Three cups of teas served with a grain of salt...

[Toramana]

(CNN) -- Greg Mortenson, the high-profile advocate of girls' education in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has been forced to defend his best-selling book "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations ... One School at a Time," against charges that key stories in it are false.

Mortenson shot to international fame with the book, which describes his getting lost in an effort to climb K2, the world's second-highest peak, being rescued by Pakistani villagers in the village of Korphe and vowing to return there to build a school for local girls.

He also claims to have been captured by the Taliban and held for several days before being released.

Another best selling-author, however -- Jon Krakauer of "Into Thin Air" fame -- told a CBS "60 Minutes" investigation that aired Sunday that the story is not true.

"It's a beautiful story, and it's a lie," Krakauer tells the program.
"Three Cups of Tea," co-authored by writer David Oliver Relin, stayed on The New York Times best-seller list for four years after it was first published in 2006, becoming a global publishing sensation that has sold more than three million copies and been translated into 47 languages.
CNN.com interviews Greg Mortenson in 2008

Mortenson is also the author of the 2009 sequel "Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan," which was another Times best-seller.....

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/...a.controversy/

[khushal]

What people will do for the good old dollar.

[ghundal]

I always flet awkward that he had pictures of himself with US and Pakistan Army officials, but I thought he kind of had no choice but to deal with them.

I was hoping there was some misunderstanding, but the claim of being kidnapped by the Taliban when the people were in fact his hired gaurds puts the nail in the coffin here.

YouTube - Greg Mortenson

[Catya Sher]

This is the first time I am going to express real thanks to Toramana.
Surprise surprise - !

For I read that 3 Cups of Tea book right away but felt ill at ease with it.

I couldn't stand the author and subject, for one.

When an Afghan family I knew in Australia last year asked me to point them to some organization
to contribute to a girls' educational fund they were trying to get off the ground,
I said well there's this Greg Mortenson, but I find him too creepy to recommend.

Look at his face: a few of us who agree about these sorts of things will
maybe agree regarding him.

Some mental illness or something is present in him.
He lives not that far from me but I would never think of trying to speak with him.

So: I'm going to look at that link, but this charge alone makes me realize WHY
I thought he was somehow not quite right in some facet...

Then by the next book, I couldn't even stand to read it.

He never mentions Islam except in the remotest POSSIBLE way,
and acts like the greatest thing on earth for any person is education.
I heavily DISAGREE>

This attitude is symptomatic of the Western world's substitution of
power [because education leads to powerful positions in the earthly world,
as opposed to enhancing one's own soul to be permitted admission to Paradise], money [more education leads to higher salaries], and the worship of much else rather than simply of Allah [swt].

Plus in the second book, Greg is "in like Flynn" with all these American top commanders of the miltary operations KILLING Afghans.
Not "helping" Afghans, as NATO claims.

So it's enough to make any sensitive person repulsed.

I'm glad if this guy has been exposed.
Maybe a little like "Lost Honor" as I wrote about a long time ago here on PF.

May even MORE Truth come out Inshallah!

[Catya Sher]

I watched the link, thank you ghundal,
and Jon Krakauer's testimony rings true.
He sounds very fair, as does the American Philanthropic
official.
Both are thoroughly believable -
and the tribesman in Islamabad's revelation is astounding.

You know what? In case anyone is interested,
Greg Mortenson may have a case of
"Munchausen's Syndrome" - [spelling needs to be looked up]
where a person tells LIES
for fun and profit and without any conscience as to the
people who could be harmed.

It's an addiction to making up stories.

I bet he has this, or a similar psychotic condition.

My long-enduring leeriness about him is at last explained.
I had to cover the screen, I couldn't even look at Greg's picture
without getting a headache...!

Finally, it's strange that I put as my avatar a cup of Turkish tea
just yesterday.
Then this came up about 3 Cups of Tea.

I had thought that was exceedingly strange he would just happen to land
in a Balti village the way he described...the chances of that are minimal
after an attempted ascent of K-2.


