ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, JANUARY 31, 2010

27

The Politician hits bookstores

Edwards aides book details trail of hush money

By Mike Baker

ealing with a pregnant mistress and a

suspicious wife, former Democratic
presidential candidate John Edwards and a
close aide agreed by the middle of 2007 to
solicit funds from a wealthy widow who had
promised to do whatever it takes to make
him president, according to the former confidants new book.
Bunny Mellon, the widow of banking heir
Paul Mellon, began sending checks for
many hundreds of thousands of dollars hidden in boxes of chocolates, according to
The Politician by former Edwards aide
Andrew Young. The tell-all account
describes how Young took the money and
used it to keep mistress Rielle Hunter happy,
hiding her from the media and a cancerstricken Elizabeth Edwards.
Young claims the former vice-presidential
nominee later said he didnt know anything
about the cash even though the two discussed
the matter and the cash began arriving soon
after Edwards made a call to Mellon.
The Politician is due in bookstores
Saturday. An advance copy was given to The
Associated Press by publisher St Martins
Press.
The book has received a lot of attention
because of its racy details about the affair,
the crumbling Edwards marriage and the
candidates efforts to keep the paternity of
his child with the mistress hidden. John
Edwards finally admitted last week that he
was the father of the girl, who is now almost
2 years old.
But Youngs reckoning also contains some
of the most detailed information about a

hanging question for John Edwards future:

an ongoing federal grand jury probe into his
campaigns finances.
Prosecutors have refused to comment
about the investigation, but Young says he
spent hours testifying to the grand jury about
the huge sums of money that had quietly
changed hands during the campaign. Hunter
has also made an appearance at the federal
courthouse in Raleigh where the grand jury is
meeting.
Edwards has said in a previous statement
that he is confident that no funds from my
campaign were used improperly. A spokeswoman did not immediately return a call
seeking comment Thursday.
Mellon, now 99, had promised to give
money to Edwards political groups even
before the affair began and eventually gave a
total of $6 million for Edwards causes,
according to Youngs book.
Edwards political action committee paid
Hunters production company $100,000 in
2006 for her to work as a videographer to follow around the candidate as he prepared for
his second quest for the White House.
Months afterward, in April 2007, the PAC
received $14,000 from Edwards presidential
campaign and then paid a similar amount to
Hunters production company.
Later cash destined for Hunter originated
directly from Mellon checks that were sent to
Young, with notes discussing her contributions to the confederacy. Other distributions came directly from Edwards former
campaign finance chairman Fred Baron,
including a FedEx envelope of $1,000 and a
note that read: Old Chinese proverb: Use
cash, not credit cards.

Hunter accused of motivated by financial gain

Edwards ex-mistress asks return of private tape

HILLSBOROUGH, North Carolina, Jan
30, (AP): The ex-mistress of former presidential candidate John Edwards wants a
very private and personal videotape
back from a former aide who wrote a
book about the politician, according to
court documents obtained Friday by The
Associated Press.
Rielle Hunter was granted a temporary
restraining order against former
Edwards aide Andrew Young in a North
Carolina court. It seeks the return of photos and videos, including one she says
she made in 2006 while working for
Edwards.
Meanwhile, attorneys for the former
North Carolina senator accused Young
of being primarily motivated by financial
gain. The lawyers, Wade M. Smith and

James P. Cooney, said Friday they

havent been able to read the book but
contend that it appears to include many
allegations which are simply false.
In an affidavit filed Thursday, Hunter
wrote that in or about September 2006,
using my video camera, I authored a
personal video recording that depicted
matters of a very private and personal
nature. She added that that year, I was
also having an intimate relationship with
Edwards.
The decision was made that the
Video be destroyed in December 2006,
Hunter wrote. She said she pulled out
the tape from the cassette and stored it
in a box with personal belongings.
The Web site of ABC News was first to
report on Hunters bid for a restraining

order Thursday. The network has several interviews with Young scheduled to air
in the coming days as he promotes his
book.
In the book, Young describes viewing
a sex tape that showed Edwards and a
woman he assumed was Hunter. Young
says some videotapes were inside a
box of trash that Hunter left behind at a
home he rented for her. He says that the
tape had been pulled out but that he was
able to fix it.
Its not entirely clear whether its the
same tape that Hunter is seeking: Young
said in his book that the naked woman
depicted in the video was pregnant.
Hunter had her child with Edwards in
2008, more than a year after she says
her private video was made.

