About
	Contact Us
	Articles
	Topic Index
	Reports
	Quotes
	On the Web
	Links
	TW Tracker
	Support

Middle East

• November 22 -- U.S. Still "Going It Alone In Iraq"
Reporter Neil MacFarquhar delivers an anti-war cliché: "Washington's past determination to go it alone in Iraq…" But as the Times noted the day before: "36 countries have committed troops to support the operation in Iraq at some point."

• October 22 -- Taking Syria's Side on Quneitra
Neil MacFarquhar advances the Syrian state's official line on the destruction of the city of Quneitra in the Golan Heights: "Syria says the Israelis dynamited the town as they went; Israel's rather unconvincing explanation, given the neatly collapsed symmetry of house after house, is that warfare destroyed the place." But the paper's own reporting suggests differently.

• May 13 -- U.S. "High-Handed and Arrogant"
Reporter Steven Weisman pours skepticism all over Bush's Middle East proposals.

• January 29 -- Hezbollah, an "Organization" of "Pioneers"
Ian Fisher on the anti-Israeli, anti-American terrorist group Hezbollah: "Mr. Tahir has no question whom to thank: Hezbollah, heroes to virtually all of southern Lebanon even if Israel and the United States put the armed Shiite Muslim group on the 'A team' of world terror."

• January 2 -- Putting the Onus on Israel
The Times typically puts the onus for "peace" on Israel, not Palestinian terrorists trying to kill Israelis. Reporter Craig Smith joins the Palestinians' chief negotiator in pushing Israel to make a move, and seems convinced Israel can pave the way toward "peace" by letting up on terrorist enclaves.

• December 2 -- An Officially Unofficial Middle East Peace Deal
James Bennet's story on a "peace deal" touted by left-wing Israelis is accompanied by this photo caption: "Palestinian protesters yesterday tried to stop an unidentified delegate from going to Geneva to meet Israeli delegates and sign an official truce." But the treaty is unofficial--neither government is involved.

• December 2 -- Propping Up Prospects for a Left-Wing "Peace" Deal
Elaine Sciolino calls an unofficial left-wing Israeli peace deal a rebuke to "hard-line" Ariel Sharon, and indulges in moral equivalency.

• October 15 -- Repositioning a Left-Wing Peace Plan
Greg Myre tries to situate a left-wing Middle East peace plan in the mainstream of Israeli politics, though it's so pro-Palestinian even liberal Ehud Barak blasts it as "irresponsible and damaging to the State of Israel."

• July 8 -- Greg Myre’s Own Mideast Road Map
The first draft of reporter Greg Myre’s article from Jerusalem falsely asserts the Middle East peace “road map” requires Israel to release Palestinian prisoners.

• June 16 -- The Softer Side of Hamas
Ian Fisher’s profile of Palestinian terrorist group Hamas begins: “To most Israelis, Hamas is a terrorist group and little more, the core of Palestinian hatred that explodes against Israeli civilians who are innocently shopping or riding on buses.” But that’s just one side of the story, according to Fisher.

• June 13 -- The Times’ “Promising” Young Terrorist
Judging by the sympathetic headline to Ian Fisher’s story, “A Sudden, Violent End For a Promising Youth,” one might think it was about a victim of the recent deadly bus bombing in Jerusalem. But the Times is talking about the bomber.

• June 12 -- Middle East Moral Equivalency Watch
A deadly blast by the Palestinian terror group Hamas, and an Israeli counterstrike, motivate the Times into a familiar pattern of Middle East moral equivalence, portraying the deaths of Israeli citizens and Palestinian terrorists as equally worthy of condemnation.

• June 11 -- Israel Targeting of a Terrorist “Damages” Peace Talks
Middle East correspondent Greg Myre again puts the entire burden for the success of the “peace process” on Israel, saying its retaliation against a terror attack “further damaged an already fragile Middle East peace plan.”

• June 4 -- It’s Still All Bush’s Fault
Citing a poll, reporter Christopher Marquis claims the Iraq war “only deepened international skepticism toward the U.S., its global policies and President Bush.” But the Times plays down the fact the same countries who feel threatened by America also respect terrorists who threaten the U.S. Marquis also distorts a poll finding revealing the hostility Muslim nations feel toward Israel’s existence.

• June 4 -- There She Goes Again
Maureen Dowd passes along another misleading quote, making Paul Wolfowitz appear to say that allowing the U.S. to withdraw troops from Saudi Arabia was a major reason for the Iraq war.

• May 28 -- Times Writers (Don’t) Get Religion
Laurie Goodstein is disturbed by Christians looking for converts in the Muslim world: “Evangelicals have always believed that all other religions are wrong, but what is notable now is the vituperation.” Plus, the region of Israel that Ariel Sharon “calls” Judea and Samaria.

• April 29 -- Eyeless in Gaza
James Bennet reports from Gaza on the strained friendship between the head of Fatah and the leader of Hamas—making it sound more like a spat between two neighborhood bakeries than two terror groups.

• April 24 -- Those Funny Fatwas
A Times headline on author Salman Rushdie: “There's Something About a Man With a Fatwa.”

• April 23 -- No Hiro
Middle East journalist Dilip Hiro’s op-ed asserts the UN is Iraq’s best hope for democracy and calls on America to leave the scene. But before the war he predicted mass civilian casualties, street rioting and attacks on Western targets in the Muslim world. So why does the Times still think he’s credible? 

• April 21 -- Taking Dictation From Dictators
After revelations in the Times by a CNN executive revealing how the network trading access for truth in Iraq, Ethan Bronner reveals more difficulties in covering dictatorships: “A few countries ask your religion. ‘Jewish’ is not the right answer.”

• April 14 -- Sand In Friedman’s Gears
Thomas Friedman knows why Arab countries don’t like us: “Partly it's because America has used its power out here more to defend oil and Israel than democracy.” But isn’t Israel the sole democracy in the Middle East?