Truth is always so helpful.
60 Minutes deserves praise for tracking this down: even how Greg
escaped out the back door to avoid their questions!!

[Toramana]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-a...son-is-a-liar/

"The last time Mansur Khan Mahsud saw Greg Mortenson was in July, 1996 when the eventual author of the best-selling Three Cups of Tea was profusely thanking his Mehsud tribal hosts for their hospitality during his nearly two-week stay in their village of Kot Langer Khel in Pakistan’s South Waziristan tribal agency. Mansur’s uncle, Naimat Gull, was taking Mortenson back to Peshawar where the two had met by chance in a hotel. Mortenson, Mahsud says, asked Gull to take him to his home village because he wanted to visit the famous tribal belt as an adventure tourist. Gull agreed. On the waym Gull taught Mortenson a few sentences in Pashto, such as “I am a Mehsud,” and “I am going to Ladha,” the district in which the village is located—in order to hide his identity. Foreigners are forbidden by Pakistani law from visiting the tribal agencies without official permission....."

[khyaal]

. Foreigners are forbidden by Pakistani law from visiting the tribal agencies without official permission....."

You mean these Arabs, Chichens and Ozbek are no foreigners ?

[Catya Sher]

Thanks for that further link Toramana.
Here's a revealing sentence from that:

"Gull introduced Mortenson to the villagers as being a medical doctor and professor at an American medical college. Mortenson concurred with that description and then started to pass out medical tablets to some women and children"

Notice that he never protested even though I think he never went to college even! Could be wrong but his education was limited.
He was some sort of Nurse or Nurse Assistant [even lower] in a San Francisco
Bay Area hospital. Hardly an M.D. which takes so many years to complete.

Furthermore, he catered to the wish of so many villagers in the area for any sort of medicinal tablet or pill.

He should have given them something worthwhile as a gift, not those aspirins or whatever.


There is probably going to be a lot of fallout from the 60 Minutes expose.
If anyone happens to see any more, please post here!


Bottom line is: he pretended to his audience that he was a do-gooder.
When he had coldly stabbed his gracious tribal hosts in the back to advance himself!

I can hear these villagers sighing to themselves:
"One more Westerner who just came here to exploit us..."

[ghundal]

Mortenson Concedes He Conflated Parts of Memoir

Mortenson Concedes Conflating Parts of 'Three Cups of Tea' - NYTimes.com

By STEPHANIE STROM Chad J. McNeeley/Department of Defense Greg Mortenson, right, at a school in Pushghar, Afghanistan, in July 2009, posed for a photo with Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Greg Mortenson fled a book signing in Atlanta last week to avoid speaking to “60 Minutes” and has so far declined to speak with any reporter from the mainstream media about that show’s contention that he inaccurately described pivotal events in his best-selling book, “Three Cups of Tea.”
Instead, his point of view has come to us largely through his hometown newspaper, The Bozeman Daily Chronicle, which ran an interview with him over the weekend, and Outside magazine, which posted an extensive interview with Mr. Mortenson today on its Web site.
In the second interview, Mr. Mortenson concedes that one of the disputed events in the book — how and when he ended up in Korphe, where he built the first of more than 100 schools — in fact was, like other trips in the book, an amalgamation of several trips to the village.
He also drew his co-author, David Oliver Relin, into the controversy by saying that Mr. Relin was largely responsible for such editorial decisions and the writing of the book. He told Outside’s editorial director, Alex Heard, that rather than telling the story of two or three trips to a location, Mr. Relin “would synthesize it into one trip. I would squawk about it and be told it would all work out.”

So you’re saying you were new to the process, busy, and you were naïve about how nonfiction is written. And they were sometimes saying, “Let’s tell it this way, it’s better”?
Yes, definitely. I was also overseas a lot, in Afghanistan — we had been really launching there since 2000. When I was there, David would read the manuscript to me over the phone, and so forth.
When the book came out, did you read parts of your own story that made you say, “Hey, I don’t think this is accurate”?
Yeah. Especially in regards to the timing. Like, you know, you went there three times, twice you went there in the fall, so let’s just make it one fall trip. At the end of the book, I took three trips up to northern Afghanistan, over about a year and a half. Those were synthesized into one trip.

