Are you suggesting Hamas has 1017-mile-long tunnels?
Posted By: sm on 2009-01-04
In Reply to: Yeah, and Hamas weapons also - consist of anything else
Do you hear yourself? You are regurgitating more propaganda from US media sources, which act as mouthpieces of the US, AIPAC, and Israel policies. Do you understand how one-sided US news coverage really is? The only smuggling of any significance going on is between Gaza and Egypt and, for the most part, the contraband is food, clothing, medicine, fuel and cash, which they have been cut off from for the past 18 months due to Israel's blockade. If there is weapon smuggling, the majority of it would be coming from the Muslim Brotherhood who is not exactly able to engage in such activities openly since they are repressed by the Egyptian government and are not even allowed to run for office as a legitimate political party, are subjected to mass arrests, etc.
The Brotherhood is a Sunni organization and does not even operate in Iran, whose relations with Egypt are pretty icy, to say the least. These factors make high-level, successful arms smuggling connected to Iran difficult at best and fairly unlikely. It should come as no surprise that Iran is entirely supportive of Palestine, but the way US depicts the relationship between Iran and other Islamic political parties is highly exaggerated and often inaccurate.
In any case, the weapons that have been able to be smuggled in quite OBVIOUSLY do not measure up to the caliber of weapons Israel has been able to amass with US financial backing and direct arms provisions. Take a long look at the list I put in the other post. Israel is able to conduct its wars FROM OUTER SPACE.
If Hamas had such weaponry, we would not have a 125:1 fatality ratio between the two sides, would we now? I hate to break this to you, but Iranians DO NOT imbed themselves in Gaza. You really need to educate yourself on the difference between an Arab and a Persian, when and how they support each other and where they draw their lines.
BTW, no place in any of my posts have you seen me say I think Hamas is "so great." In fact, I support secular social democratic parties in the Middle East, including Iran. I simply view the area's politics from a different standpoint than most Americans because I have had occasion to live there, to work with refugees, to marry into a Moslem family and to befriend man Iranians, Iraqis Jordanians, Syrians, Turks, Lebanese, Palestinians and even a couple of liberal Israelis over the last 40 years.
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No one in my family ever waited on a mile long list
There is a reason - Canadians encourage healthy lifestyles, price cigarettes so high, they are unaffordable and provide preventative medicince. My GF had prostate cancer in 1955 and lives 30 more years under the Canadian health care system. My other GF had severe atherosclerosis at 65, lived for 20 more years. I could go on and on. Those with good insurance in the states have no idea what it is like to be underinsured or uninsured. Being in a national health care system is better than both, as a catastrophic illness bankrupts the patient. So, the taxpayer bails them out through bankruptcy. You're physician is a selfish doctor who probably is more a businessman than a healthcare provider. You know, the kind that would not provide medical care unless he were paid.
Yes, yes. I have 1/2 mile from my house.
x
So are you seriously suggesting that
private health, car, property and/or life insurance fraud? At least with government programs, there are stringent safeguards in place that are enforced.
Fact remains that health insurance for CHILDREN should not be any less of a priority than, say, bankrolling Israel's arsenal which, of late, has slaughtered around 400 of them in Gaza in the name of national security and (UA) sponsorship of apartheid state-sponsored terrorism in our Middle East so-called democratic outpost.
mile high stadium
It is a big venue because of the huge number of people who want to be part of the historic event of our first black candidate's acceptance speech. I see it as a defining moment in our history and I am pleased that he wants to include as many as possible. Wish I were there. Still, the flight suit . . .
waling a mile in their shoes
Marmann:
I agree with your statement; I have a son who just came back from there (he's been in the military for 19 years), and he states it is far worse than we know. He told me 'mom, I have seen a lot of things in my service to this country, but to see what I have seen there"..and he can't talk about it further because he breaks down in tears, especially when he talks about the children and friends he has lost because of this so-called war..it's heartbreaking.. He is home now, he has one more year left and after that he says he will retire. War through a soldier's eyes and heart go beyond devastation; that is why so many of our husbands, sisters, fathers and even mothers who serve our country who come back from war broken because through their eyes and hearts - they know things that they can never and will never discuss with anyone.
waling a mile in their shoes
Marmann:
I agree with your statement; I have a son who just came back from there (he's been in the military for 19 years), and he states it is far worse than we know. He told me 'mom, I have seen a lot of things in my service to this country, but to see what I have seen there"..and he can't talk about it further because he breaks down in tears, especially when he talks about the children and friends he has lost because of this so-called war..it's heartbreaking.. He is home now, he has one more year left and after that he says he will retire. War through a soldier's eyes and heart go beyond devastation; that is why so many of our husbands, sisters, fathers and even mothers who serve our country who come back from war broken because through their eyes and hearts - they know things that they can never and will never discuss with anyone.
Not doing that. Suggesting to take the debate
where it belongs. That is what also what the article in the OP is staying. Stop spinning and get ready for some perfectly normal political talk. FV, sex ed, abstinence, AB is part of your party platform. Different versions of it are part of Obama's platform. That is where the focus is going to be whether you want to go there or not.
