Comments on: Questions over Greg Mortenson's stories
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- 60 Minutes asked some men in Pakistan if they are Taliban and if they kidnapped Greg Mortenson? What did you expect them to say? Admit they did it on international TV? Who in their right mind would do that?
We need an investigation of the investigation. Just who are the "unidentified sources" 60 Minutes puts so much faith in? I thought "unidentified sources" provided false info to the US to get us involved in a war in that part of the world in the first place. We need to view any "unidentified source" with a lot of skepticism.
This whole show seems like it was concocted as a smear campaign simply because Mortenson is putting a human face on children in another part of the world that our industrial/military complex wants us to think of only as "collateral damage" for drone bombing. I remember the puff piece 60 Minutes did for the drones that was little more than free advertising for the war profiteers. Anyone who is working for peace and mutual understanding between people gets in the way of war profits. That's why 60 Minutes had to try to discredit him. - Reply to this comment
- I am currently reading "Three Cups of Tea" so I was interested in this story. I have to say, it is one of the shoddiest pieces of reporting I have ever seen. It's even worse then what's on Fox News. For example:
Kroft: The story, as Mr. Mortenson tells it, is that he was held for eight days, and won you over by asking for a Koran and promising to build schools in the area. Is that true?
That's simply not what happened in the book. Mortenson asked for the Koran but he did not say or imply it influenced his captors. Did Steve Kroft even read the book?
"The principal of one school told us that the institute had built six classrooms poorly several years ago and since then provided not a single rupee. In Afghanistan, we could find no evidence that six of the schools even existed, most of them in war-torn Kunar Province."
Nowhere in the book does Mortenson ever imply the CAI gives ongoing financial support. They build schools. That's what they do. How can you fault Mortenson for something he never said he does? And if schools are no longer standing in a "war torn" area isn't it possible they were destroyed?
Describing the last words of a man he knew Kroft reports the words of Ted Callahan;
"But Ted Callahan, an anthropologist who spent nearly a year in the area, says the story doesn't ring true."
Since when is the word of an acquaintance saying something doesn't "ring true" become news? This man has no evidence it isn't true, he just doesn't believe it's true? Huh? That's news?
Krakauer: He's not Bernie Madoff. I mean, let's be clear. He has done a lot of good. He has helped thousands of school kids in Pakistan and Afghanistan....He has become perhaps the world's most effective spokesperson for girls' education in developing countries. And he deserves credit for that...Nevertheless, he is now threatening to bring it all down, to destroy all of it by this fraud and by these lies.
So the guy's built schools for girls, made Americans seem less hateful in the current homeland of Osama bin Laden, and educated thousands of children. Honestly, I hope his stories are all true but if he's exaggerated, what's the big news here? I guess next Steve Kroft will tell us that fisherman are exaggerating about the size of their fish, hunters exaggerate about the size of the bear they almost shot, and Santa Claus doesn't exist.
CBS should be ashamed of themselves for this expose on a guy who has accomplished so much. The accusations are trivial. The whole time I was reading the book I was thinking, thank goodness he's finally making some decent money after all the sacrifices he's made. It honestly never occurred to me that CAI was entitled to the profits based on his life story. It seems like everytime someone wants to help others (nurses, teachers, social workers) society wants them to do it for free. This guy has done amazing things. He deserves every penny he's earned. - Reply to this comment
- funny another fake non profit where the head makes a living off of it. this whole story sounds like the california vietnam vet. who gave lectures at most of the ca universities. why because he told how horrible we were to be there. he got paid for every lecture. some one finally check into his dd214 records and found out he was a total fraud. i think he was never in country. now we know about this fraud what is to be done? he conned alot of sympathy money out of alot of tools!
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- if the people in the press would do their damn job in the first place we would see far less stories like this .....get off your ass stop looking for the big story of the day and do some real research on the story you are looking at printing in the first place .if i even tried to do my job as half ass as you people in the so called press i would be fired.do it right are get another job!!!!!!!!!!!
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- I'm the director for another system of schools in Pakistan that is quite different from the CAI model. We don't take donations and we rely on our students to set the direction and earn the costs, which are quite low. It is a simple grass roots all volunteer organization but we have 30 schools and approximately 4000 students, mostly women. Five dollars they earn will pay the tuition for one year and we are looking to lower that. Our students become happy, proud, and confident.