In the interview, Mr. Mortenson also addressed criticism of the charity he co-founded to build schools and support education and health in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Central Asia Institute. “60 Minutes” had noted that the charity paid his airfare, including for charter flights, when he was on the road promoting his book.
He told Mr. Heard that since January, he had been paying his airfare himself and that the charity had made major changes in its operations this year, after a Washington law firm it had hired recommended some changes.
Separately, Jon Krakauer, the best-selling author and mountaineer who accused Mr. Mortenson of using his charity as a sort of personal piggy bank on “60 Minutes,” today released his own version of the “”60 Minutes” story called “Three Cups of Deceit: How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way” on Byline.com. He pledged proceeds from the sale of the article to the Stop Girl Trafficking Project of the American Himalayan Foundation.

[ghundal]

[ATTACH]4280[/ATTACH]

[ghundal]

This is from an investigative book called "Three Cups of Deceit." It first shows an excerpt from "Three Cups of Tea."

Back then, before 9/11, beheading foreigners wasn’t in
fashion…. And I didn’t think being shot was such a bad way to
die. But the idea that Tara would have to raise our child on her
own and would probably never find out what happened to me
made me crazy. I could picture her pain and uncertainty going
on and on and that seemed like the most horrible thing of all.
Fortunately, as Mortenson was taking what he feared
were his final breaths, the truck skidded to a stop, whereupon
the commander removed Mortenson’s blindfold and gave
him a hug. “We’re throwing a party,” the Talib announced.
“A party before we take you back to Peshawar.”


Instead of being executed by a Taliban firing squad, Mortenson was
feted as the guest of honor at a rowdy Pashtun hoedown
featuring barbecued goat, lots of hashish, and boisterous
dancing. Throughout the bacchanal, dozens of Taliban embraced
Mortenson like a long-lost brother and stuffed wads
of hundred-rupee notes into his pockets. “For your schools!”
the commander explained, shouting in Mortenson’s ear to be
heard over bursts of celebratory gunfire. “So, Inshallah, you’ll
build many more!”
Giddily [Mortenson] joined the celebration, goat grease
trickling down his eight-day beard, performing the old Tanzanian
steps he thought he’d forgotten to shouts of encouragement
from the Wazir, dancing with the absolute bliss, with the
wild abandon, bequeathed by freedom.

If this stirring resolution to Mortenson’s ordeal seems a
bit far-fetched, it is. The entire story was fabricated.

[ghundal]

Think Tank Director in Pakistan May Sue Greg Mortenson

By Maryann Yin on April 19, 2011 3:07 PM
Yesterday a 60 Minutes report and author Jon Krakauer both accused author Greg Mortenson of fabricating incidents in his memoir–spawning a lawsuit threat and “serious questions” about his work in Afghanistan.
In his memoirs, Mortenson alleged that Taliban members kidnapped him during his work. CNN interviewed Mansur Khan Mahsud, a Pakistani think tank director included in a photo from this alleged kidnapping.
Mahsud told reporters he planned to sue over Mortenson’s defamatory claims. Mahsud shared an unpublished photo of Mortenson with his “kidnappers;” in the photo Mortenson holds a firearm and does not appear to be in danger.

The Takeaway interviewed Afghanistan-based BBC reporter Bilal Sawary about the allegations. He added: “Mortenson’s organization says that he’s built at least ten schools [in an eastern region of Afghanistan]. Provincial authorities could only confirm two; the rest were built by the provincial reconstruction team of the United States of America–the army which is there or the Swedish committee. So there are very serious questions … over the ownership of some of these schools.”
Mortenson has defended himself and his organization, the Central Asia Institute, in an interview with Outside magazine. His publisher, Viking, plans to review his two books for accuracy. Follow this link to download a free copy of Krakauer’s 75-page expose until April 20th.

