> New York Times - July 29, 1999
>
> AS U.N. ORGANIZES, REBELS ARE TAKING CHARGE OF KOSOVO
> By Chris Hedges
Hedges is an interesting case. He used to be a Times Bureau Chief, a position normally known for toeing the line. But he seems to have started writing about the KLA back when it was officially considered a bunch of maoist terrorists, and then left the Times before groupthink forced everyone else to reverse their views. He wrote a very good article in the January Foreign Affairs that had a few exclusive interviews in it (which Doug posted blind to his website). And now that he's both an expert on the subject and an ex-bureau chief, the Times seems willing to let him weigh in on it fairly regularly. (I suspect he might just have taken time off to write a book on the KLA). So he's left with a perspective that, while it doesn't stand out on LBO-talk, is almost unique among the mainstream American media. At it presents the peculiar picture of a person walking through the same city on the same day and interviewing the same KLA notables as everyone else, and producing diametrically opposite descriptions from those his colleagues having been writing in the same pages all week. An object lesson in the power of perspective.
Michael
__________________________________________________________________________ Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com