The views presented by Patti Miller are very encouraging. My hope is that publishers will look first to an author's integrity and not their marketability. The expose of Norma Khouri is quite a shock but I should not be surprised. After all, it wasn't too long ago that Americans were believing reports by an over the hill journalist (from CBS)about Bush's falsified military documents.

i feel that normas story was convincing enough and that she ought to be listened to and helped, otherwise no jordanian woman or for that matter a woman of middle east would dare raise her voice to the crimes commited against them and besides the other writers books,which are not supposedly fake,about middle east convince that what norma wrote is not at all impossible.

We in modern society may come to harm if we allow ourselves to be led by the most convincing. It was Stalin who said "after a time, lies can become accepted as truth". Watch out for a con.

Yank

It behoves us all to reject such inhumane behaviour towards women. Whether the story is true or not, this brutality is occurring throughout the Islamic world, at various levels and degrees. The facts established by the UN speak for themselves, even though they are cautious figures. We are exhorted to be tolerant of other cultures, and this is usually a male response, but surely when there is a clash of principles or values as in this case, the one that endorses the notion of personal freedom and safety, and the dignity of the individual, must be seen as supreme. If not, then we endorse totalitarianism, slavery and a vicious caste system. All of which the modern world has rejected