Ruining a life from around the globe

No Foreign Press

A friend on the Council of Ministers told me one of my blog essays, Iraq Without a Gun, was translated into Kurdish and published in Erbil's daily newspaper. This was news to me. (The concept of intellectual copyright has not made its way to the Middle East yet.)

In that essay I mentioned the lying cheating bastard Mr. Araz who picked me up from the airport. His company wanted to charge me 350 dollars a day for a driver and translator, about twice the going rate. And to make sure I hired a driver every day he told me it was dangerous to go anywhere by myself.

It isn't dangerous in the Kurdish autonomous region. More people are killed from violence in Oregon, where the crime rate is low, than in Northern Iraq. But Mr. Araz played up it up for all it was worth, hoping I would pay extortionist rates to stay safe. (Needless to say, he did not get the job and I was not kidnapped or killed.)

I had no idea when I wrote that piece that it would be translated into Kurdish and published in Mr. Araz's hometown. I had no idea I would instrumental in ruining him, that I would publicly "shame" him in his conservative Muslim society that prides itself on hospitality and friendship with Americans. But that's exactly what I learned had happened.

Somehow, I don't think Totten would go to, say, St. Louis, and later write something harsh about a local without figuring on the locals actually reading it. It's odd that he thought nobody in Kurdistan would read his comments, especially since he has friends and associates there. I don't know if this is a natural mistake for world travelers to make, but it sure seems like a dumb one.

Also consider this. I suspect that foreign correspondents are no less likely than their domestic brothers and sisters to gonzo up a story now and again to sell articles and, furthermore, they are far more insulated from the consequences. If Mr. Araz--whose life was apparently ruined by Totten's article--was slandered by the piece, what is his recourse?

(I don't think that Michael Totten's account of Mr. Araz is false or exaggerated, and his post reads to me as somewhat contrite about the unanticipated outcome. But we all know that some journalists have less attachment to the truth than others.)