As a non-Arabic speaker, I can't compare either to the source material--but it's straightforward to compare the one English version to the other.

Meph's transcript gives a much better sense of the Al-Jazeera program on which Sultan appeared, "The Opposite Direction." The Charlie Rose Show it ain't. Host Faisal al Qassem seems to be looking for an Intellectual Food Fight, more focused on generating sparks than light. Does he believe the loopy lead-in statements he makes, or is it just Show Business? Or a bit of both? Guest Dr. Ibrahim al-Khouly, a lecturer at Cairo's renowned Al-Azhar University, barely makes an appearance on MEMRI, but got to make plenty of his points, such as they are, on the show.

For those masochists who want to compare MEMRI's version with the on-screen account by Meph (no printing allowed), here are the markers.

MEMRI: Wafa Sultan: The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions...
Meph, Pg 2 para 2: WS: What we see unfolding on the international scene is not a clash of religions...

MEMRI: Host: I understand from your words that what is happening today...
Meph, Pg 2 para 4: Faisal al-Qassem: Do we understand from your words that what is happening now...

MEMRI: Host: Who came up with the concept of a clash of civilizations?...
Meph Pg 3 last para: FQ: What the world is witnessing these days is a clash of civilizations...

MEMRI: WS: My colleague has said that he never offends other people's beliefs...
Meph Pg 4 para 12: WS: He claims he doesn't insult others' doctrines...

MEMRI: WS: I am not a Christian, a Muslim, or a Jew. I am a secular human being...
Meph pg 8 para 17: WS: I am not a Christian, I do not believe in any religion...

MEMRI: Ibrahim Al-Khouli: Are you a heretic?
Meph pg 8 para 10: IK: You mean an atheist?

MEMRI: WS: Brother, you can believe in stones, as long as you don't throw them at me...
Meph pg 8 para 17: WS: My brother, believe, if you wish, in a stone but do not dare strike me with it...

MEMRI: WS: The Jews have come from the tragedy (of the Holocaust), and forced the world to respect them...
Meph pg 11 para 4: WS: The Jews emerged from a tragedy and forced the world to respect them...

What do I think? Meph's translation is none to kind to Dr. al-Khoury, who--to a historically-knowledgeable Westerner--hangs himself with his own words. Though, as has been pointed out at 'Aqoul and in Big Lizard's comments, this means less than it seems. al-Khoury probably fits comfortably into the pious mainstream of al-Jazeera's audience. To my Western sensibilites, Dr. Sultan is very impressive, though she misses her stride in a few places. But this, too, probably doesn't matter much to al-Jazeera's target audience, who presumably see her as something of atheist and or an heretic, and more of an American than an Arab.

As to the translations: the sense conveyed by MEMRI's excerpts matches pretty well with that given by Meph; though Meph's work has the big contextual advantage of being, well, complete. Meph, but not MEMRI, gives a sense of "The Opposite Direction's" raucus sensationalism--a helpful context.

The one remaining major point of contention is in the penultimate exchange, where MEMRI has al-Khouly asking if Sultan, "Are you a heretic?", while Meph phrases the words as, "You mean an atheist?" The point rankles 'Aqoul posters (see the later comments in Moderate Muslims Sighted in Madison ) because of Sultan's claim that al-Khouly pronounced a fatwa on her. The 3/11/06 New York Times:

[Dr. Sultan's] fame grew exponentially when she appeared on Al Jazeera again on Feb. 21, an appearance that was translated and widely distributed by the Middle East Media Research Institute. Memri said the clip of her February appearance had been viewed more than a million times…The other guest on the program, … Dr. Ibrahim al-Khouli, asked, "Are you a heretic?" He then said there was no point in rebuking or debating her, because she had blasphemed against Islam, the Prophet Muhammad and the Koran.
Dr. Sultan said she took those words as a formal fatwa, a religious condemnation. Since then, she said, she has received numerous death threats on her answering machine and by e-mail. One message said: "Oh, you are still alive? Wait and see." She received an e-mail message the other day, in Arabic, that said, "If someone were to kill you, it would be me."

Meph's complete transcript gives no evidence that al-Khouly intended to pronounce a fatwa, or could have done so, or did. In my opinion, that doesn't make Sultan less brave for speaking out: sure, she might have made up those death threats she recounted to the NYT, but given the experiences of dissidents from Salman Rushdie onwards, there is all too little reason to suppose that that she had a need to.

** UPDATE March 30, 2006 1:45 PM: **

Last night, Mortal Human and Mideast traveler Dean Esmay weighed in on comment #102 of this thread. Here's what he said:

...As someone who's been 100% committed to the GWOT, including the important battlefield in that larger struggle which is Iraq, I have long maintained that Islamophobia IS real and IS an evil, and that whatever their value in some departments we have to be careful with groups like MEMRI because they DO present a slant and "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" isn't their central goal. Advocacy is. Which is fine, advocacy is what they're all about.

But even advocacy goes too far at times. "Fake but accurate" is not a defense for Dan Rather, and it's not for others.

One of the biggest truth-casualties here, by the way, is the notion that there was anything startling, amazing, or original about Sultan's angry anti-Muslim screed on Al-Jazeera. Or that it's unusual to see an outspoken angry woman be critical of men on Al-Jazeera. Or that condemnation of the Saudi version of Sharia is unusual on Al-Jazeera. If you "haven't seen anything like it before," that should cause you to pause and reflect and wonder: people who actually watch Arab television on a regular basis found it about as unremarkable as your average segment on Bill O'Reilly's show. Hello? Hello? Anyone listening?

Read Abu Aardvark's blog. You'll find it right here. I suggest reading it regularly, because it's a blog, not a single book that's going to answer all your questions instantly.

But I'll go further: I suggest that Joe Katzman, Armed Liberal, and the rest of the WOC crew offer Abu Aardvark a post as co-blogger on Winds of Change. In fact, I dare you.

My view is that Islamic radicalism can never be defeated if we do not have muslims on our side. And we aren't going to get muslims on our side by consistently distorting them and their worldview, are we?

This isn't like the war against Tojo's Japan. But even in that war, we needed friends in that part of the world.

Thanks for weighing in, Dean.