What is your point? Are you suggesting...sm
that Obama or his church had a hand in the murder? I certainly would be upset if two people from my church were murdered but wouldn't think to insinuate my church had something to do with it. Am I misunderstanding you?
I am discounting no one here by suggesting
responsible for rehabilitating their own party and will not be able to get a grip on that as long as they keep playing the blame game and trying to make Obama into some kind of pariah.
If they truly put country first, then then will recognize that we are ALL in crisis mode and our leadership will be needing all the help they can get to stop the hemorrhaging, gain some semblance of stability and start turning our attention on the future rather than the past.
I am weary of tit-for-tat and will be spending these next few weeks trying my best to take my focus off my party and put it back onto the issues I hold most dear. I would not feel I have the luxury to do that were I on the other side of the fence, finding myself in the middle of my party's rubble.
Noone is suggesting that we release ALL of them...(sm)
just the ones we know (and have known) are innocent. Gitmo absolutely has to be closed. At this point it is and always will be a brand for the US. What did the N. Koreans say when asked about the treatment of those 2 girls they have? They said "we aren't Gitmo." That should tell you a lot right there.
The ones who are guilty can easily be imprisoned in the US. We already have terrorists of the worst kind in our prisons, and to date there has never been anyone escape from a maximum security prison. Would they influence other inmates? Possibly. But they can also be separated from other inmates. There is no plausible reason for us not to do this.
How do you know I haven't walk a mile in their shoes?
You don't have one iota of a clue what I've been through in my life. So, your trying to portray me as some mean spirited soul who doesn't have a clue what tough times are is very presumptious of you. I have walked some very difficult roads. I could write a book about what has happened to me that was not my fault, but I dealt with it. I received help and was grateful, and once I had a leg up I took it from there. I never once complained about what the government wasn't doing for me.
I'm not saying that the situation in Lebanon is easy or fair. However, at some point people have to take the consequences of their choices and live with them and not criticize the help they are given. If these people weren't whining while being evacuated from their country on a luxury cruisde ship with all the amenties I would have kept my mouth shut, but the audacity of people to complain about THEIR RESCUERS goes beyond being ungrateful. Now, if I was standing on a corner telling a mentally challenged homeless person to suck it up and get a job then your sermons would have been called for, but these are people who went to Lebanon with the money out of their pocket knowing full well the dangers there. I really can't believe you are comparing the dangers of Beirut, Lebanon to any American city, but then again I don't choose to walk through the worst neighbohoods in my city at night either. Anyway, there is no comparison.
Mass murders in Iraq? Are you suggesting our military....
are mass murderers??? So far as I know George Bush has not personally killed anyone, nor has the Congress, who are the ones responsible for sending our military there...so are you saying our military is carrying out mass murder?
Want to make sure I understand...are you suggesting that being a rapist is hereditary?
??
You'll be waiting a long, long time, then, cuz she's going to do
Don't think they returned any from Hamas. nm
nm
And Hamas? Are they innocents? - sm
Heard one of the leaders of Hamas today state that they will never accept a peace agreement with Israel - that the "occupation" must stop. Occupation, occupation! Excuse me but didn't Israel win the war? And why not accept a peace agreement, better than doing what they are doing, what THEY are doing to their own people. How about all the buses, restaurants, etc. in Israel that have been blown up with innocent people and children in them? It is time for everyone perpetuating this hatred to give it up and try peace for a change. Hamas is a hate-filled bunch of terrorists and radicals.
Maybe your beloved Hamas SHOULD put God in it.
Then they might stand a chance.
As it is, they're on the way to defeat. (And good riddance to 'em.)
Yeah, Hamas has already endorsed him...
and he had to give their money back.
How many Hamas do you supposed they killed
when they bombed the women's dormitory at the University? Explain to me what threat the five Ba'lousheh sisters, ages 17, 14, 8, 4 and 2 and residents of Jabalya refugee camp, posed to Israel? All five were buried today. It is not enough for Israel cripple and starve the refugees with its ongoing strangling blockade of food, supplies and medicine and turn Gaza and he West Bank into one huge armed prison camp. These blood thirsty barbarians will not rest until they have satisfied their appetites with their latest fix of Arab slaughter. After all, it's already been 2 long years since Lebanon....way too long for the more ravenous among them to endure.
Hamas was democratically elected by
the Palestinian National Authority and has won many local elections in Gaza, Qalqila and Nablus. The hold 72 of the 136 seats in the Palestinian Parliament, having unseated the former Fatah ruling party. Apparently, the Palestinian people do not agree with O.
He will have quite a dilemma on his hands reconciling this rhetoric with what democracy looks like in the Middle East, so let the games begin.
Hamas live in Gaza.
That makes them civilians, too, the same way our elected officials are also citizens and live in their respective states. If living in their own houses in their own neighborhoods is "hiding," then that statement is accurate.
