Serious network news cited Arabic speech as evidence of PLO involvement

Evidence

Not to be outdone, CBS introduced its Nightly News on December 12 with Marvin Kalb from the State Department quoting those same (equally unnamed) “diplomatic and intelligence” sources referred to by Drooz a month earlier, in which it was once again affirmed that the PLO, Islamic fundamentalists, and the Soviet Union had cooperated at the embassy. The PLO men were the ones who mined the compound, Kalb said; this was known, he went on sagely, by virtue of “the sounds of Arabic” that could be heard inside the embassy. — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam, 237

Categorization

• CANDY: The “sounds of Arabic” as evidence is a perfect absurdity to share — as if overheard Urdu would prove Pakistani authorship.