverizing you. You want 1950? We can do 1950. You want 1389? We can do 1389 too." [Thomas Friedman, 1999] NYT's Tom Friedman steals show at Arab media forum By Lydia Georgi Agence France-Presse DUBAI � Prominent New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman stole the show at an Arab media forum here Sunday when he walked out after allegations he had been offered perks by the Saudi government yet continued to criticise Riyadh. �I will not sit here and listen to that garbage. I came here at my expense and that's exactly how I went to Saudi Arabia,� he said after a member of the audience suggested a plane had been put at his disposal during a recent visit to the kingdom. Friedman, who in February revealed Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Ben Abdul Aziz's peace proposal, had already come under criticism at the forum for his perceived pro-Israel bias, with some picking up an admission in his address that as a columnist, he is �paid to have an opinion,� that is �to be biased.� The US journalist was later persuaded to return to the forum, organised by the Dubai Press Club under the patronage of Dubai Crown Prince and United Arab Emirates Defence Minister Sheikh Mohammad Ben Rashed Al Maktoum, who on Sunday opened the two-day gathering attended by a host of Arab and Western journalists. Arab League Secretary General Amr Musa gave a keynote speech followed by a debate on �How Western media views the Arab world and how it has changed since Sept. 11.� French journalist-cum-diplomat Eric Rouleau, a household name in the Arab world, won the warmest applause for his �European� perspective of the bloody conflict in Palestine and the French media's handling of Sept. 11, not least when he spoke of the Palestinians' right to resist the Israeli occupation, including through armed struggle. Pulitzer-winning Friedman, whose appearance was unscheduled, later told the audience that to suggest that he was �paid or bought� was to �cross a line,� adding that he would not have gone to Saudi Arabia after criticising it in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks or come to the UAE �if I didn't want to learn.� He stressed that he was in favour of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but insisted it was wrong to imply that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon responded to the Arab peace plan by launching its large-scale West Bank offensive on March 29 while overlooking the Palestinian suicide bombing coinciding with the Jewish Passover on the eve of the offensive. Friedman rejected a suggestion that he had misunderstood the �plane� reference, which may have been meant to say that the Saudis had been �hospitable� to him, not that he had been �paid or bought.� He also said during a chat with reporters it was not true that he had nudged the crown prince to come up with his peace proposal or that he had �put the words in his mouth,� saying Prince Abdullah had the blueprint and asked to be given 24 hours to think over his offer to put it on record. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Health - your guide to health and wellness http://health.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
