".. (CBS News) Some of the most inspiring and dramatic stories in the best-selling book, "Three Cups of Tea," by Greg Mortenson, are not true, multiple sources tell "60 Minutes"

""It's a beautiful story. And it's a lie," says Krakauer ..."

"You would hope that they would be spending a lot more on the schools in Pakistan than they would on book-related costs," says Borochoff. "Why doesn't Mr. Mortenson spend his own money on the book-related costs? He's the one getting the revenues," Borochoff tells Kroft.

"60 Minutes" also checked on schools that CAI claims to have built in Pakistan and Afghanistan and found that some of them were empty, built by somebody else, or simply didn't exist at all. The principals of a number of schools said they had not received any money from CAI in years."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/04/ ... 4397.shtml

I won't get to see this, but would be interested to hear how it plays. I never read the book. I started to, but the first section about the walk out from K2 struck me as suspicious and I just couldn't get past that to keep going. Years ago I climbed with a guy who was on that K2 expedition, it was a strange trip.

I started hearing rumors last year, though they were not exactly the same problems, but related issues, villagers upset etc, not that that means much. Initially I put it down to sour-grapes on the part of some village head-men in the region, but it seems there's a bit more to it.

I could use three cups of "spiced" tea right now. Sounds like a good read.

Mortenson was runner-up to Barack Obama for the Nobel Peace Prize:

http://www.mtpioneer.com/FEB-Mortenson.html

This is quite shocking to hear. I hope that this is a story of some misallocated funds and not some type of fraud. Krakauer has publicly pointed his finger at climbers in the past and been proven wrong. I hope this is the case.

twoshuzz wrote:... it would not surprise me to learn that Krakauer's finger may be pointed in the wrong direction, again.

As a Forum Moderator I thought you would know better than to attack the man rather than the ball. The character of an accuser is never irrelevant, but the priority should always be the message, not the messenger. An alien concepct in SP Forums, I know, but ...

Krakauer's side should be easy enough to establish if anyone makes the effort. Just check with the person(s) that advised him to leave the board to see if that bit is true.

Holsti97 wrote:Mortenson was runner-up to Barack Obama for the Nobel Peace Prize:http://www.mtpioneer.com/FEB-Mortenson.html

Er, no. It's true that those politicians nominated him, but the short-list is not made public for 50 years, so there is no evidence that he was ever close to winning. Lots of people get nominated - good, genuine nominations of worthy people, no less. But 'runner-up' implies he beat everyone in the competition except Obama. Do you have evidence that this is the case?

It's that kind of misinformation based on marketing and ignorance that is a big part of the issue here.

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/nomination/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runner-up

In the articles I read the accusations were all made by unnamed friends of friends. I'm curious why the actual soruces are not named or interviewed. I think it is improtant to consider the source, in this case a journalist well known for mistakenly smearing other climbers.

WOW!!!

Just finished watching the 60 Min segment.

Nothing short of one word.... SCAMMER!




Unfkinkingbelievable!!!

Find the whole video here:
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/60_minutes/

Sorry, but I am going to consider the source of the accusations made, and the character of the accused, and since when is that bad?
I have read the 60 minute transcript, Mr. Mortenson`s answers to the questions raised, and the CAI`s answers to the 60 minutes questions. All easily found on the 60 minutes web site.
I am going to consider the work ethic of the accused, his goals and the very nature of his life`s work, and weigh that against the sensational nature of John Krakauer, and his self serving finger pointing...reminds me of "The Donald"....cant stand on his own, he has to drag someone down to gain notoriety.

And the "lets find a scandal" type of journalism that 60 minutes has made a living on for decades that seems to have very thinly "sourced" some accusations that were easily rebutted by Mortenson and CAI. 60 minutes is trying to play middle of the road, we just report, there might be something wrong here type of story...what a crying damn shame, that such a worthy endeavor as the CAI could be ruined for no good reason, and without an actual cause. Boo CBS and 60 Minutes and Boo John Krakauer, a man I never trusted since reading Anatoli Boukreev`s The Climb.

T Sharp wrote:Sorry, but I am going to consider the source of the accusations made, and the character of the accused, and since when is that bad?
I have read the 60 minute transcript, Mr. Mortenson`s answers to the questions raised, and the CAI`s answers to the 60 minutes questions. All easily found on the 60 minutes web site.
I am going to consider the work ethic of the accused, his goals and the very nature of his life`s work, and weigh that against the sensational nature of John Krakauer, and his self serving finger pointing...reminds me of "The Donald"....cant stand on his own, he has to drag someone down to gain notoriety.