HAMAS is a terrorist group
nm
Yeah, and Hamas weapons also
they can sneak in through their tunnels from Iran, and I think we know the technololgy from Iran is a little more sophisticated than you are admitting. Not to mention the fact that they are embedding themselves into the civilian population in Gaza thereby holding them as hostages and using them for the rest of the world to say the very things you are saying. It sounds to me like you are so disgusted with the US, you may consider leaving and joining the Hamas yourself since they are so great in your eyes.
Yes, and Hamas once again broke the peace.
nm
Those "schools" are also where Hamas hides and
nm
There was a truce. Hamas broke it and sent
nm
He died a long, long time ago! (If he was ever
Don't force your beliefs on others. It further devalues your faith in the eyes of others.
Yeah, right. Hamas squelches any opposition, so you can't
really call their elections democracy in action.
Yeah, right. Hamas squelches any opposition, so you can't
really call their elections democracy in action.
Baloney. Israel is targeting Hamas, who are
nm
How many Hamas in UNRWA, media buildings?
Israel's national security is threatened by "symbols of power," ie reporters and aid workers? Just one more US-backed pack of war crimes based on lies.
http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/articles/2009/01/03/hammond_top-5-lies-about-israels-assault-on-gaza.html
Refer to article for details.
Lie #1) Israel is only targeting legitimate military sites and is seeking to protect innocent lives. Israel never targets civilians.
Lie #2) Hamas violated the cease-fire. The Israeli bombardment is a response to Palestinian rocket fire and is designed to end such rocket attacks.
Lie #3) Hamas is using human shields, a war crime.
Lie #4) Arab nations have not condemned Israel’s actions because they understand Israel’s justification for its assault.
Lie #5) Israel is not responsible for civilian deaths because it warned the Palestinians of Gaza to flee areas that might be targeted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%932009_Israel%E2%80%93Gaza_conflict
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/civilian-casualties-human-rights-groups-accuse-israelis-of-war-crimes-1366727.html
Palestinian fatalities: 1055, 670 of which are civilians, more than 300 children.
Israel fatalities: 13, 3 civilians, 10 soldiers, 4 BY FRIENDLY FIRE.
Palestinian injuries: 4560, over 1500 children.
Israel wounded: 178, 120 soldiers and 58 civilians.
IDF forces: 176,500 who accumulated 2360 air strikes BEFORE the ground assault.
Hamas militia: 20,000 total
How many Hamas in UNRWA, media buildings?
Israel's national security is threatened by "symbols of power," ie reporters and aid workers? Just one more US-backed pack of war crimes based on lies.
http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/articles/2009/01/03/hammond_top-5-lies-about-israels-assault-on-gaza.html
Refer to article for details.
Lie #1) Israel is only targeting legitimate military sites and is seeking to protect innocent lives. Israel never targets civilians.
Lie #2) Hamas violated the cease-fire. The Israeli bombardment is a response to Palestinian rocket fire and is designed to end such rocket attacks.
Lie #3) Hamas is using human shields, a war crime.
Lie #4) Arab nations have not condemned Israel’s actions because they understand Israel’s justification for its assault.
Lie #5) Israel is not responsible for civilian deaths because it warned the Palestinians of Gaza to flee areas that might be targeted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%932009_Israel%E2%80%93Gaza_conflict
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/civilian-casualties-human-rights-groups-accuse-israelis-of-war-crimes-1366727.html
Palestinian fatalities: 1055, 670 of which are civilians, more than 300 children.
Israel fatalities: 13, 3 civilians, 10 soldiers, 4 BY FRIENDLY FIRE.
Palestinian injuries: 4560, over 1500 children.
Israel wounded: 178, 120 soldiers and 58 civilians.
IDF forces: 176,500 who accumulated 2360 air strikes BEFORE the ground assault.
Hamas militia: 20,000 total
Well, they already made him give back Hamas' money.
nm
Good. Hope Israel can destroy HAMAS.
nm
So.....3000-4000 rockets lobbed by Hamas into Israel...sm
in the last year, what about that? Does that bother you in the slightest?
Or in your twisted view of the world, please explain why that is A-0kay in your book.
No. "Evil" is Saddam. "Evil" is Hamas.
nm
how long
back and forth through my working day about 20 minutes or less.
Very long and quite sad
At least she got to go home to Ireland.
The Sunday Times October 09, 2005
Ireland: I wanted to slap him
George W Bush was so upset by Carole Coleman’s White House interview that an official complaint was lodged with the Irish embassy. The RTE journalist explains why the president made her blood boil
With just minutes to go to my interview with George W Bush, I was escorted to the White House library, where a staff member gave instructions on how to greet the president: “He’ll be coming in the door behind you, just stand up, turn around and extend your hand.”
I placed my notes on the coffee table, someone attached a microphone to my lapel, and I waited. The two chairs by the fireplace where the president and I would sit were at least six feet apart; clearly I would not be getting too close to him.
*
The room was well-lit, providing the kind of warm background conducive to a fireside chat. Several people had crowded in behind me. I counted five members of the White House film crew, there was a stenographer sitting in the corner and three or four security staff. I was still counting them when someone spoke. “He’s coming.”
