Talk:Tony Frangieh

Untitled
The killing of Tony Franjieh is usually referred to as 'the murder of Tony Franjieh' rather than assassination. This is how most sources on the Lebanese conflict describe it and how the media of the time did so. There is also little doubt that the killers were acting on the direct orders of Bachir Gemayel. John Ball 30/07/04 10:50
 * I will try to find a source for this. I have seen admissions to the effect by some of Bachir's subordinates, as well as denials.  I will try to find sources for both.David Cannon 11:28, 30 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Don't forget that a Syrian checkpoint was removed from the Ehden road a few days before the murder. It is widely believed that one of the four major Syrian powers (Hikmit El-Shehabi) had an interest in Frangieh's death. Most common people believe that the Frangieh's are just "Syria's Men". This is a common belief among the population that gets its sources from the popular media. However, the Frangieh's are in an alliance with the Assad Family, not neccesarily the other three Syrian powers; two of them that were led by Shehabi and another by Abed El-Halim Khidam.


 * I think your edit is fine as NPOV. I'd be interested to see any denials that Gemayel did NOT order the killing. I find it difficult to believe his subordinates carrying out such a high profile operation without his say-so. Sources on the web tend to be dominated by Phalange and LF POV. As far as I am aware there have been attempts to blame the deaths on Hobeika, to claim that Tony was dead when they got there, that it was an arrest operation gone wrong and that Geagea was unconscious at the key moments. I am aware that Amnesty International were critical of Geagea's trial.

Name spelling
The international media, as well as the English-language Lebanese media, most commonly spell Frangieh's name with a G, not a J. Neither spelling is wrong, as they are but transpositions of Arabic letters, but unless there is a good reason otherwise, it is best to stick with the spelling most commonly used. I have reverted the page move. David Cannon 13:57, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC)

- Actually, doing a search for both Franjieh and Franjieh in Google News reveals that Franjieh with a J is most commonly used than with a G.

-- Google News:

[453 results] http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&lr=&tab=wn&ie=UTF-8&q=franjieh [30 results] http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&lr=&tab=wn&ie=UTF-8&q=frangieh

Suleiman Franjieh, Tony Franjieh's son, is also most commonly spelled with a J in the media:

[393 results] http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&lr=&tab=wn&ie=UTF-8&q=%22suleiman+franjieh%22 [2 results] http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&lr=&tab=wn&ie=UTF-8&q=%22suleiman+frangieh%22

-- Google:

[10,900] http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=franjieh [4,410] http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=frangieh

-- Yahoo

[45,800 results] http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=franjieh&ei=UTF-8&fr=FP-tab-web-t&fl=0&x=wrt [2,120 results] http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=frangieh&ei=UTF-8&fr=FP-tab-web-t&fl=0&x=wrt

-- MSN Search

[322105 results] http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=franjieh&FORM=QBHP [3275 results] http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=frangieh&FORM=QBNO

As you can see, Franjieh with a J is clearly the most predominant spelling.


 * I see. Two factors to consider: Other members of the family on Wikipedia are spelt with a G, and the Lebanon Wire newsagency (from which I have derived a significant proportion of the information used on Wikipedia) uses that spelling too. David Cannon 05:32, 23 Apr 2005 (UTC)

David,

I understand what you're saying here, but anyone can edit wikipedia and thus anything on wikipedia cannot be taken as a fact. But it still seems that everyone uses the Franjieh spelling with a J and not with a G.

In Google News, if you notice, there are more news agencies spelling the name with a J rather than with a G:

FRANJIEH: Arab News, Saudi Arabia Daily Star - Lebanon Los Angeles Times Aljazeera.com, UK Lebanese Lobby, Lebanon Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates Reuters Guardian, UK Arabic News, Middle East San Diego Union Tribune Gulf Daily News, Bahrain World Peace Herald, DC Washington Times, DC Chosun Ilbo, South Korea Newsday, NY Express Newsline, India Big News Network.com, Australia Dar Al-Hayat, Saudi Arabia Al-Bawaba, Jordan Yemen Observer, Yemen Swissinfo, Switzerland New Zealand Herald, New Zealand ObviousNews.com, Canada Wired News BBC News, UK ChristianToday, UK Tribune de Genève, Switzerland Financial Times, UK Voice of America AsiaNews.it, Italy Salon Kansas City Star, MO Daily Times, Pakistan New Kerala, India Lebanese Lobby, Lebanon UN News Centre Keralanext, India AINA, CA

FRANGIEH: Parkesburg Ledger, PA The Yale Herald, Yale Daily News Khaleej Times, United Arab Emirates Peninsula On-line, Qatar Middle East Online, UK Tehran Times, Iran Times of Oman, Oman Baku Today, Azerbaijan Brisbane Courier Mail, Australia Daily News Transcript, MA

Do you want to correct the names to a J yourself, or do I do it?