Liar! For those who have driven by on Fuad Chehab blvd. (the ring), you'll know what I am talking about! Tsk Tsk Tsk, read it if you care in the NRO, here and here , Kenner commenting on the "original" piece of junk-journalism by Smith:
"... If you think that is bad, check out the news that he broke on September 29. On that date, in case you missed the news, 4,000 - 5,000 Hezbollah gunmen "deployed to the Christian areas of Beirut." Did he see anyone Hezbollah gunmen? Well, he saw what he thought were Hezbollah militiamen at road intersections in Achrafieh while passing from a moving car. Now, I was not in this moving car, from which it appears that Mr. Smith does all his reporting. But since he no longer appears willing to stand by his assertion that he actually saw any "Hezbollah gunmen," let me go out on a limb and suggest they were actually Lebanese Army soldiers. Keep in mind, Mr. Smith used to be a United States Marine. The inability to distinguish Hezbollah from the Lebanese Army either means one is being spectacularly stupid, or intentionally sensationalistic.
Anyone with the slightest knowledge of Lebanon knows that these events didn't happen. So, who fed Mr. Smith this bogus news. According to him, they are "reliable sources within the Cedar Revolution movement, as well as insiders within the Lebanese national security apparatus." None of whom, apparently, are willing to go on the record. Mr. Smith says this is because they need to preserve their safety. Very well. Let me suggest a different explanation. There are plenty of people willing to feed a naive journalist fake news; there is nobody willing to risk their reputations by going on the record with blatant lies. If 4,000 - 5,000 Hezbollah foot soldiers really did deploy to Christian areas of Beirut in September, Lebanon would be tumbling over the precipice into civil war. Christian politicians and security experts would be screaming from the rooftops, not making off the record statements to one foreign journalist/blogger..."
Anyone with the slightest knowledge of Lebanon knows that these events didn't happen. So, who fed Mr. Smith this bogus news. According to him, they are "reliable sources within the Cedar Revolution movement, as well as insiders within the Lebanese national security apparatus." None of whom, apparently, are willing to go on the record. Mr. Smith says this is because they need to preserve their safety. Very well. Let me suggest a different explanation. There are plenty of people willing to feed a naive journalist fake news; there is nobody willing to risk their reputations by going on the record with blatant lies. If 4,000 - 5,000 Hezbollah foot soldiers really did deploy to Christian areas of Beirut in September, Lebanon would be tumbling over the precipice into civil war. Christian politicians and security experts would be screaming from the rooftops, not making off the record statements to one foreign journalist/blogger..."
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