I stood up, turned around to face the door and seconds later the president strode towards me. Bush appeared shorter than on camera and he looked stern and rather grey that day.
“Thanks for comin’, Mr President” I said, sticking out my hand. I had borrowed this greeting directly from him. When Bush made a speech at a rally or town hall, he always began by saying “Thanks for comin’” in his man-of-the-people manner. If he detected the humour in my greeting, he didn’t let on. He took my hand with a firm grip and, bringing his face right up close to mine, stared me straight in the eyes for several seconds, as though drinking in every detail of my face. He sat down and an aide attached a microphone to his jacket.
Nobody said a word. “We don’t address the president unless he speaks first,” a member of the film crew had told me earlier. The resulting silence seemed odd and discomforting, so I broke it. “How has your day been, Mr President?” Without looking up at me, he continued to straighten his tie and replied in a strong Texan drawl, “Very busy.”
This was followed by an even more disconcerting silence that, compounded by the six feet separating us, made it difficult to establish any rapport.
“Will Mrs Bush be seeing any of our beautiful country?” I tried again, attempting to warm things up by adding that I had heard that the taoiseach would be keeping him too busy for sightseeing on his forthcoming trip to Ireland.
“He’s putting me to work, is he? Have you not interviewed Laura?” “No, I haven’t met your wife.” I suggested that he put in a good word for me. He chuckled. By now he seemed settled and the crew looked ready, but still nobody spoke. I was beginning to worry that the clock may have already started on my 10 minutes.
“Are we all ready to go then?” I asked, looking around the room. The next voice I heard was the president’s. “I think we have a spunky one here,” he said, to nobody in particular.
MC, a White House press officer whom I’ve decided not to identify, had phoned me three days earlier to say that President Bush would do an interview with RTE. “Good news,” she had said. “It goes this Thursday at 4.20pm. You will have 10 minutes with the president and Turkish television will talk to him just before you.”
My initial excitement was dampened only by the timing, much later than I had hoped. The interview would take place just three hours before I was to fly back to Ireland to cover his arrival at the EU summit at Dromoland Castle in Clare and just 15 minutes before the start of RTE’s Prime Time programme on which the interview would be broadcast. It would be practically impossible to have the president on air in time for this.
“That’s fabulous,” I gushed, “but is there any way I could go before the Turks?” I had previously explained about the Prime Time programme, so MC knew the situation. “I’ll look into it,” she offered.
The interview sounded like quite a production. We wouldn’t be able to just saunter in there with a camera. It would be filmed by a White House crew, which would then hand over the tapes to me to be copied and returned the same day.
MC asked me for a list of questions and topics, which she said was required for policy purposes in case I should want to ask something that the president needed to be briefed on. The request did not seem odd to me then. The drill had been exactly the same for an interview I had conducted six months earlier with the then secretary of state, Colin Powell.
“What would you ask the president of the United States?” I enquired of everyone I met in the following days. Ideas had already been scribbled on scattered notepads in my bedroom, on scraps of paper in my handbag and on my desk, but once the date was confirmed, I mined suggestions from my peers in RTE and from foreign policy analysts. I grilled my friends in Washington and even pestered cab drivers. After turning everything over in my head, I settled on a list of 10 questions.
Securing a time swap with Turkish television ensured that I saw the president 10 minutes earlier, but there was still less than half an hour to bring the taped interview to the production place four blocks away in time for Prime Time.
Still, with the arrangements starting to fall into place, the sense of chaos receded and I returned to the questions, which by now were perpetually dancing around my head, even in my sleep. Reporters often begin a big interview by asking a soft question — to let the subject warm up before getting into the substance of the topic at hand. This was how I had initially intended to begin with Bush, but as I mentally rehearsed the likely scenario, I felt that too much time could be consumed by his first probable answer, praising Ireland and looking forward to his visit. We could, I had calculated, be into the third minute before even getting to the controversial topics. I decided to ditch the cordial introduction.The majority of the Irish public, as far as I could tell, was angry with Bush and did not want to hear a cosy fireside chat in the middle of the most disputed war since Vietnam. Instead of the kid-glove start, I would get down to business.
*
On Thursday June 24, Washington DC was bathed in a moist 90-degree heat, the type that makes you perspire all over after you have walked only two blocks. Stephanie and I arrived at the northwest gate of the White House that afternoon, and were directed to the Old Executive Office building, Vice President Dick Cheney’s headquarters, and were introduced to MC, whom I had spoken to only by phone. An elegant and confident woman, she was the cut of CJ, the feisty White House press secretary on The West Wing television drama.
A younger male sidekick named Colby stood close by nodding at everything she said and interjecting with a few comments of his own every now and then. Colby suggested that I ask the president about the yellow suit the taoiseach had worn the previous week at the G8 Summit on Sea Island in Georgia. I laughed loudly and then stopped to study his face for signs that he was joking — but he didn’t appear to be. “The president has a good comment on that,” he said.
