15 January 2007
Dear Sirs,

Unknown Soldiers: Matthew Carr, Profile Books Limited

We write in response to your solicitors' letter of 3 November 2006 drawing our attention to allegations published in Unknown Soldiers by Matthew Carr ('the Book1) which Profile published in August last year. The Book contained allegations on page 286 which you describe as meaning that:
  1. Sheikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz was suspected of being a terrorist financier whose accounts were audited by the Saudi government, which discovered a $3M deficit reflecting an equivalent payment to Islamic charities acting as fronts for Osama bin Laden; and

  2. Sheikh Abdulrahman Bin Mahfouz, Sheikh Khalid's son, was accused by the US Treasury of being involved in the management of an Islamic charity, Blessed Relief, which siphoned funds to Al-Qaeda.
As stated in the footnotes to the Book, in researching the allegations the author relied on Reaping the Whirlwind: Afghanistan, Al Qa'ida and The Holy War by Michael Griffin (Pluto Press, 2003). Your solicitors have explained that such reliance was misplaced. Although we were not aware of it at the time of publication, Pluto Press apologised to your clients in March 2004 for making allegations of terrorist funding. In this connection your solicitors have also drawn to our attention the apologies given to you by Associated Newspapers as well as Jean-Charles Brisard and others.

Profile is a responsible publisher and has no desire to publish false or inaccurate material. The allegations were originally published in good faith, but having received your solicitors' letter and read the information sent with it we now recognise that the information on which they were based was wrong. Having recognised this, Profile has put a stop to any further distribution of the Book.

Additionally, Profile is prepared to pulp all existing copies of the Book held either by us or in our distributors' warehouse as well as all unsold copies returned to us. Although we cannot guarantee unequivocally that no individual copies will remain on sale because of the way the supply chain works, we have taken the practicable steps we can to prevent further publication.

In addition and in keeping with our good faith approach, as soon as we received your solicitors' letter we took immediate steps to prevent further publication by others. The text has been amended for all future editions, including those planned but not yet published in the United States and France, so that all reference to your clients has been removed from the Book.

Matthew Carr and Profile accept that the entire Bin Mahfouz family categorically and unreservedly condemns terrorism in all its manifestations, and that at no time has any member of the family contributed to any terrorist organisation, nor has the family ever had reason to believe that funds it has given over the years to a wide variety of charities, including Blessed Relief, which is also known as the Muwafaq Foundation, have been used other than for the charitable purposes intended.

We try to publish to the highest standards and not to use inaccurate and misleading information. We regret that in this instance we fell short of that aim. Please accept our sincere apologies for the distress and embarrassment this has caused. We are pleased that we can resolve this matter without the need for litigation and confirm that subject to the reservations above Matthew Carr and Profile undertake not to publish these or any similar allegations about you in future.

To emphasise our regret we have agreed to pay you damages and to make a contribution to your reasonable legal costs in dealing with this matter, both of which you have agreed to donate to the charity UNICEF.

Yours faithfully,

Stephen Brough
Director and Company Secretary		Matthew Carr



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