Well this is depressing: Mortenson's "Three Cups of Tea" inaccurate

[cali]

Report: "Three Cups of Tea" inaccurate

(AP) – 1 day ago

NEW YORK (AP) — A "60 Minutes" investigation alleges that the inspirational multimillion seller "Three Cups of Tea" is filled with inaccuracies and that co-author Greg Mortenson's charitable organization has taken credit for building schools that don't exist.

The report, which airs Sunday night on CBS television, cites "Into the Wild" author Jon Krakauer as among the doubters of Mortenson's story of being lost in 1993 while mountain climbing in rural Pakistan and stumbling upon the village of Korphe, where the kindness of local residents inspired him to build a school. The "60 Minutes" story draws upon observations from the porters who joined Mortenson on his mountain trip in Pakistan and dispute his being lost. They say he only visited Korphe a year later.

The "60 Minutes" report alleges that numerous schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan that Mortenson's Central Asia Institute is said to have established either don't exist or were built by others. According to the CAI's website, the institute has "successfully established over 170 schools" and helped educate over 68,000 students, with an emphasis on girls' education."

In a statement issued Friday through the institute, Mortenson defended the book he co-authored with David Oliver Relinhis, and his humanitarian work.

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http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hoMT_C4-x0qPwNI7WdiBq16P5P6Q?docId=01fbfa252f434ea19af2cf6d501769ba

[Nevernose]

1. I hope 60 Minutes is dead-ass wrong.

"Three Cups of Tea" is one of the few things I've got that still gives me hope for humanity.

[Sherman A1]

2. Agreed

I hope so as well.

[cali]

3. yeah, I hope so too.

[niyad]

4. same here

[aquart]

5. Because nobody else in the world is doing good?

Has it occurred to you that most of the good on this planet is done by people who don't have publishers? Or even consider getting publishers? That good is in every nook and cranny of every place you go but THIS self-advertising opportunist is what you put your hopes on?

WTF have you been looking?

[Kurovski]

7. +1

[cascadiance]

6. His books are one of the few "progressive" books left being sold at Costco...

amongst the load of crap that is on the shelves there from the likes of Laura Ingraham, Glen Beck, Laura Bush, Sean Hannity, Karl Rove, etc.

And of course their books more are ones we sympathize with rather than being political in their content.

I should have taken a photo of the one time I saw a single copy in paperback of Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine there and framed it. The last time I saw and bought any kind of book at Costco that was close to being from our political perspective was "Fair Game" when the movie came out then.

Oh well, that being said, I really hope that 60 minutes can be found to have screwed up on this. You'd think that there are far more egregious coverups of crap that really affects all in adverse ways they could go after instead. A sad commentary on the state of our media today whether what they found is true or not.

[emsimon33]

8. I agree

When I have some extra time on my hands while in Costco, I cover the right-wing books with other books! Also interesting is that I have never seen anyone buy one of those books in there! Weird!

[Hannah Bell]

9. if true, it doesn't surprise me. his exhorbitant fees (about $30K/appearance),

bodyguards, & operations in disputed territories lead me to believe he's some kind of intelligence operative.

had occasion to be peripherally involved in one of his appearances last year.

[lostnfound]

10. Read and enjoyed but didn't believe his book, I was suspicious that he was CIA

His story seemed not just far-fetched but like a cover story, and his background was full of holes. A year off here or there sounded like a year in special training.

[Hannah Bell]

11. interesting placement of his schools... if they exist

This map is from the Central Asia Institute‘s own brochure. It shows the parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan where Greg Mortenson’s CAI has helped finance community building projects. I thought the shaded area formed an interesting buffer zone along the border to… CHINA! Is that region of greater interest peacewise than the war-torn borders facing Afghanistan or India?!




http://notmytribe.com/2008/greg-mortenson-goodwill-border-agent-82450.html#more-2450

[uppityperson]

12. Link to BBC investigation on this...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13125953

(clip)What the locals say
Local leaders in some of the remote and poverty-stricken communities, where Greg Mortenson has established a presence, have voiced their support for him.

In Badakshan, despite the provincial authority condemning the CAI school-building programme there, one UN worker from an area in which a school had been built said the locals really appreciated it - hundreds of children attend.

"Imagine if the money had been given to the Afghan government or contractors - it would not have been built!" the worker, who wished to remain unnamed, said.

Two tribal elders in Kunar, one in the provincial capital, and one in the district of Naray where one school is said to have been built, knew Mr Mortenson - they said people were very happy with the work he had done....

[Codeine]

13. God that book was horrible.

Unbelievably poorly-written tripe. I got roped into reading this nonsense by a friend and hated it. I'm pleased to see this clown being taken down for his bullshit.