The taoiseach’s suit had been a shade of cream, according to the Irish embassy. But alongside the other more conservatively dressed leaders, it had appeared as a bright yellow, leaving our Bertie looking more like the lead singer in a band than the official representative of the European Union. It was amusing at the time, but I was not about to raise a yellow suit with the president. “Really?” I asked politely. But a little red flag went up inside my head.
Then MC announced that she had some news for me. “There may be another interview in the pipeline for you,” she said.
“Me?”
“We’re not supposed to tell you this yet, but we are trying to set up an interview with the first lady.”
She indicated that the White House had already been in contact with RTE to make arrangements for the interview at Dromoland Castle, where the president and Mrs Bush would be staying. As an admirer of Laura Bush’s cool grace and sharp intellect, I had requested interviews with her several times previously without any reply. Now the first lady of the United States was being handed to me on a plate. I could not believe my luck.
“Of course, it’s not certain yet,” MC added. And then her sidekick dropped his second bombshell. “We’ll see how you get on with the president first.”
I’m sure I continued smiling, but I was stunned. What I understood from this was that if I pleased the White House with my questioning of the president, I would get to interview the first lady. Were they trying to ensure a soft ride for the president, or was I the new flavour of the month with the first family?
“I’m going to give the president his final briefing. Are there any further questions you want to pass on to him?” MC asked.
“No,” I said, “just tell him I want to chat.”
Stephanie and I locked eyes and headed for the ladies’ powder room, where we prayed.
Mr President,” I began. “You will arrive in Ireland in less than 24 hours’ time. While our political leaders will welcome you, unfortunately the majority of our people will not. They are annoyed about the war in Iraq and about Abu Ghraib. Are you bothered by what Irish people think?”
The president was reclining in his seat and had a half-smile on his face, a smile I had often seen when he had to deal with something he would rather not.
“Listen. I hope the Irish people understand the great values of our country. And if they think that a few soldiers represent the entirety of America, they don’t really understand America then . . . We are a compassionate country. We’re a strong country, and we’ll defend ourselves. But we help people. And we’ve helped the Irish and we’ll continue to do so. We’ve got a good relationship with Ireland.”
“And they are angry over Iraq as well and particularly the continuing death toll there,” I added, moving him on to the war that had claimed 100 Iraqi lives that very day. He continued to smile, but just barely.
“Well, I can understand that. People don’t like war. But what they should be angry about is the fact that there was a brutal dictator there that had destroyed lives and put them in mass graves and torture rooms . . . Look, Saddam Hussein had used weapons of mass destruction against his own people, against the neighbourhood. He was a brutal dictator who posed a threat that the United Nations voted unanimously to say, Mr Saddam Hussein . . .”
Having noted the tone of my questions, the president had now sat forward in his chair and had become animated, gesturing with his hands for emphasis. But as I listened to the history of Saddam Hussein and the weapons inspectors and the UN resolutions, my heart was sinking. He was resorting to the type of meandering stock answer I had heard scores of times and had hoped to avoid. Going back over this old ground could take two or three minutes and allow him to keep talking without dealing with the current state of the war. It was a filibuster of sorts. If I didn’t challenge him, the interview would be a wasted opportunity.
“But, Mr President, you didn’t find any weapons,” I interjected.
“Let me finish, let me finish. May I finish?”
With his hand raised, he requested that I stop speaking. He paused and looked me straight in the eye to make sure I had got the message. He wanted to continue, so I backed off and he went on. “The United Nations said, ‘Disarm or face serious consequences’. That’s what the United Nations said. And guess what? He didn’t disarm. He didn’t disclose his arms. And therefore he faced serious consequences. But we have found a capacity for him to make a weapon. See, he had the capacity to make weapons . . .”
I was now beginning to feel shut out of this event. He had the floor and he wasn’t letting me dance. My blood was boiling to such a point that I felt like slapping him. But I was dealing with the president of the United States; and he was too far away anyway. I suppose I had been naive to think that he was making himself available to me so I could spar with him or plumb the depths of his thought processes. Sitting there, I knew that I was nobody special and that this was just another opportunity for the president to repeat his mantra. He seemed irked to be faced with someone who wasn’t nodding gravely at him as he was speaking.
“But Mr President,” I interrupted again, “the world is a more dangerous place today. I don’t know whether you can see that or not.”
“Why do you say that?”
“There are terrorist bombings every single day. It’s now a daily event. It wasn’t like that two years ago.”
“What was it like on September 11 2001? It was a . . . there was relative calm, we . . .”
“But it’s your response to Iraq that’s considered . . .”
“Let me finish. Let me finish. Please. You ask the questions and I’ll answer them, if you don’t mind.”
His hand was raised again as if to indicate that he was not going to tolerate this. Again, I felt I had no choice but to keep quiet.
“On September 11 2001, we were attacked in an unprovoked fashion. Everybody thought the world was calm. There have been bombings since then — not because of my response to Iraq. There were bombings in Madrid, there were bombings in Istanbul. There were bombings in Bali. There were killings in Pakistan.”
He seemed to be finished, so I took a deep breath and tried once again. So far, facial expressions were defining this interview as much as anything that was said, so I focused on looking as if I was genuinely trying to fathom him.