Young said federal prosecutors pressed

him last year for details on the names, dates,
amounts of the disbursements, and just who
knew what, when.
The longtime aide contends in the book
that Mellon did not know what the money
was being used for, and he argues that the
funds were gifts, entirely proper, and not
subject to campaign finance laws.
Joe Sinsheimer, a Democratic government
watchdog in Raleigh who is following the
case, disagrees. He believes the private

exchanges of money described in the book

and used to shuttle Young and Hunter around
the country should have been classified as
campaign donations.
Baron and Mellon gave the money
because they wanted to protect the candidacy of John Edwards for president,
Sinsheimer said. Therefore, the money
should be classified as campaign moneys.
Mellons attorney, Alexander Forger, said
he has also testified before the grand jury
while Mellon has been interviewed by pros-

ecutors. He said Young repeatedly pursued

Mellon for money, at one point suggesting
she mortgage her farm to get cash, but that
she didnt know where the money was
going.
She made a personal gift to the senator,
Forger said. She filed a gift tax return. She
intended it for his personal use and had no
understanding of what his need was and
where the money would go.
Baron, who died in October 2008, had
said that he paid to help Hunter and Young to

protect them from public scrutiny.

The money seemed to have political
implications for Edwards: According to
Young, Edwards asked him before the presidential primaries to take public responsibility for Hunters pregnancy and to take his
family and the mistress and disappear.
Baron would let him use his private jet
and pay for expenses, Edwards told Young.
To convince Young to take the fall, Edwards
appealed to their friendship, Elizabeths failing health and a cause that is bigger than
any one of us, Young quoted Edwards as
saying.
And later, with Young growing restless
because Edwards hadnt come forward to set
the record straight, Baron asked the aide to
hold on until August when the
Democratic National Convention would be
and expected that Edwards would be a big
player in the next administration. Soon after,
Baron wired several hundred thousand dollars to the builder of Youngs home to help
with the expenses.
As for Edwards, Young described the candidate as someone who wanted his hands clean
from the money. He claimed that Edwards
wanted the arrangement with Mellon to
remain private so that the former trial lawyer
would have plausible deniability.
After Edwards admitted to the affair in
August 2008, an estranged Young and
Edwards met briefly to discuss the future.
Edwards talked with a baffled Young about
the checks Mellon had written to cover
Hunters expenses.
I didnt know anything about this,
Young quoted Edwards as saying. Did
you? (AP)

Seasoned Kuwaiti writer of modern fictional tales

Books

Othmans works enrich Arab literature

By Rima A. Mneimneh
Special to the Arab Times

oetry is one flank of literature and

writing fiction is another flank which
has its characteristic elements depending
on the genre. Prose writing could be tales
portraying aspects of a nation, a community or a historical phase, social conflicts
or an array of subjects comprising of
characters revolving around a theme or
other sub-themes set at a certain time. As
poetry seems to transcend mundane limitations to hover elusively into a world of
wonder and charm so does fiction but in
a different manner: it does that through
well-structured anecdotes with distinctive protagonists depicting nuances of
life and its intricacies.
As in poetry, where it takes an exceptionally talented, sensitive and highly
informed writer to unfold the secrets and
wonders of his or her language in order
to write unforgettable poetry, so does
writing fictional tales where the writer
weaves believable stories depicting the
complexities of life recounted in captivating language. Many fiction writers
have written tales that seem to resist passage of time and geography. Jane Austen
(1775 - 1817), whose tales have incessantly been visited and revisited through
reproductions of her works in print or on
screen, was a novelist whose works of
romantic fiction have earned her a place
as one of the most widely read and most
loved writers in world literature.
Realism
In her exceptionally elusive romantic
fiction, there exists the ... realism and
biting social commentary that have
cemented her historical importance as an
outstanding writer. Charles John
Huffam Dickens, (1812-1870) was one
of the most popular writers of the
Victorian time and widely read until our
present day. He created some of the
unfogettabe iconic characters in literature weaving his tales around the theme
of social reform that pervades his literary
legacy. Daphne du Maurier (1907-1989),
was another distinguished writer who
began writing short stories in 1928 and
in 1931 she wrote her first novel The
Loving Spirit. Afterwards, her most
famous three novels, Jamaica Inn,
Frenchmans Creek and Rebecca
were published. The stories she wrote
evoked ... an immense knowledge of
male and female character traits ... characters are displayed with all their faults,
quirks and disparaging thoughts. This
realism with which Du Maurier wrote
was indeed remarkable.
Complex
Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006), the
Nobel Laureate who is considered the
pioneer of the novel-writing literary art
in the Arab world with more than 50
novels and collections of short stories to
his name, who was able ... to encompass a vast variety of characters, people
described as soon as they appear, tending
to leave lasting impressions on readers.
They turn up and disappear, leaving
traces and clues, but remain enigmatic
and ambiguous. They are figures in a
greater story, or pieces in a puzzle, that is
the uvre of Mahfouz. Their lives are
texts, continually being written and
rewritten, as is Egyptian history. Their
appearance changes as the context alters
with time and setting. Likewise, their
meaning and purpose depend upon viewpoint and perspective, and there are
many layers of interpretation, from the
gross to the subtle and inexpressible and
more.
In Kuwait, the complex art of novel-