[graveyardofempires]

Our misery and wars have become a fancy profitable opportunity for others.

[Catya Sher]

^ Yes.

I read that link carefully - and was on the edge of my carpet on the floor...

It's astounding how much of a psycho this Greg turned out to be, though author Jon Krakauer understates things, tossing in powerful clues like "passive-aggressive" as descriptions of Mortenson's behavior and treatment of employees.

If one pursues those, one sees a full-flown egomaniac with perhaps abusive tendencies.
Clues are that Greg "sulked" when criticized for being one hour late for a
large speech, and threatened to walk away without speaking.
That's a clear psychological symptom of an abusive personality.
They retaliate this way when anyone DARES reprimand them, not matter how
reasonably.

For me it's a vindication of the tried-and-true Afghan methodology of detemining whom to trust by face-reading !

I knew he had some serious problems, but didn't imagine THIS bad.

I bet the lawsuit mentioned above will only be the first of many, as countless
investors and donors 'wake up and smell the thorns' regarding this operation and its slick, lying leader, Greg Mortenson.

Regarding the staged kidnap scene by "taliban" who are then given that awful
image quoted in the passage above - one of sheer barbarism -
the scene I remembered all these years since reading his first book was when the supposed captor handed Greg a TIME from the Iranian hostage crisis.
That had stuck with me because how on earth, in the Tribal Areas, would there
be just one issue of TIME preserved: that one from 30+ years ago ??
It's preposterous, and had been a red flag at the time for me.

Also the story of the Kirghiz Khan did NOT ring true at all.
Why would Kirghiz be so enthralled with having a school built the way Greg
pretends in the second book, after all?

It's the same I assume for the Pashtuns: their priorities are more practical:
a road built, medical clinic and a very distant third, a school.

So too this sheds insight into US efforts to persuade its home audience that
the military is accomplishing great things in Afghanistan because schools
have been put up.

Big deal.

There are more important things in life than a school building.
BUT : the American home audience would project their OWN belief that the need
is most desperate for SECULAR EDUCATION - which would solve all problems in Afghanistan !
Hence they would be blind to the realities and easily taken in by the purported
successes.

The most relevant part of the entire minibook by Jon Krakauer is the
admission that there was nothing but BAD NEWS from the military invasion
and the American public was disheartened, knowing that things were not good as a result of the disastrous US invasion in Oct 2001 -
so this little good news was a palliative.
American readers seized on Greg's story as evidence that America IS good
and DOES good everywhere.

So the fact that THIS myth has now been unraveled, too,
may wake up some people - if they are willing to admit
a gigantic mistake: intervention in Afghanistan.

Few in and out of the US govt are mature enough to do that, however.
Most all have child-like mentalities and/or have some of the same abusive personality type
as Greg himself, making them bridle at any criticism and take revenge.

Instead of FIXING the problem by public admission and getting out - right away!

So if this little microcosm of FAKE 'good news' turned out to be a bubble burst easily, what about when the public takes stock of the entire fiasco??

I bet the fallout from this Mortenson Expose has just begun, too.

I wish Mansur Khan Mahsud good fortune in his lawsuit - he deserves a rich repayment for the damage to the reputation of his tribe and clan.

The further question too, is : how many OTHER "I was captured by Taliban" narratives escaped fabrication/exaggeration - a similarly serious temptation for Americans given the current political climate.

[Catya Sher]

Further: the thought of Taliban "stuffing rupees" in the pockets of Greg's shalwarkamiz is so outlandish as to defy the imagination.

That's hardly their style. Greg was clearly improvising from the belly-dance type of performance which he knew many naive Americans associate with
the Middle East....quite a stretch.

Further they would never have a "party" for him had he been their captive.
They would just release him somewhere out in the middle of nowhere
and that would be that.

No Egyptian belly dancing routines...!