And the "lets find a scandal" type of journalism that 60 minutes has made a living on for decades that seems to have very thinly "sourced" some accusations that were easily rebutted by Mortenson and CAI. 60 minutes is trying to play middle of the road, we just report, there might be something wrong here type of story...what a crying damn shame, that such a worthy endeavor as the CAI could be ruined for no good reason, and without an actual cause. Boo CBS and 60 Minutes and Boo John Krakauer, a man I never trusted since reading Anatoli Boukreev`s The Climb.

Ah, 1.3 Million of the donated monies for the schools in the last three years have been used for personal promotions i.e. speaking engagements etc (where Mort has promoted his books and taken in over 3 million and only donated 10% of that to the CAI) and the fact that more of the donated monies for the past five years have been used by Mortenson for personal needs than have been applied to the building of schools. And where over 50% of those supposed schools either do not exist or have never ever existed. And, where the original story that started this whole gig NEVER happened. And, where Mort claims to have been kidnapped in Afghanvilled by Taliban, also never occurred.

You don't call that complete BS?

Besides, if Mort has nothing to hide, why has he nor did he give his side of the story and when approached by 60 Min crew, and then had them escorted away when confronted at a speaking engagement a couple of weeks ago and then fled out the back door.


C'mon... I call bullshit.

If the dude has nothing to hide and he is on the up and up, why is he running from 60 Minutes? And why have several of the folks over the past 8 years that were running the accounting aspect of CAI, quitting, and then reporting their quitting was due to negligent spending ops?

Ah, several of the CAI accounting officers have resigned in the past 7-8 years due to their seeing the obvious financial improprieties that have been occurring during their tenure.

We can only see what happens in the following weeks due to this report.

twoshuzz wrote:60 min spoke to a group of Pakistanis who to no surprise denied they were members of the Taliban and denied "kidnapping" him ? Forgive me if I don't go all in on their word(s).

How many Taliban hand their captor a rifle and pose for pictures?

The Chief wrote:

T Sharp wrote:Sorry, but I am going to consider the source of the accusations made, and the character of the accused, and since when is that bad?
I have read the 60 minute transcript, Mr. Mortenson`s answers to the questions raised, and the CAI`s answers to the 60 minutes questions. All easily found on the 60 minutes web site.
I am going to consider the work ethic of the accused, his goals and the very nature of his life`s work, and weigh that against the sensational nature of John Krakauer, and his self serving finger pointing...reminds me of "The Donald"....cant stand on his own, he has to drag someone down to gain notoriety.

And the "lets find a scandal" type of journalism that 60 minutes has made a living on for decades that seems to have very thinly "sourced" some accusations that were easily rebutted by Mortenson and CAI. 60 minutes is trying to play middle of the road, we just report, there might be something wrong here type of story...what a crying damn shame, that such a worthy endeavor as the CAI could be ruined for no good reason, and without an actual cause. Boo CBS and 60 Minutes and Boo John Krakauer, a man I never trusted since reading Anatoli Boukreev`s The Climb.

Ah, 1.3 Million of the donated monies for the schools in the last three years have been used for personal promotions i.e. speaking engagements etc (where Mort has promoted his books and taken in over 3 million and only donated 10% of that to the CAI) and the fact that more of the donated monies for the past five years have been used by Mortenson for personal needs than have been applied to the building of schools. And where over 50% of those supposed schools either do not exist or have never ever existed. And, where the original story that started this whole gig NEVER happened. And, where Mort claims to have been kidnapped in Afghanvilled by Taliban, also never occurred.

You don't call that complete BS?

Besides, if Mort has nothing to hide, why has he nor did he give his side of the story and when approached by 60 Min crew, and then had them escorted away when confronted at a speaking engagement a couple of weeks ago and then fled out the back door.


C'mon... I call bullshit.

Now c`mon Chief all the money accustations are bullshit, it takes a lot of money to run an organization like the CAI, and Mortenson flies to hundreds speaking engagements a year...when was the last time you bought a plane ticket?
Its frikking expensive to fly these days, and a charter is a super large expenditure. The CAI also puts out bi-annual "news" magazines that are published by local newspapers and included in Sunday editions, [I have saved my copies], when was the last time you had anything printed in the paper....I paid for Saintgrizzlies obit, and it was over 300 bucks for a one day run! Now print an entire magazine and pay the staff to produce it and write it . These are just a couple of examples of legit expenditures that have been vetted by attorneys that determined that Mortenson is not being excessively benefited by the CAI.

Were you there when Mortenson was hooded and kept for 8 days? Were you or Krakauer there when Mortenson came off of K2? To make accusations about occurrences such as these serves no good purpose except to defame the character of Greg Mortenson, and to what purpose? Is he living high off the hog when he travels in Pakistan and Afganistan? No! Does he live in a McMansion in Bozeman? No he lives in an older home in town! What a crok of shit this witch hunt is!
I can hardly believe you want any part of this travesty of dragging down one of the best things the USA has going for it in Central Asia! Get some perspective.