Seasoned Kuwaiti writer Laila Al-Othman

writing, novellas and short stories have

long been embedded in this peace-loving
nation witnessing the birth of the first
novel entitled Mneira by Khalid AlFaraj; other Kuwaiti writers such as
Fahad Al-Dwairi, Fadhel Khalaf, Farhan
Rashed Al-Farhan are some of the writers who have written in this genre. One
of the short story- and novel-writing
Kuwaiti writers who is one of the pioneers in this field and whose name is
engraved in the history of fiction writing
in Kuwait is Laila Abdullah AbdulLatif al-Othman. She was born in 1945
in Murqab area in Kuwait in a household
fond of literature. Her father wrote an
anthology entitled Diwan al-Othman
or Al-Othman Anthology. She persevered in educating herself tirelessly
expanding her scope of learning in literature when she was at school.
She started to write in the local newspapers in the mid-sixties. Her themes
comprised of a variety of areas including
literary and social issues among others.
Her stories have been translated into
many languages including English,

Russian, German, Chinese and others.

Some of her works have been adapted
for television. Al-Othman wrote many

Book jacket of Al-Othmans 55 Short

Tales

stories and collections of short stories

which are considered by scholars and
writers as invaluable additions to modern Arabic literature depicting society in
Kuwait over many decades of the last
century on many levels.
Collection
Some of the titles of her works are
Imraa fi Ina meaning A Woman in
an Urn, a collection of short stories
published in 1986, Al-Raheel meaning
The Departure, another collection of
short stories published in 1979, AlMara wal Qitta meaning The Woman
and the Cat published in 1985, Fathieh
Takhtar Mawtaha, meaning Fathieh
Chooses her Demise, a collection of
short stories published in 1987 are just
few. Her collection of short stories entitled Khamsat was Khamsoun Hikayat
Qaseera meaning 55 Short Tales is a
veritable world of wonder: a panoramic
and eclectic world of tales depicted from
all nooks and crannies in life. An interesting read of what life is all about
recounted by an adept raconteur in full
control of her language and who has a

