Subject: False Attribution
Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2013 09:26:50 -0500
From: Noam Chomsky <Chomsky@MIT.EDU>
To: <khaled@youm7.com>
Dear Mr. Salah,
Many people have brought to my attention an article that was posted on your website on January 2, 3, and 4. The original link to the article, which has not been accessible since January 5, is:
http://www1.youm7.com/News.asp?NewsID=895206&SecID=12&IssueID=0
The article attributed statements to me which I never made and in a lecture which never occurred. The original title was:
“In an a lecture in Columbia University on the Egyptian Revolution, Prof. Chomsky said: President Morsi’s plans for the development of the Suez Canal is the main reason for the hostility of Dubai toward the new Egyptian administration. UAE represents the counter-revolution against Egypt’s and Syria’s Revolution and it plans on ruining the recent Cairo-Ankara alliance.”
The last time I gave a lecture at Columbia University was on October 17, 2011, nearly 15 months ago, on a topic totally unrelated to Egypt, the UAE, and President Morsi. The article is totally made up out of whole cloth and, unfortunately, continues to be reproduced and circulated by various news outlets, sometimes with a slightly different title. Here is an example:
http://www.arabs.com/showthread.php?20137
Under the circumstances, I would like to request that you publish a correction in your website, acknowledging that the original article was erroneous, referring to statements I never made and to a lecture that never took place.
Sincerely,
Noam Chomsky