Talk:Bob Shaheen

BLP concerns

Hi, in this edit I removed the statement "There are still outstanding questions as to whether these activities were set up as front appearances for other enterprises, echoing Khashoggi's penchant for shell corporations." Firstly, it's a vague statement and might otherwise be tagged as "weasel wording", but it also suggests some perpetration of sketchy activity. This is a BLP, so the threshold for inclusion of potentially controversial material is higher. This would certainly have to be sourced, and we would have to have a clear picture of who still had these outstanding questions. FBI? Interpol? Whatever. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 17:58, 26 March 2014 (UTC)

This article has been the target of pro-Shaheen SPAs trying to make him look great, and especially lately, anti-Shaheen SPAs trying to tear him down. Your help is appreciated. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 18:20, 26 March 2014 (UTC)

The recent re-addition of this arms-trading stuff by GnomeoftheRock needs heavy sourcing. This stuff is coming off as potentially libelous, and Wikipedia should not be included in the promotion of this content. Source reliably, source multiply, otherwise this content will be removed on sight. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 04:12, 28 March 2014 (UTC)

Oh, I agree. I put some work into this article a few years back and got it into fairly decent shape. But it has been nibbled and chipped at over and over and over. Quite sad, really. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 04:23, 28 March 2014 (UTC)

Khashoggi the businessman/arms merchant

I'm opening this discussion to invite the various POV people to discuss rather than to disrupt. It is well documented that Bob Shaheen worked for Khashoggi. I don't think this is disputed. He was president of Triad Corporation. This is sourced. Is this disputed? Khashoggi was a businessman, and was reputed to trade in a number of things, including arms. This is sourced. Is this disputed? There are multiple sources that have called him an arms dealer and his involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal is arguably the biggest reason why he is so notable. Is this disputed? If not, then it deserves mention. I've tried to be careful with the language, preferring "arms merchant" over "arms trafficker" as the former sounds more neutral. I've also made some changes to avoid suggesting that Shaheen was himself an arms trafficker, or involved in any illegal activity as previous versions seemed to suggest. But removing "Khashoggi was a reputed arms merchant" entirely as though the fact doesn't exist, doesn't seem a reasonable solution. I also don't understand the repeated addition of "chief of staff" to describe Shaheen. Can someone please explain that to me? Cyphoidbomb (talk) 19:51, 16 April 2014 (UTC)

I think that "arms dealer" is the best brief term for Khashoggi. I don't like "reputed" as it is well-known that he was in that business. Though he was involved in a number of possibly shady deals, it seems that most of his ventures were legal, according to the standards of the international arms trade. As for "chief of staff", that seems to be the job title that most sources writing about Shaheen use. Cullen³²⁸ Let's discuss it 00:16, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

Okay. I yield on "chief of staff", I'll yield on "arms dealer". I went with "reputed arms merchant" because I thought it would be a reasonable compromise between the people who seem inclined to create a negative impression of Shaheen, and the people who keep deleting the content entirely without explanation. I'm not locked into the wording. So do you and I agree that "arms dealer" should be in this article? Was Shaheen independently notable that his involvement with "an arms dealer" should be omitted? I'm asking to directly address the IPs who keep removing the content. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 03:14, 21 April 2014 (UTC)