3000 fictititous cars

Submitted by Clifton Chadwick (United Arab Emirates), Feb 25, 2009 at 23:02

The article seems to be reasonably accurate except for one major error.

Being a BIG fan of Pipes, I am embarrassed to see that he repeated the NYT claim of 3000 abandoned cars. That was a complete fabrication,. There is no evidence for that assertion. The local government has said that only 11 cars have been abandoned. Where the exact truth lies is hard to say but NYT's claim is irresponsible.

Cheers

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Daniel Pipes replies:

Do supply information about the Dubai government saying it's only eleven cars.

More broadly, if Robert F. Worth did make a major error here, there is no way I could know it. In most cases, an analyst like myself has to rely on plausible local reports; I lack the time and resources to check everything on my own.

This admittedly imperfect approach can lead to errors but they are quite rare and even more rarely change the basis thrust of an analysis.