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april 29, 2002

THIS WEEK'S CARTOON
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See also:
The primadonna strikes again
An Arab media summit in Dubai was loaded with symbolism -- and the same sort of drama that governs the way the news is covered

An interview with the primadonna

shrinkingglobe.com caught up with New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman just after a stormy first session at the Arab Media Summit currently taking place in Dubai.

Can you respond to some of the accusations made against you, we asked the esteemed columnist, one of whose last works purported to compare the Middle East conflict to a game of golf -- with golf coming out on top.

shrinkingglobe.com: People accuse you of being a front man for US foreign policy? How do you respond?
Thomas Friedman: It's just not true

Why do you mention that 14 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia in nearly every column you write about September 11?
TF:  15. And that's a gross exaggeration. I only mention their nationalities when it's relevant to the story.

Is media the real war -- and if so, what rank do you categorize yourself as?
TF:  Media is not the real war. I'm just a lonely columnist. No, there's a definitely a real war going on.

Is Palestinian resistance born of frustration?
TF:  Yes.

But you said the exact opposite in your column...
TF:  No, I said suicide bombings -- not resistance -- were not born of frustration. You have to be very specific. I know what I wrote.

Is simplification a necessity or a tactic?
TF: Sorry?

A lot of people criticize you for simplifying things too much for an American audience that doesn't have too much depth of understanding regarding the complex issues you are talking about.
TF: Simplification is inevitable when you're writing a column of 740 words. I would hope that people judge me by all my columns, not just one. Any individual column may be simplified, but we all do that as journalists, don't we? When you take the whole body of my columns -- which are coming out as a book by the way in August along with a diary I have been keeping -- I think they offer a point of view.

Tarek Atia

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See also:
The primadonna strikes again
An Arab media summit in Dubai was loaded with symbolism -- and the same sort of drama that governs the way the news is covered

Desert Storm II on the way?

Former US ambassador to Saudi: "If Abdullah leaves there thinking there's no way of separating Bush from Sharon, things are going to be very bad when he gets back home."

Rushdie on Le Pen

Nobel regrests Peres peace prize

AOL helps bring Time Warner revenues down a whopping 50 billion plus

War still going on: U.S. Units Attacking Al Qaeda In Pakistan

Saudi prince to meet with Bush: Abdullah is expected to tell the US to prove its good intentions by cracking down on Israel

Israel renegs on pledge to allow UN inspectors in. 

US says: ""We felt it was in your interest to let these people in and we still feel it's in your interest to let these people in."

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