Last Friday we had a post with video of the confrontation on Larry Kudlow’s CNBC show between Muslim Public Affairs Council advocate Edina Lekovic and terrorism expert Steven Emerson, in which Emerson confronted Lekovic with her past work for UCLA’s radical Islamic newspaper Al-Talib: Video: Emerson Confronts MPAC Spokeswoman.

Lekovic denied ever working for the publication, and accused Emerson of “sloppy research.” Unfortunately for her, as you can see at the link above, there was proof of Emerson’s claims.

Now she’s contacted Emerson directly, and he responds in this post: Counterterrorism Blog: Ms. Lekovic…A Dozen Printing Mistakes?

Here’s her email, a classic in the genre of evasive misdirection:

During an interview on CNBC’s “Kudlow & Company” on Wednesday, May 23, Steve Emerson engaged in his latest desperate attempt at mudslinging, this time against me, a well-respected mainstream Muslim American leader. At the tail end of an interview about a Pew Research Center poll on Muslim Americans released this week, Emerson maliciously attempted to paint me as a supporter of terrorism based on a student publication I briefly worked with while an undergrad at UCLA.

Mr. Emerson’s witch hunt this time centered around a July 1999 issue of Al-Talib magazine, to which he referred in the interview and later on his website. And this time, his witch hunting stumbled on a printing mistake which I had no part in, but which he has exploited to serve his agenda. For reasons unknown to me, given that I had already graduated at that time, my name is listed in the staff box as a managing editor of that issue. I had graduated and had no participation in campus life by that time. I had no role in the publication of that issue of the magazine and I had no part in the writing of the article to which he refers.

I am shocked [shocked!] and saddened that my name has been falsely attached by Mr. Emerson to sentiments that I in no way support, and that are antithetical to the work I do day in and day out in the service of my community and my country.

My time as a student journalist at UCLA was indeed memorable to me, but has been misrepresented and distorted by Mr. Emerson. I was the editor in chief of the Daily Bruin, which won several prominent journalism awards for news reporting and overall excellence under my leadership. I wonder how in his relentless digging expedition Mr. Emerson neglected to note my award-winning work.

Check the facts — I wasn’t a student when this issue was published. I had no role in its publication, and I abhor the sentiments expressed in the article to which Mr. Emerson refers. Mr. Emerson’s style of shock, smear and distortion have proven once again that the value and validity of the information he claims to offer to the American public is little more National Enquirer-style reporting.

Note that she has now changed her story; from denying that she ever worked for the newspaper, to admitting that she did. But now she claims her employment was “brief.”

Steven Emerson just demolishes her dishonest claims in his post; here’s a master at work:

So let’s examine Ms. Lekovic’s role with al-Talib. From October 1997 to May 2002, in addition to the July 1999 “The Spirit of Jihad” issue, there are at least 11 other issues of the newspaper which list Ms. Lekovic as either “managing editor,” “copy editor,” “assistant editor” “writer,” or give her “special thanks.” A curiously high amount for someone who initially claimed she never worked for the newspaper or now says she only “briefly worked” for it.

Here are other al-Talib issues that bear Lekovic’s name – perhaps these are also “printing mistakes”:

October 1997 - Edina Lekovic is listed as receiving “Special Thanks.”
December 1997 - Edina Lekovic is listed as receiving “Special Thanks.”
November 1998 - Edina Lekovic is listed as both “Managing Editor” and “Writer.”
January 1999 - Edina Lekovic is listed as “Managing Editor.”
May 1999 - Edina Lekovic is listed as “Managing Editor.” This issue is notable as it contains an article titled, “Commercialization of the Holocaust,” which minimizes the nature and scope of the Holocaust, and contains the following “Author’s note”:

“For the purpose of this piece, so as not to get derailed from the main argument, I’m assuming that traditional Holocaust history is true, though of course there are libraries of compelling evidence to indicate that the numbers, accounts, and narratives are either exaggerated, or in some cases, wholly imaginary. Suffice it to say that proponents of a less-gory account of Holocaust history are no longer fringe racists spouting nonsense, but now include a number of once-prominent historians who have been ostracized from university and intellectual circles that once held them in high esteem. The mere mention that things might be different than that of conventional wisdom is usually enough to brand a once well-regarded professor an anti-semite, a radical, and for the growing number of JEWISH scholars questioning standard Holocaust history, a ”self-hating Jew.“ The author’s position is that rather than open a topic that can generate volumes of work, we’ll assume that standard history is true. Readers are nevertheless encouraged to explore the growing body of literature detailing alternative accounts on their own accord.”

September 1999 - Edina Lekovic is listed as an “Assistant Editor.” This issue is notable because it contains an article entitled, “Shaykh ‘Umar ‘Abd al-Rahman - Tortured in Prison Cell,” claiming that the notorious “Blind Cleric” was “falsely accused” of involvement in the first World Trade Center bomb plot:

Shaykh ‘Umar ‘Abd al-Rahman - Tortured in Prison Cell… “Rochester, MN- CNN interactive confirmed on August 10, 1999 that Shayk ‘Umar ‘Abd al-Rahman was attacked by a prison officer and suffered contusions. The attack occurred while the Shaykh was using the prison toilet. As a result of the attack, he fell down and then seems to have been dragged to his cell. Shaykh ‘Umar is the spiritual guide of the Jama’ah al-Islamiyyah in Egypt. The depth and support of this movement is witnessed by the fact that 70,000 associates of the group are now in Egyption dictator Mubarak’s prisons. In 1996, Shaykh ‘Umar was falsely accused of being a conspirator in the World Trade Center bombing, and was sentenced to life in prison.

November 1999 - Edina Lekovic is listed as “Copy Editor.”
July 2000 - Edina Lekovic is listed as “Copy Editor” and “Writer.”
December 2000 - Edina Lekovic is listed as “Copy Editor.”
March 2001 - Edina Lekovic is listed as “Writer.”
May 2002 - Edina Lekovic is listed as “Writer.”

As you can see, well after Ms. Lekovic graduated in 1999, and well after the article she claims to “abhor” was published in July of that same year, Lekovic was still contributing to al-Talib.

And while Ms. Lekovic is suddenly and curiously coy about her stint at al-Talib, such was not always the case. Just a few short months after 9/11, a December 2001 MPAC event program (See Page 6), titled, ”The Rising Voice of Moderate Muslims,” included a bio for Ms. Lekovic, which proudly stated, “While at UCLA, Ms. Lekovic also was the managing editor of Al-Talib (The Student), a nationwide Muslim student publication.”

Ouch. That’s gonna leave a mark.