MID-EAST REALITIES © - www.MiddleEast.Org - Washington - 6/11: Those who know Raghida Dergham know what she is, and its certainly not a truly independent journalist. She's been an opportunist for a very long time, and she's used her sexuality to climb the ladder with backing from one influential Arab diplomat or royal along the way for a long time now. And those who know "Al-Hayat" know what it is -- one more of many "client newspapers", this particular one owned and controlled by the Royal Family of Saudi Arabia. And we all know what that is!

And the real record of the Committee to Protect Journalists isn't all that great either. A very American establishment group handing out glitzy awards that constantly buttress American policies and attitudes just at the most opportune politically correct moments; that's the CPJ. Thinking back where was the CPJ when Abbie Nathan, "The Voice of Peace", was imprisoned in Israel for "talking with the enemy". And even today where is the CPJ when it comes to Mordechai Vanunu, now 15 years languishing in an Israeli prison for acting as the key source for the London Sunday Times about one of the most important stories ever to come out of the Middle East -- Israel's possession of nuclear weapons and the ramifications for the region and the future.

Lawyers in the U.S. often look for test cases, using them to challenge the courts to deal with unconstitutional and unjust laws. In doing so they try to find defendants who are on their face as solid and upstanding as can be. That's what makes for good "test cases". The CPJ should have done something similar before coming to the defense of Dergham and Al-Hayat under all the circumstances involved which, simply put, do not make for a very sound "test case" in this arena.

Yes we realize that good p.r people, like good lawyers, will find ways to answer these questions and will try to spin away all these considerations under the large veil of the simplistic slogan "freedom of the press". But if they were truly interested in "freedom of the press" in the Middle East they would have long ago handled themselves differently, they long ago would have championned other less well-known and far more needy persons and organizations, long ago shown themselves to be much more sophisticated rather than so simplistic when talking about "independence" and "press freedom" in today's Middle East context.

In this particular case Dergham didn't just appear on a panel with Israelis, she participated in a panel sponsored by the Jewish/Israeli lobby which set up and controls the "Institute" where she spoke. And she didn't just appear with an Israeli journalist or anyone of independent stature. She appeared with one of the very men responsible for the rape and torture of Lebanon by Israel (and the U.S. of course), the very man who represented the Israeli military assault and occupation of her country for a generation. Dergham knew all this, CPJ should have known all this -- but conveniently these crucial facts and considerations are either totally overlooked or largely downplayed.

But even so, with all this said, the way the Lebanese authorities are handling this situation with Dergham demonstrates the continuing backwardness and confusion that still governs in the Arab world in the new millenium, just as in the old. It's a terrible "test case"...but even so it should be dropped and Dergham should go about her business, preferably put in context by other real journalists who should tell us much more often who is really whom and who owns and controls what.

And there's another good reason for the Lebanese to drop this matter as well. About twenty years ago at a time when he was greasing his way as a "journalist", Clovis Maksoud, himself Lebanese and soon to be Arab League Ambassador in the US, appeared with non other than Shimon Peres on an international panel discussion through tv hookup in front of a big Washington audience. Maksoud, who now continues to grossly manipulate Arab Americans partly through control of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), is himself a shady and untrustworthy fellow; but for sure no one in Lebanon ever grabbed his passport and brought him up on charges of "treason". Moreover, Arab diplomats and "journalists" of various sorts have actually helped the very same Israeli lobby Institute in various ways ever since its founding in 1983 -- with non other than Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin-Sultan and former Egyptian Ambassador Maher at the very top of this particular list.

So, it's a complicated world out there -- one of many halls of mirrors, misleading Institutes, on-the-take personalities, and propaganda outlets masquerading under the "freedom of the press" slogan.