[Ignis]

14. The bigger problem: It's not the lying, it's the cheating.

The cheating involves the excessive entanglement of Mortenson's finances with those of CAI, a relationship characterized by the organization's former treasurer as Mortenson's treating CAI "as his own personal ATM." Perhaps understandably, Mortenson considers CAI to be entirely his creation and therefore at his disposal whenever he needs something (chartered planes, say) to help him promote the cause. CAI pays the promotional expenses for "Three Cups of Tea" and its sequel, "Stones Into Schools," but receives none of the royalties and very little of the income from Mortenson's speaking engagements.

No one is quite accusing Mortenson of stealing, nor are they questioning his commitment to CAI's mission. However, Krakauer presents persuasive evidence that Mortenson's refusal to document any of his expenditures in the U.S. or in Central Asia -- indeed, his refusal to be financially accountable to anyone -- have made CAI dysfunctional and far less effective than it claims to be. No one knows what the money is spent on, and no one seems to be monitoring the results. At one point, CAI staff resorted to fabricating documentation in order to comply with an audit by an independent accounting firm.

At least some of the schools Mortenson takes credit for building are "ghost schools," empty structures without students or teachers. Krakauer, after speaking to several former CAI employees, charges Mortenson with repeatedly subverting "efforts by his Montana-based staff to track effectively how many schools have been built, how much each school actually costs and how many schools are up and running." Achievements that Mortenson claims in this department are not derived from verifiable records or facts, so any donations solicited on the basis of those claims could be regarded as obtained under false pretenses.

-- Salon @ http://www.salon.com/books/laura_miller/2011/04/19/greg_mortenson/index.html

[A-Schwarzenegger]

15. LATEST Interview: Mortenson blames his CO-AUTHOR...

http://outsideonline.com/adventure/travel-ga-greg-mortenson-interview-sidwcmdev_155690.html

MORTENSON: That’s where some of the issues are. It’s really complicated, but I’m not a journalist. I don’t take a lot of notes. David and I collaborated. He did nearly all the writing, and along with hundreds of interviews of those involved in the story, I helped him piece together the whole timeline, and from that we started creating the narrative arc and everything.

David insisted on writing the book in third person, which is really awkward. The publisher said, Greg, you’re too understated, so this needs to be in the third person. My wife, Tara, also told me that if I wrote a book, it would be a pamphlet.

What happens then is, when you re-create the scenes, you have my recollections, the different memories of those involved, you have his writing, and sometimes things come out different. In order to be convenient, there were some omissions. If we included everything I did from 1993 to 2003 it would take three books to write it. So there were some omissions and compressions, and ... I don’t know, what that’s called?

INTERVIEWER: Literary license?

Yeah. So, rather than me going two or three times to one place, he would synthesize it into one trip. I would squawk about it and be told that it would all work out.

[riderinthestorm]

17. This came out what, late 2006, so nearly 5 years ago, and only NOW he's fessing up to discrepancies?

That were so conveeeeeniently, actually, his ghost writers fault???

Mortenson's in a shit load of trouble. His foundation $$ issues were already getting him into trouble, his further distortions and lies aren't going to help him (or his philanthropic work - which is now also under suspicion, what a shame) one bit.

[lumberjack_jeff]

16. I wish that being cynical wasn't so rewarding.

I'm almost never wrong when I'm cynical.

It's only when I do the hope thing that I get smacked down.

[REP]

18. When I saw who wrote the foreword on his second book, I just had a feeling...

I know that man, and he is a colossal ass. His stamp upon anything guarantees bullshit to me. You're not alone in this.

[Redford]

19. My book club sent him $600

I hope some of it went to humanitarian endeavors.

[riderinthestorm]

20. I know. It's really hard when stuff like this comes out and it looks like your money

went instead to hire his private charter planes.... :(

Sounds like you and your book club have good hearts. Welcome to DU!

[uppityperson]

21. I still support him though. There is so much shit going on, so much waste of my tax money

and I'd just as soon see a program like this doing what they can. There are so few groups that truly are spending much of their income on what they "should" be doing. And there is so much CRAP going on in my name with my tax dollars. I still support the idea of books vs bombs, and hope CAI gets their act together and is able to help more people.

Yes, I read his books and doubted the numbers of schools and kids given, having been involved with non-profits myself in the past. But still, they are doing good stuff and the message of "schools not bombs" is SO important.

[Liberal_in_LA]

22. "inaccurate"? How about fraudulent.

[Generic Other]

23. One of my charities--crap

that pisses me off.