Three Cups of Mullarkey: CMC Gets Taken In and CMC Alum and Montana Attorney General Investigates Fraudster

It turns out that Greg Mortenson was running a scam and CMC was taken in when it brought his co-author to talk about

I always thought that Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea story read more like fantasy than real life. I mean, come on, are we really supposed to believe that the Taliban would just let a bunch of girl's schools roll out in Afghanistan? How silly. Perhaps that's why every freshman on campus was encouraged to read it this year.

We should have known better, as Debra Saunders over at Real Clear Politics confirms:

The worst part: "60 Minutes" checked out 30 of the 141 schools that Mortenson's charity, Central Asia Institute, claimed to have built in Afghanistan and Pakistan "mostly for girls." Kroft reported, "Roughly half were empty, built by someone else or not receiving any support at all." 

American Institute of Philanthropy President Daniel Borochoff found that in 2009, CAI spent more on "domestic outreach" -- largely advertising and travel promoting Mortenson's books, "like a book tour" -- than it spent overseas. 

"Into Thin Air" author Jon Krakauer, who is mentioned in "Three Cups" as a CAI supporter, charged that Mortenson, who has made millions in book sales, used the charity "as his private ATM."

Th reason for the book's 3 million in sales? The book personifies every "liberal conceit." And does it ever. Why, it's as if Ed Haley himself wrote it, with the usual genuflections to poverty, not Islamic radicalism, being at the heart of the problem in Afghanistan.

Never mind that the U.S. military builds more schools than Mortenson claimed he did, by far.


The CMC connection continues: Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock CMC '88 is on the case. Let's hope he pursues Mortenson relentlessly.