I am shocked, SHOCKED! that NPR would hire someone with such a dubious past and obvious, transparent agenda.

No doubt they did an extensive talent search before hiring her and unfortunately Osama bin Laden was unavailable.

NPR has not exactly been noted for fair or equitable reporting. That they are now using propogandists on their staff should not be a surprise. Another example of our tax dollars being used to push a polital and social agenda at odds with the values and feelings of most Americans.

Honestly, have you come to expect anything less from NPR? NPR may as well stand for Nazi Propagandist Radio!

Generally excellent lumping on NPR, but one caveat: Without regard to the findings of twice as many Navy investigations, no reasonable person can regard the Israeli attack on the U.S.S. Liberty as being accidental. For whatever reasons, someone didn't want that ship collecting data that day (FYI, the Liberty was a U.S. Navy communications reconnaissance resource placed there to copy electronic transmissions.) It pays to remember that Israel is not our friend. Nations don't have friends. Nations have interests and any nation that expects to survive had better place its own interests first.

I have called NPR's DC office to complain and have sent a letter to the ombudsman as well. Here is the text of my letter. Anyone is free to use it when they compose their own complaints to NPR:

ombudsman@npr.org
Dear Sir,

I am appalled to hear that the NPR office in Chicago has hired Mariam Sobh as, of all things, a journalist! When journalists at other news outlets are caught lying, they are promptly fired by any respectable organization. How is it that NPR is either unaware of or unconcerned with the ethics of their employees? If ethics are of no concern, how about the possibility of lawsuits if someone finally calls Ms. Sobh to account for the atrocious falsehoods she concocts?

Rather than go search back over the past few years for articles detailing Ms Sobh's history, I would like to refer you to a few online sites which detail some of the more egregious exploits of your new employee:

http://www.solomonia.com/blog/archives/006468.shtml
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=12664
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=6&x_journo=324
http://www.solomonia.com/blog/archives/006468.shtml
http://www.israelactivism.com/hrcampus/alerts/2003/12/dec19.html
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-illini09.html

Information on the Muslim Student's Association, which Ms Sobh has been active in:
http://www.meforum.org/article/603

If NPR is to maintain it's position as a respected source of news and information, a good first step would be to not hire employees with such questionable backgrounds. Another step would be to fire those you have already hired, simple enough to do in the interest of integrity.

One of the reasons I'm so pro-Israel is that I'm really offended that Jewish children have to breathe the same air as individuals like Stan Bussey. Given the apple rarely falls far from the tree, I shudder to even contemplate the people who raised him. Truly he is an ugly stain on a very great nation.

Stan, with all due respect, please try doing a little homework (beyond james banford and whatreallyhappened.com):

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/liberty.html

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/liberty1.html

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1086230742987

http://www.adl.org/Israel/uss.asp

This child's writing is indeed disgraceful. But she's still young, and just getting started. It'd be mighty harsh to trash her career at its very beginning. I say, let her be and see if her work gets better now that she's a pro instead of a silly student.

"I say, let her be and see if her work gets better now that she's a pro instead of a silly student."

Why is it that gentiles are always telling Jews to turn the other cheek, even in the most provocative circumstances, when they are so rarely willing to do it themselves?

Recent revelations about journalistic technique are disturbing and a distinct pattern of bias is emerging he BBC, NPR, CNN... my oh my I am begining to think that journalists would rather make news than report it.

It is a propaganda war, and the enemy got a head start.

I agree with the person who wrote and called NPR.
She may have been young and she may yet turn out OK, but she has to then know that this kind of BS is unacceptable.

C'mon. If she can't tell that Sharon quote at least has a high probability of being faked, she needs to review her level of skepticism.

I will reply more completely to this issue soon. For the moment, though,
in the interest of accuracy, Mariam
was not an employee of NPR. She was
an employee of WILL Radio, an NPR
affiliate. Any questions may be directed to me, Jay Pearce - Station Manager at jhpearce@uiuc.edu.

I never know when or where I'll hear it, but at least once a week I get a clear reminder of why I never voluntarily[1] contribute money to WILL, my local NPR affiliate. It's sad, because some parts of their operation are so very good. I'm thinking especially of Ed Kieser & Mike Sola, who produce the best weather segments on radio today.

[1]: Of course, some of my tax money is sent to NPR without my consent.

Actually I am shocked they hired her. Usually they go for more subtle innuendo, not outright lies. Must be getting nervous...and sloppy.

It should be noted that Jim Ennes is a retired career naval officer and survivor of the U.S.S. Liberty, and definitely not a conspiracy theorist. Why does it become necessary to smear the good name of this American hero?

