European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 13, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 columns the stars and stripes saturday october 13,1990william Safi re Western Wall will return to haunt Saddam Washington a on the eve of the hebrew holy time called Succoth As thousands of jews prayed at the sacred site known As the Western Wall a double desecration took place. A crowd of 3,000 arabs Many carrying stones brought with intent to throw took up position overlooking the worshippers at the Wall. Amid shrieks of hatred inciting the mob to violence the bombardment of stones began. The congregation fled in terror 28 of those in prayer were reportedly wounded. That was the desecration of Judaism designed to provoke police on the scene to bloody reaction. The desecration of islam was in the abuse of that religion by political calculators to whip up fear in the faithful to trigger the attack to provoke a panicked response from surprised and endangered police and to sacrifice a score of palestinian Arab lives in the cause of Saddam Hussein a secular goal of regional domination. Before joining the Rush to the condemnation of Israel sought by the operations planners look to motives who gained a great Deal from this bloody episode and who lost r certainly the greatest losers Are the score of palestinian dead. The state of Israel also loses it had Learned to contain the Intifada with minimum Force but did not think it necessary to mass experienced anti riot troops at this holiest of Sites never before the target of terrorists on this scale. The winners Yasir Arafat a Plo which had been languishing outside the Media Pale after aligning itself with the invaders of Kuwait. Suddenly he a in the news again a not As an accessory to aggression but As the Avenger of victims. The big Winner is Saddam Hussein who has been seeking to change the subject from his Money grubbing Conquest of Kuwait to a More messianic jihad. The unholy Man Scourge of the ayatollahs has had difficulty fashioning himself As the Leader of a holy War now he seeks linkage of his personal bid for world Power to the palestinian cause. With the same poignant sense of Public relations that had him patting the head of a child hostage on television Saddam promptly christened his newest missile the Stone,1 after the rocks hurled at the jewish worshippers at the Western Wall. Tipped with Poison Gas or germs the Saddam Stone will be aimed at Israel. In that Light of who won and who lost and in the absolute predictability of Arab demonstrations and . Condemnation logic suggests inexorably that this successful provocation was no Accident. Plo apologists claim their Rock carrying crowd assembled to counter an israeli religious group that wanted to build a new Temple. Never mind that the israeli courts had banned such Ajames j. Kilpatrick to customs a0uu,y, have mowing is fear 1fc u mtg it guest. Demonstration by jews or that the police assured the arabs that no March would take place. The iraqi Plo manipulators used that Rumor nonetheless to whip up the crowd and give religious cover to their political incitement. They chose a religious target undermanned by 40 guards a and those police unable to Cope with the riot by using tear Gas and the nonlethal weapons of Intifada specialists. The Plo got what it sought enough of its hapless followers sacrificed to Call the tragedy a we wondered what the iraqi dictator and his Plo supporter were cooking up in Baghdad most suspected a terrorist attack on the Dhahran Landing docks in saudi Arabia. But that would have triggered this wars Sarajevo by having palestinian arabs attack worshippers draw fire and die in Jerusalem Saddam distracted the West and discombobulated his Arab opponents. He has now shown How he can use our hesitation to shirt attention away from Kuwait and toward Israel. Bush following the advice of James Baker and John Kelly longtime Saddam Hussein manipulate criticized the overreaction of israeli police and merely regretted the worshipper stoning provocation our allies will remove the the . Chastisement registers this Arab concern that opposition to an expansionist dictator is not to be construed As approval of a democracy where worshippers Are too aggressively protected from organized stoning such hypocrisy belongs with the . Vote to condemn Israel in 1981 for taking out the iraqi reactor. This is another skirmish in world War 2.5 which began aug. 2. Saddam Hussein will probably attack Israel As augured in this provocation seeking estoppel of Arab participation in his defeat. But his strategic diversion wont work. His complicity in the Succoth double desecration will be one More charge in next years War crimes trial. New Yolk times. The opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to be considered As representing the views of the Mars and stripes or the United states quotes must be speaker s exact words Washington a when a reporter interviews a source and reports statements As direct quotations what is the reporters ethical responsibility must the quoted words be exactly what the person said those of us in the news business grapple with the question All the time. Now the . Supreme court will have a go at it. The High court last week agreed to review a Long pending libel suit against the new yorker Magazine. The suit turns on precisely this Issue. Attorneys for or. Jeffrey m. Masson a renowned psychoanalyst put it this Way i he question is whether and to what extent the first amendment protects the publication of deliberately altered and manufactured quotations that Are attributed to and defame a Public the suit stems from a two part article that appeared in the Magazine in december 1983. Masson had been fired As projects director of the Sigmund Freud archives. Janet Malcolm a free Lance writer with excellent credentials in the Field of psychiatry asked and was granted a prolonged interview. She taped their formal conversations Over an extended period and made notes of their other casual talks. After the interview appeared Masson sued for libel. He charged that the quotations attributed to him made him appear a Sun scholarly irresponsible vain lacking in honesty and moral a . District court in California granted the magazines motion for summary judgment. Last february the 9th . Circuit affirmed by a divided vote. This was the kind of thing complained of. Malcolm quoted Masson As saying he had changed his Middle name from Lloyd to Moussaieff because a it sounded what Masson actually said was. A i just liked the arcane realm of psychoanalysis the place of Sigmund Freud is Paramount. Malcolm quoted Masson As saying that Freud was guilty of a moral what he actually said was that Freud was a a Man who just lost his More to the Point of libel Malcolm quoted Masson on an aborted invitation to live in Anna Freud a House in London i would have made it a place of sex women what Masson actually said was i would have had some Malcolm quoted Masson As saying that Anna Freud and Kurt Bissler regarded him As a an intellectual in their eyes you get your pleasure from Himyn dont take him out in what Masson actually said was a they ? Vul a private asset but a Public liability. They liked me when i was alone in their living room. For purposes of summary judgment the Rule is that a plaintiffs charges must be taken As True. Thus the lower courts assumed that Malcolm had in fact deliberately altered the direct quotations she attributed to Masson. The larger Issue was whether these alterations were significant. Did they Rise to the level of a actual mar k j 1s�?T did the new yorker publish the material with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not Foi mews 0u.lthe Uit the 9th circuit found that the alterations were fair the Sext to Masson were Jih the of what he had said. The quotes did not alter a the substantive on the most serious complaints the court looked at the whole record. Masson May not have described Anna Freud a apartment literally As a place for a sex. but the taped inters abounded with his boasts of sexual Ess. Masson claimed to have bedded a thousand women before he became a psychoanalyst. The court agreed that Masson had not said on tape that he was regarded As an a intellectual Gigolo a but the vivid comment appeared in Malcolm a notes. Further the tape contained numerous statements that were the substantive equivalent of a intellectual in any event to Call a Public figure an intellectual Gigolo is not defamatory judge Alex Kozinski filed a devastating dissent. In his View quotation Marks count. They convey a publications pledge that a person actually said what he is directly quoted As saying. These Are the speakers own words they Are not words put in his Mouth by a reporter. To trifle with this Rule is to open the Way to wholesale distortion i have been a reporter for More than 50 years. Judge Kozinskiy a uncompromising Rute is the Best Rule. Except for the most minor editing we ought to put in quotation Marks Only those words that actually have been spoken. Otherwise at a substantive level we Arentt reporting facts we re writing fiction. Univ nil press Syndicate