“Indeed, Mr President, and I think Irish people understand that. But I think there is a feeling that the world has become a more dangerous place because you have taken the focus off Al-Qaeda and diverted into Iraq. Do you not see that the world is a more dangerous place? I saw four of your soldiers lying dead on the television the other day, a picture of four soldiers just lying there without their flak jackets.”
“Listen, nobody cares more about death than I do . . .”
“Is there a point or place . . .”
“Let me finish. Please. Let me finish, and then you can follow up, if you don’t mind.”
By now he was getting used to the rhythm of this interview and didn’t seem quite so taken aback by my attempt to take control of it. “Nobody cares more about death than I do. I care a lot about it. But I do believe the world is a safer place and becoming a safer place. I know that a free Iraq is going to be a necessary part of changing the world.”
The president seemed to be talking more openly now and from the heart rather than from a script. The history lesson on Saddam was over. “Listen, people join terrorist organisations because there’s no hope and there’s no chance to raise their families in a peaceful world where there is not freedom. And so the idea is to promote freedom and at the same time protect our security. And I do believe the world is becoming a better place, absolutely.”
I could not tell how much time had elapsed, maybe five or six minutes, so I moved quickly on to the question I most wanted to ask George Bush in person.
“Mr President, you are a man who has a great faith in God. I’ve heard you say many times that you strive to serve somebody greater than yourself.”
“Right.”
“Do you believe that the hand of God is guiding you in this war on terror?”
This question had been on my mind ever since September 11, when Bush began to invoke God in his speeches. He spoke as if he believed that his job of stewarding America through the attacks and beyond was somehow preordained, that he had been chosen for this role. He closed his eyes as he began to answer.
“Listen, I think that God . . . that my relationship with God is a very personal relationship. And I turn to the Good Lord for strength. I turn to the Good Lord for guidance. I turn to the Good Lord for forgiveness. But the God I know is not one that . . . the God I know is one that promotes peace and freedom. But I get great sustenance from my personal relationship.”
He sat forward again. “That doesn’t make me think I’m a better person than you are, by the way. Because one of the great admonitions in the Good Book is, ‘Don’t try to take a speck out of your eye if I’ve got a log in my own’.”
I suspected that he was also telling me that I should not judge him.
I switched to Ireland again and to the controversy then raging over the Irish government’s decision to allow the use of Shannon Airport for the transport of soldiers and weapons to the Gulf.
“You are going to meet Bertie Ahern when you arrive at Shannon Airport tomorrow. I guess he went out on a limb for you, presumably because of the great friendship between our two countries. Can you look him in the eye when you get there and say, ‘It will be worth it, it will work out’?”
“Absolutely. I wouldn’t be doing this, I wouldn’t have made the decision I did if I didn’t think the world would be better.”
I felt that the President had now become personally involved in this interview, even quoting a Bible passage, so I made one more stab at trying to get inside his head.
“Why is it that others don’t understand what you are about?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. History will judge what I’m about.”
I could not remember my next question. My mind had gone completely blank. The president had not removed me from his gaze since we had begun and I wanted to keep up the eye contact.
If I diverted to my notes on the table beside me, he would know he had flustered me. For what seemed like an eternity, but probably no more than two seconds, I stared at him, searching his eyes for inspiration. It finally came.
“Can I just turn to the Middle East?”
“Sure.”
He talked about his personal commitment to solving that conflict. As he did so, I could see one of the White House crew signalling for me to wrap up the interview, but the president was in full flight.
“Like Iraq, the Palestinian and the Israeli issue is going to require good security measures,” he said.
Now out of time, I was fully aware that another question was pushing it, but I would never be here again and I had spent four years covering an administration that appeared to favour Israel at every turn.
“And perhaps a bit more even-handedness from America?” I asked, though it came out more as a comment.
The president did not see the look of horror on the faces of his staff as he began to defend his stance. “I’m the first president to have called for a Palestinian state. That to me sounds like a reasonable and balanced approach. I will not allow terrorists determine the fate, as best I can, of people who want to be free.”
Hands were signalling furiously now for me to end the interview.
“Mr President, thank you very much.”
“You’re welcome,” he replied, still half-smiling and half-frowning.
It was over. I felt like a delinquent child who had been reprimanded by a stern, unwavering father. My face must have been the same colour as my suit. Yet I also knew that we had discussed some important issues — probably more candidly than I had heard from President Bush in some time.
I was removing my microphone when he addressed me.
“Is that how you do it in Ireland — interrupting people all the time?”
I froze. He was not happy with me and was letting me know it.
“Yes,” I stuttered, determined to maintain my own half-smile.
I was aching to get out of there for a breath of air when I remembered that I had earlier discussed with staff the possibility of having my picture taken with the president. I had been told that, when the interview was over, I could stand up with him and the White House photographer would snap a picture. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, I stood up and asked him to join me.
“Oh, she wants the photograph now,” he said from his still-seated position. He rose, stood beside me and put an arm around my shoulder. Taking his cue, I put an arm up around his shoulder and we both grinned for the cameras.