I am liberal democrat and 20 year KCRW subscriber who is outraged and disgusted that this Sobh would be given a job at WINN. I wrote the NPR Ombudsmen (thanks Lilly) and WINN station manager requesting that she be allowed to compose fiction elsewhere on her own time. Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

Steve

Here's the smug reply I got from the Ombudsman:

Dear Mr. Jung,

Sorry to disappoint, but this Mariam Sobh is not an NPR employee and no one seems to know
who she is. A smear campaign perhaps by the usual suspects?

Regards,

Jeffrey Dvorkin
NPR Ombudsman

Miriam Sobh does not work for NPR. I complained to the ombudsman, and sure enough, she works for local NPR affiliates, but no one at NPR has ever heard of her.

What a bunch of lies and crap about the USS Liberty... and what do you know? It's FRONT PAGE news, yet again on the "Washington Middle East Report." That's a true mark of a conspiracy theory: the old parts NEVER die, the conspiracy theorists NEVER admit that any old part is so much crap, despit overwhelming evidence. THAT'S why you can still by "The Protocols Of The Learned Elders of Zion", hot off the presses, at davidduke.com, whatreallyhappened.com, and bookstores all over the world. That's why they are STILL citing "Clinton's massacre at Waco" and "Clinton trashed Air Force One the day he left office" and "Hillary decorated the Whitehouse Christmas Tree with crackpipes and tiny penises."

"Friendly fire" has been with us since they invented the long-range trajectory missile. Israel friendly-fired us, plain and simple.

For one thing alone, there is NO WAY to prove intent. It's like proving the differnece between sex and rape. It can't be proven. If you don't believe me, just ask the woman who was "raped" by Kobe Bryant, and "proved it" by saying he had big hands that could reach all the way around her neck. (PS... for those of you not in-the-know, it was later found that she had the semen of three different men in her underware. I don't know that much about female hygiene, but I think that most women change their underware at least once every three days or so...)

If YOU were going to sink a ship, would YOU fire only ONE torpedo, or would you fire a dozen torpedos? Israel fired ONE and only ONE torpedo at the Liberty. Looks like the Israel bashers' theory about "they wanted to sink the Liberty" just... sunk.

Let's talk about something you've never heard of: the USS Starke. An American ship was patrolling the shore of an "ally" who was engaged in a war. The "ally" had the full backing of the United States. The "ally" attacked the USS Starke and killed a bunch of sailors. They realized that they made an error and halted the attack. An investigation concluded that it was friendly fire.

Now for the differences:

The USS Starke was attacked by Iraq.
The attack occurred in 1989 with the benefit of an additional 22 years of technology over Israel when it attacked the Liberty.
More sailors were killed on the Starke than on the Liberty.
Iraq was run by a crazy madman.
No one has demanded another, then another, then another, then another, then another investigation into whether it really was "friendly fire."
The survivors of the USS Starke don't write books and make websites trying to vilify the leaders or people of Iraq or Arabs in general.

....do a google search and see for yourself the proof that the Liberty incident, like all things involved with Israel, is hyped waaaaay out of proportion. (When last I checked, about a year ago, there were over 200,000 hits for "USS Liberty" and less that 50 for "USS Starke.") Please keep in mind that Iraq had the benefit of fighting an OFFENSIVE war, not a defensive war in which invading armies promised to destroy Iraq and kill every single Iraqi (as was the case with Israel.)

Every five or so years since then, and every five or so years from now until the End of Days there's going to be a renewed interest in "really" finding out "the truth" about what happened to the Liberty and more calls for YET ANOTHER investigation. [Sidebar: Like I said before, just see the headlines of the latest "Washington Middle East Report". To them, the allegations about Israel of 1967 are not only considered newsworthy, but are actually afforded FRONT-PAGE headlines! Nothing about the rape of Sudan with 2,000,000 murders since 1990 (compared to less than 10,000 in Israel), nothing about FGM, nothing about Tehran publicly hanging homosexual teenagers and beheading a teenage girl for having "a sharp tongue", nothing about the ruin of Lebanon by Syria and Iran, nothing about Saudi Arabia destroying EVERY building in Mecca from the days of Mohammed, lest a "cult" spring up and detract from Islam..... But I digress.]

Soon all the Liberty survivors will be dead, but already their kids are leading the way to keep the "controversy" alive for another 30 years or so. And when they're all dead, the grandkids can--with the help of David Duke, the "palestinians" and sundry other misfits--will keep carrying the torch of Jew hatred.

"A smear campaign by the usual suspects?"

Does anyone find Dworkin's reply offensive? Smug? Arrogant?

This young woman belongs to an Islamist organization - the Muslim Students Association. She has published a string of articles that can only be considered hate-speech against the Jewish state and its statesmen. She works, as Solomonia carefully reported, for not one but two NPR affiliate stations.