My problem with the CAI model is that it is top down. What is the value of pumping million dollar Western style education into village cultures? They want and must learn how to solve their own complex problems and work their own way out, gaining strength as they go.
We at Little World Community Organization are regular people rolling up our sleeves to stand with the impoverished and assist their gallant and hopeful efforts to grow whole again. www.lwco.org
Greg Zaller - Reply to this comment
- I appreciate 60 min bringing attention to the Greg. M debacle. It is understandable that people are upset if in fact, this is true. It does not mean that we should not suppport humanitarian causes. What is true is that we need to do some serious checking before we launch head-on in to giving them full reign and are quick to make them heros.
I find this story to be not only fascinating but reaffirming of what I have suspected for several years. I am the Founder and Director of the Afghan Children's Songbook Project (www.afghansongbook.org) which has been in existance for 7 years. It is a non-profit organization, preserving and returning songs to Afghan Children that were almost completely erradicated by the Taliban. 30,000 songbooks are back in schools across Afghanistan along with Teacher's Guides to help teachers teach reading and writing. This all came out of my Peace Corps days in AFghanistan from 1966-68.
The Songbook Project was part of the National Geographic exhibit on Afghan Tresures at the National Gallery in Washington, DC which opened in 2005. I returned to Afghanistan in 2009 to assess the program. (By the way, all proceeds for my project go back to printing more songbooks. I receive no money.)
I have found it odd for several years now, if not frustrating, (admittedly even envious) to hear over and over how much money and publicity Greg M. is getting for his project. Hundreds of other Americans and Afghan-Americans are doing extraordinary work that is truly making a differnce. He is not the only one. We never hear about the others because most journalists in Afghanistan are there to cover the war and that's all. They refuse to report "good" news. And most don't have time to write a book about themselves!
It is also very odd that with all my involvement in Afghanistan over 7 years, not once, while at the Washington, DC event attended by a key people involved in Afghanistan nor during my 2 1/2 months in Afghanistan in 2009 did anyone ever even mention Greg Mortensen. Not a single person brought his name up. I began to wonder if he really was doing what he said he was.
At one point, I offered Greg's organization songbooks for his schools but his organization never responded. The books were free and just needed to be picked up in Kabul.
I heard Greg speak once, and I do believe his philosophy for change in Afghansitan, to work village to village, is a valid one. He is correct. It is the way to make a difference.
It is heartwarming to know that people want to support good causes that make a difference. Perhaps we all just need to go beyond the obvious and search a bit deeper to find the real heros. - Reply to this comment
- Well, now that the 'cat is out of the bag' let's take a closer little look at the accuser. I have friends in the American Alpine Club that live in Aspen, and who have taken hut trips with Mr. Krakauer. His published and film accounts do not fit with reality either. Matter of fact, I would adore hearing the 'real' story of how things really went down on his ill-fated expedition of Everest, that would be most entertaining. I guess these days, we're all seeing ascents into hot air. Cherio!
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- I do not believe this account. I question the personal motives of some of this interviewees -- what is their problem with Mortenson? If he built a school and the community is not using it, it is not his fault. This is a very snarky piece relying completely on hearsay and personal attacks. The question is why?
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- If more than half of every dollar I give to this charity is really going to promoting a book that is a tissue of lies, I am disgusted. Yes, let's see a legit financial report from this organization. I am, incidentally, not one of those Islamophobes who wants to see this work discredited. If it were being done as claimed it is good work. But this is not the first time I have seen this kind of behavior from a charity, sadly.
And I do find the outpouring of emails from "supporters" here on the basis of ZERO information to refute 60 Minutes' claims, let's say, more than a little suspicious. There are some giveaways that a lot of these posts are not from wildly different people. - Reply to this comment
- There are two sides to every story, and 60 Minutes is leaving out a huge part of it.
Author Ethan Casey, who personally knows Greg, just published an article shedding light on what appears to be 60 Minutes making sensational claims against a true humanitarian for the purpose of getting ratings. Read his article and share the link!
"Greg Mortenson Redefines 'Doing One's Best'": http://******/gfHb86 - Reply to this comment