profound understanding of her protagonists. The over 230-paged collection of

short stories, the interesting page-turning
reading experience, keeps the reader
anxiously awaiting the following event
involving the characters lives or the
mishaps they go through: never boring
or complacent flowing in Arabic prose of
special nature comprising of succinct
sentences, quick-paced but most of all
candid and believable.
It shows the beautiful and ugly faces
of life and their impact on the protagonists most sincerely and candidly. Some
of the titles in this intriguing collection
are The Peacock, The Grand
Illusion, Lost Motherhood, Lady of
the House, Return my Childhood,
Claws of Wolves, A Fence of
Illusion, The Bitterness of Revenge,
The End of Waiting and The Triumph
are few selected titles out of the 55 tales.
During an enlightening chat with the
writer Laila al-Othman at the Library of
the Kuwaiti Writers League in
Udailiyah, she shared with me her early
fondness of heeding tales recounted by
her elders at her house, or what Kuwaitis
call hazawi or bed-time children tales
recounted by mothers or grandmothers
to their children in order to put them to
sleep.
Memories
She added with a zealous and shining
face evoking memories from her childhood The wide and diverse scope of
imagination incorporated in those hazawi (bed-time children tales) had fueled
my imagination with limitless and wondrous fodder for my fiction afterwards,
those were great and unforgettable times
in my life. Laila al-Othman is truly a
talented and prolific writer of exceptional literary talent, her vast literary contribution to modern Arabic literature
depicting life in old Kuwait and other
settings unfolding social conflicts and
dilemmas men and women encounter in
their lives told with candid and forceful
voices.
When asked about her most favourites
from her diverse literary oeuvre she
replied humbly All are but in particular
Wasmieh Emerging from the Sea and
The Woman and the Cat are perhaps
the dearest to my heart. On the latter
tale, the renowned late scholar Dr Ali alRae wrote about it by saying that This
is a social story (The Woman and the
Cat), an extremely sincere characteristic tale depicting its true setting, portraying partiality to victims of social oppression.
It has transcended mere photographic
recording to reach artistic handling
through forceful and vivid language,
elating at many instances to poetic
images, such as the scene between Salem
and Hessa. The narrative flows lucidly,
the literary techniques are simple and
easy to grasp without neglecting any of
the dimensions the novelist (Al-Othman)
intends it to attain.
P.S. I would like to thank the writer
Laila al-Othman for sharing with me her
thoughts about her burgeoning writing
talent, her life and her literary works,
and am also indebted to Laila M. Saleh
for her book comprising of many comprehensive biographies about distinguished
Kuwaiti authors, poets and historians
who have truly enriched the contemporary Arabic literature with captivating
and unforgettable literary works and also
the assistance of the Head Librarian at
the Kuwaiti Writers League in
Udailiyah area in Kuwait Muhammad
Abdullah.

Entertaining read

Ozzy memoir,
a rock history
By Ryan McLendon

Am Ozzy (Grand Central

Publishing, 416 pages, $26.99),
by Ozzy Osbourne, with Chris Ayres:
I Am Ozzy is a true Hollywood
story in book format - a ride through
rock n roll history with a driver saturated in controlled substances.
Its Ozzy Osbornes stumbling,
rambling, decadent-beyond-recognition memoir, as over-the-top as the
author himself. The book would be
heartbreaking if
it werent so
hilarious.
This autobiography of the
indefatigable
Prince
of
Darkness
chronicles the
often obscene
life and times of
John Ozzy
Osbourne. It
Osbourne
follows
his
winding path to stardom from a meager
upbringing
in
Aston,
Birmingham, in Britain, where he
lived an unremarkable life in a postWorld War II house with his parents
and five siblings.
His early life was severely troubled. After stints as a mediocre student (he was diagnosed with dyslexia
in middle age), a failed day worker
and an inept burglar, Osbourne found
himself in Winson Green prison. His
time behind bars was brief, but it
weaned him off petty crime.a
Osbourne still itched for stimuli
outside the mundane, blue-collar existence that permeated his town. His
love for music - the Beatles tapped
into his earnest sonic zeal - prompted
him to pursue music as a career.
Armed with a PA system and ragtag
gaggle of local musicians, he began
planting the seeds for Black Sabbath,
the rock band that would gain notoriety for occult-themed music and drugfueled antics.
For much of their career, Black
Sabbath lived on a diet of groupies,
beer and cocaine. The quantity and
rapidity of their binges were legendary, and their buffoonery on and
off the stage was unsurpassed.
Osbournes life played out like a
rock opera. He started his band, married young, had children, got divorced
young and was fired from Black
Sabbath. He then built a solo career;
married his second wife, Sharon; had
three more children; and continued as
a force in rock.
He operated in a self-professed
pharmacological stupor until he was
diagnosed with Parkin Syndrome in
2005, forcing him to abandon drugs
and alcohol.
His story is told in a Dickensian
monologue, replete with British colloquialisms and poor grammar, as he
relates tales of debilitating druginduced paranoia, drunken rooftop
orgies and driving drunk to the hospital when his first wife was in labor.
If youre looking for a fine-tuned,
poetic, literary gem, look elsewhere.
This book is gritty and raunchy. But
while Osbournes memoir is sometimes painful to read, its also
sidesplittingly funny. The narrative is
like a bear trap laced with opium; it
hurts, but you soon enjoy it.
Hes been performing for nearly 40
years. And I Am Ozzy is an entertaining read. (AP)