And all Dworkin can do is callit a "smear campaign." And claim that "no one seems to know who she is."

Perhaps Dworkin could have taken some responsiblity here. Like, he could have looked her up.

As

It is with great regret that I see NPR has added another anti-semite to their assortment of Israel bashers. Calling people like her an anti-semite comes from the mouths of the Rev. Martin Luther King:"Those that hate Israel by nature are anti-semites". I am sure this will not change NPR's anti-semitic rhetoric. But,it is your choice to support clitorizers,woman being treated like garbage,suicides of children(totally anti-Koranic,the biggest heroin dealers in the world and the deadly sequellae;ad naseum. But as they say you are known by the company you keep! How do you sleep?

Could you comment on this
reply from NRP?

Dear Rabbi Kaplan:

Thank you for taking the time to write to WMHT-FM about someone named
Mariam Sobh.

Please be advised that there is no one by that name working at WMHT-FM
at this time, nor any time in the past. We have also checked with NPR,
which produces some of the programs we air, and no one by that name is
employed there, previously or currently, and they are not familiar with
her name, other than through the blog you forwarded. There is no formal
association with NPR and Ms. Sobh.

As you might be aware, the 795 public radio stations around the country
are all independently licensed and managed, so WMHT-FM would not have
any knowledge about nor input in hiring and staffing done at these other
organizations.

Again, we appreciate your interest in contacting WMHT-FM and apologize
for the misinformation that might have been given to you.

Sincerely,
Chris

--
Christopher D. Wienk
VP Radio, WMHT
518.357.1700

www.wmht.org
cwienk@wmht.org

MHT appears to be in New York, so that's correct. The entry notes that the stations she works for are Illinois NPR affiliates, WILL and WBEZ. The national people clearly feel it's an important distinction that she officially works for locals and not the national NPR office. That may be so. I would say that to the layman, however, and I say this as someone who's listened to plenty of Public Radio over the years (WBUR in Boston, mostly), that that's something of a distinction without a difference. I think they'd be better served by explaining why that's not so than going with what appears to be a "cute" response -- "Ummm, uhhh...nope, no one here knows her."

There must be many radio stations in the Chicago area that offer news, yet she wound up at two Public Radio stations.

The national people seem to be trying to say that because she's not employed directly by NPR national that it's all a big lie and it doesn't reflect on them at all. I don't think that's very honest of them. It's certainly not the whole truth. The fact is, she apparently has her hands on the news at two Chicago NPR affiliates. I think to most people that reflects on "NPR" -- all parsing aside. That may feel unfair to the people at the national office, but that's the way it is. If one of your franchisees is behaving badly, it can't help but reflect on the national office, and just washing your hands and saying "Nope, we don't know anything about it," isn't going to exactly cut it in the minds of most people.

Here is an email a reader received from the Station Manager at WILL confirming that Sobh worked there, but assuring her that Sobh had no real opportunity to influence the news slant there. A fair and straightforward response. I will likely put up a new post as an update later.

Thank you for elaborating on your specific concerns. At WILL, Mariam delivered brief local news reports, sports and weather reports. She basically assembled and read material from our news staff and The Associated Press. I assure you, there was nothing about her job that would put her in a position to influence our programming editorially.

I really appreciate your personal fact checking. As I read the messages I'm receiving about this...I'm thinking that it would have been helpful if the person who started it all would have done her or his own fact checking in the first place. That way, everyone would have known from the start that Mariam...

a) Didn't work for NPR
b) Wasn't in a position to influence the editorial content of WILL's news
c) Isn't an NPR talk show host (this is a new one going around)

Again, I appreciate the fact that you made the effort to check it out for yourself. And if I can be of any further assistance in this matter, please feel free to contact me at your convenience.

A few other differences between the attack on LIBERTY and the attack on STARK.

STARK was fired on at night from about 25 km distance.

LIBERTY was fired on in daylight from less than 500 meters distance.

STARK was fired on by one aircraft, which fired one salvo of missiles.

LIBERTY was fired on by multiple aircraft, using both incendiary bombs and cannon, and making multiple firing passes, then fired on by multiple warships, using torpedoes and cannon, over a period of 30 minutes.

Given that Israel in 1967 had possibly the most competent military in history (IDF won _every_ _battle_ in that war), the claim of a mistake is hard to swallow.

BTW, I live in Illinois and will be looking into the Sobh business. It sounds all too typical. Clueless liberals who can't spot a crazed radical spewing garbage, because they half believe it themselves. Shades of Britain's Guardian. She's not "in a position to influence our programming editorially"? _Maybe_ not - but who decides what AP stories get 'assembled and read'? Would WILL trust a neo-Nazi or Klansman with this job? Or even an outspoken Republican? Hah!