This is a classic one: "a former resident of Beirut". I just blogged about this. How the required qualifications for Middle East analysis and policy making in the US are now confined to Zionist fanaticism. That is all what you need. If you are a Zionist fanatic, like say Elliott Abrams, you can even run Middle East policy at the National Security Council. So the New York Times wanted somebody to review a book on Lebanon (by the lousy Sandra Mackey), and they asked a blogger who, just happens to be, a Zionist fanatic. The blogger never studied the Middle East, does not know any Arabic, and has not lived in any ME country, but the New York Times found a way to explain his Middle East qualifications: "He is a former resident of Beirut." So the man visited Beirut, is that not enough? So I visit China will I be asked to review books on Chinese history for the New York Times? Yes, I will, if I visit China and report that the Chinese people love Israel, and they hate Israel's enemies (which is what the blogger does on his visits to Lebanon).
PS Laleh found why the blogger was chosen to review a book on Lebanon in NYT, in addition to the qualification that stemmed from his visits to Lebanon, he said this about the Israeli war on Lebanon: "I sympathize one hundred percent with what Israel is trying to do here."