In my haste to leave I almost forgot the tapes and had to be reminded by the film crew to take them. I and my assistants bolted out to the street. We ran, high heels and all, across Lafayette Park. Running through rush-hour traffic, I thought that this had to be about as crazy as a journalist’s job gets.
I had just been admonished by the president of the United States and now I was turning cartwheels in order to get the interview on air. As I dashed past a waste bin, I had a fleeting urge to throw in the tapes and run home instead.
At the studio I handed over the tapes. My phone rang. It was MC, and her voice was cold.
“We just want to say how disappointed we are in the way you conducted the interview,” she said.
“How is that?” I asked.
“You talked over the president, not letting him finish his answers.”
“Oh, I was just moving him on,” I said, explaining that I wanted some new insight from him, not two-year-old answers.
“He did give you plenty of new stuff.”
She estimated that I had interrupted the president eight times and added that I had upset him. I was upset too, I told her. The line started to break up; I was in a basement with a bad phone signal. I took her number and agreed to call her back. I dialled the White House number and she was on the line again.
“I’m here with Colby,” she indicated.
“Right.”
“You were given an opportunity to interview the leader of the free world and you blew it,” she began.
I was beginning to feel as if I might be dreaming. I had naively believed the American president was referred to as the “leader of the free world” only in an unofficial tongue-in-cheek sort of way by outsiders, and not among his closest staff.
“You were more vicious than any of the White House press corps or even some of them up on Capitol Hill . . .The president leads the interview,” she said.
“I don’t agree,” I replied, my initial worry now turning to frustration. “It’s the journalist’s job to lead the interview.”
It was suggested that perhaps I could edit the tapes to take out the interruptions, but I made it clear that this would not be possible.
As the conversation progressed, I learnt that I might find it difficult to secure further co-operation from the White House. A man’s voice then came on the line. Colby, I assumed. “And, it goes without saying, you can forget about the interview with Laura Bush.”
Clearly the White House had thought they would be dealing with an Irish “colleen” bowled over by the opportunity to interview the Bushes. If anyone there had done their research on RTE’s interviewing techniques, they might have known better.
MC also indicated that she would be contacting the Irish Embassy in Washington — in other words, an official complaint from Washington to Dublin.
“I don’t know how we are going to repair this relationship, but have a safe trip back to Ireland,” MC concluded. I told her I had not meant to upset her since she had been more than helpful to me. The conversation ended.
By the time I got to the control room, the Prime Time broadcast had just started. It was at the point of the first confrontation with the “leader of the free world” and those gathered around the monitors were glued to it. “Well done,” someone said. “This is great.”
I thought about the interview again as I climbed up the steps to RTE’s live camera position at Dromoland Castle to account for myself on the 6pm news next day. By now the White House had vented its anger to the Irish embassy in Washington. To make matters worse for the administration, the interview had made its way onto American television and CNN was replaying it around the world and by the end of the day it had been aired in Baghdad.
Had I been fair? Should I just have been more deferential to George Bush? I felt that I had simply done my job and shuddered at the thought of the backlash I would surely have faced in Ireland had I not challenged the president on matters that had changed the way America was viewed around the world.
Afterwards I bumped straight into the taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, who was waiting to go on air.
“Howya,” he said, winking.
“I hope this hasn’t caused you too much hassle, taoiseach,” I blurted.
“Arrah, don’t worry at all; you haven’t caused me one bit of hassle,” he smiled wryly.
I don’t know what he said to the president, who reportedly referred to the interview immediately upon arrival, but if the taoiseach was annoyed with me or with RTE, he didn’t show it.
When I returned to my little world on the street called M in Washington, I felt a tad more conspicuous than when I’d left for Ireland. Google was returning more than 100,000 results on the subject of the 12-minute interview. The vast majority of bloggers felt it was time a reporter had challenged Bush.
At the White House, the fact that I had been asked to submit questions prior to the interview generated enquiries from the American press corps. “Any time a reporter sits down with the president they are welcome to ask him whatever questions they want to ask,” Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, told the CBS correspondent Bill Plante.
“Yes, but that’s beside the point,” replied Plante.
Under repeated questioning, McClellan conceded that other staff members might have asked for questions. “Certainly there will be staff-level discussion, talking about what issues reporters may want to bring up in some of these interviews. I mean that happens all the time.”
I had not been prevented from asking any of my questions. The only topics I had been warned away from were the Bush daughters Jenna and Barbara, regular fodder for the tabloids, and Michael Moore — neither of which was on my list.
Moore did notice RTE’s interview with the president and in the weeks that followed urged American journalists to follow the example of “that Irish woman”.
“In the end, doesn’t it always take the Irish to speak up?” he said. “She’s my hero. Where are the Carole Colemans in the US press?”
© Carole Coleman 2005
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This article is extracted from the opening chapter of Alleluia America! by Carole Coleman, to be published by The Liffey Press on October 14 at €14.95.
