Talk:Libya lobby in the United States

Assistance Requested

{{Request edit}} Hello, I'd like to ask for assistance with this article. Because I know there are guidelines about contributing when there may be a potential conflict of interest, I want to disclose (as on my user page) that I am posting here in affiliation with and on behalf of Monitor Group, a subject of this article.

As you can see on the talk page of the main Monitor Group article, my colleague User:CanalPark worked with impartial editors to bring the article up to Wikipedia’s standards for reliable sourcing, veracity and neutral point of view. I do not think the current section on this page meets those standards. In building off previous work, I aim to follow all the Wikipedia guidelines, including those for COI, and I would like to seek help from impartial editors to improve the page, especially since I am wary of making edits directly due to my relationship with the company.

Because the text is largely the same, many things that stood out in the Monitor Group article also stand out in this section:

• The current text of the Libya Lobby article relies on a report by Mother Jones[1] and a single primary source[2] from MJ’s website. I believe it would be much improved by the inclusion of other sources (such as those compiled for the main Monitor Group article, found here: Talk:Monitor Group/LibyaSources).
• The section’s reliance on very recent sources creates the impression that Monitor’s work in Libya was not publicly known until this year. However, there are a number of earlier sources citing the firm’s presence in Libya, including a 2007 article by the Associated Press[3], a 2007 article by NPR[4], and a 2008 article in the New Yorker[5].
• The section states that Mother Jones "has obtained internal company documents" and "produced internal company documents" when in fact (as the section also states) these were released by a Libyan opposition group in 2009.
• The section now quotes Mother Jones' statement that Monitor "had been retained 'not to promote economic development'" but this is not true. As the Boston Globe reported[6], and the Monitor Group statement[7] has explained, the bulk of the work in 2006-2008 was focused on encouraging economic and democratic reforms. The 2007 NPR report[8] also states that Monitor was hired for these purposes. As written, this is one-sided and inaccurate. I suggest more information from the Globe, NPR and Monitor’s statement be included.
• The section currently does not mention that the majority of Monitor's work was in 2006 to 2008. This is supported by several sources, including a Businessweek article[9] on April 6, which states that “between 2006 and 2008, when Monitor said it did the bulk of its work, the country's trajectory seemed positive."

To a great extent these points were included in revisions to the Monitor Group article, resulting in a much improved article. The discussion on the talk page and the ensuing improvements were based on a significant amount of work by neutral editors to gather relevant sources which are compiled here: Talk:Monitor Group/LibyaSources. It is my hope a similar process can much improve this article. I'm under no illusion that information about this will be removed, but I do wish that it be even-handed and accurate, as the best Wikipedia articles can be.

Because of the sensitivity involved, I do not wish to edit this page directly. Please let me know if you would like to get involved, and if you have any questions that I can answer. I would appreciate any help that other editors can provide as there are a lot of improvements that can be made to make this a much better article and one that better reflects Wikipedia's guidelines. Please leave any messages here or on my talk page. Thanks, Cambridge141 (talk) 19:16, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

To interested editors: Following a discussion on User:Brewcrewer's talk page, I implemented some changes that I believe significantly improve the article, and I would welcome your input. Please review the edit and make any further edits as you see fit. Thanks, Cambridge141 (talk) 21:35, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

I've cancelled out the {{Request edit}} for now; I believe (above) changes have been made; seems fine; if further changes are required, please note that we need a specific clear reference for each, in the form of "Change X to Y ref Z".  Chzz  ►  05:32, 28 September 2011 (UTC)

Where's Billy Carter?

Can't have an article on this subject without mentioning Billy Carter! -- AnonMoos (talk) 12:01, 29 September 2011 (UTC)