Final Word from Thursday, July 25, 2002
We received numerous letters from readers - mainly Americans - who objected to our linking of U.S. Ambassador Craig Stapleton to George W. Bush's controversial profits from the sale of the Texas Rangers baseball club. They thought nearly unanimously that we were being unfair. We frankly expected such a response and therefore took the unusual step of sending the piece to Amb. Stapleton before running it. He expressed a ready willingness to answer any questions about the baseball deal and asked only that we correct a few factual inaccuracies that we had picked up from the U.S. media. We made the corrections, upon which he said he had no problem with what we had written. He might have preferred that we not run the article, but he never suggested this. He was confident that a presentation of the facts wouldn't do him any harm.