Okay, as long as....SM
you don't mind you, your loved ones, or someone else's loved ones to be killed BEFORE we take action, we can sit around and see who attacks us next. But then of course, if Saddam had ordered an attack, or slipped the goods to someone to carry that attack out, you would have blamed Bush for not acting on all that intelligence we had before the war. You simply cannot have it both ways. In light of the fact that 3000 people perished in a couple of hours, I'm not afraid to stand behind a president brave enough to stand up to any threat.
What took them so long????
I heard the 34% was down to 29% for Bush and 18% for Cheney. It has taken this complete break down of our government for people to finally see what most of us have known all along. BUSH IS NOT QUALIFIED TO BE PRESIDENT OF THE ROTARY CLUB, LET ALONE THE U.S. The words incompetence and tin ear and arrogance are now coming out of the mouths of the staunchest of Republicans, senators, congressmen, strategists, advisors, etc. And the outright lies are finally coming to light, thanks to videotape. Of course we only have the pre Katrina tape but it shows those who absolutely refused to entertain the thought that his president was anything than honorable is, in fact, just a greedy arrogant politician like so many others. As I said before, time to storm the Bastille and throw them out, the whole sorry lot of them or we can always sell the country to the UAE. They would probably do a better job of running it than this poor excuse for an administration. As Isabel from Florida said on Lou Dobbs the other day, I could run this country better from my kitchen table. I believe her.
that is a long
string of words that is so illogical I just slap my rump and shout hallelujah. Not much more can be done other than that.
so as long as you don;t have to
pay for other people's children . . . you're okay with teenagers raising babies.
I come from a long
line of Twaddles, and we are a prominent family in our community.
Wow - how long did it take you to think of that one?
You should be one of Obama's political advisors. You know, you bein' so SMART an' all.
And your message was posted by: "?"
Does that stand for clueless or just 'can't spell my own name?'
I love Obama supporters. They're like children. Or really, really slow-learning monkeys. :)
Oh yes....and how long
did people scream and shout about how we were losing the surge in Iraq while we were successful? Obama didn't even want to admit we were successful when there was no way to dispute the fact. Just once, I would like to see you post something that isn't totally one-sided liberal, kool-aid drinking BS.
I think as long as there is anything
other than Islam, they will always perceive a threat to Islam. The threat is our very existence. Whether radical Muslims kill others outright - or breed, recruit/convert and infiltrate us out of existence, we are not to be tolerated as we are. They are not content to live side-by-side and allow everyone to worship whatever god (or no god) we wish in whatever way we please. The American ideal off Christians, Jews, Muslims and other religious living as neighbors along the same street is horrifying to these people. There is only one right choice!
They do not wish a settlement of the Palestinian issue, because this is the catalyst to stir up old conflicts when things seem to be settling down. I do not believe you can achieve peace through any amount of niceness and talking, or anything other than victory - and neither do they.
The best we can hope for is a temporary detente from time to time. This is not to be perceived as the end of the show, but intermission while they think of some other way to achieve their goals, (as we should be.) But instead, we get a Palestiniann and an Israeli to shake hands at Camp David, then start singing Ding-Dong The Witch is Dead. I have to wonder if it naivete or arrogance on our part.
That's just how it is and how it has been for a long time.
Doesn't seem to be anything we can do about it. As someone has said, it's a privately owned board and the political alliance appears to be very right-wing evangelical Christian. The Religion board used to be even worse than the Politics board until it got renamed Christian (now at least it's named for what it really is). I don't even look at that board anymore.
How long a truce?
Okay, lets see how long your ************ truce********* lasts, LOLOL..Humor me..Lets read your posts under a ********truce******..Wanna bet how long they will last from you one of the Queens of Judgment?? Can I call your arse to task when you step off your ******* truce*******..You bet I will..So, honey, keep posting good posts, debate posts and you will be **in**, jump off that and your arse is fried..
I haven't been here that long but
long enough to see clearly how immaturely they operate. PHEW!
Freepers have been around for a long while...
And I'm sorry but I have to disagree with you about the posts on FreeRepublic. I have the site bookmarked and I look at it pretty often. It's true that you can find liberals ranting on their own sites and some of that gets pretty hateful and scary sometimes too - but I can understand why. They've been threatened once too often and they're just not going to take it anymore.
Freepers don't have that excuse. Many of them are hateful and aggressive as a way of life and love spreading it around. What is their excuse for threatening the lives of liberals as often as they do? - a liberal might give them HEALTH CARE? Yeah I guess that's a killing offense.
But anyway if you haven't noticed any threatening posts by Freepers, obviously, you're not looking for them - and that must be a full-time job. Either that or you agree with the worst of them, in which case what's not to like?
Kudos to the Freepers for raising money for Katrina - puts them on par with the many liberal and bipartisan groups doing the same. It should be a group effort.
Now if they'd stop supporting torture, religious discrimination and intrusive anti-Constitutional government policies as well, maybe they'd lose their dumb-butt reputations.
This has been around a long time. sm
How and why someone would assemble WTC and the flight victims this way is beyond me. Oh well, to each his own, but I am thinking SOMEONE has a little too much time on their hands!
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