So, do you want to see a most egregious example of equating apples to oranges? Well, even that old saw is too mild a metaphor to describe the disgusting example of Christiane Amanpour's latest foray into moral relativism. In her CNN piece titled, "Survivor recalls horrors of Cambodia genocide," Amanpour assumes that American "waterboarding" today is exactly the same thing as the genocide of millions as perpetrated by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. Amanpour seems to think that waterboarding is the same thing as what Pol Pot did with prisoners that were "whipped raw, their fingernails were yanked out, they were hogtied to wooden bars. Prison guards mutilated women's genitals, ripped off their nipples with pliers. And worst of all, babies were ripped from their mothers' arms and slaughtered."
Amanpour's latest project is being touted as a "major CNN documentary" that focuses on "those who stood up and said, 'Listen! We must stop the killing. Stop the genocide,'" during a turbulent 1970's Cambodia. The genocide in question describes the murderous reign of Pol Pot who slaughtered over two million Cambodians and imprisoned and tortured millions more after the end of the Vietnam war.
But what is Amanpour's focus with her report? Is it how the Khmer Rouge communists tortured women, children and men to elicit faux "confessions" of capitalist crimes? Is it the many families that were torn apart? Is it that these murders continued with impunity because the Democrat Party convinced the U.S. to lose the war in Vietnam? No, none of that. Amanpour doesn't seem to care much about what happened back between the years 1975 to 1979. No, it's today that she is more interested in. Yes, Amanpour is far more interested that she get her Cambodian survivor to say that what Pol Pot did to millions of Cambodians was just as bad as what George Bush is rumored to have done to a few terror suspects today.
Shamefully, Amanpour brushes off her host's discussions of the communist terror he survived in the 1970s and constantly interjects Bush's "crimes" into former inmate Van Nath's story. If this interview is any example of what her "major CNN documentary" will be like, get ready for historical revisionism into which Amanpour will shoehorn current partisan political hatred.
Here is how she starts off her little piece:
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (CNN) -- A recently disclosed memo gave U.S. interrogators the ability to use harsh methods -- what many call "torture" -- to extract information from terrorist suspects after 9/11. Around the world, critics saw it as another blow to American prestige and moral authority.
The 2003 document also invokes wartime powers to protect interrogators who violate the Geneva Conventions, for example, by the use of waterboarding -- when a prisoner is made to think he is drowning.
Half a world away, the divisive debate over whether waterboarding constitutes torture comes into sharp relief at the infamous S-21, Tuol Sleng Prison in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
What George Bush's waterboarding policy has to do with the mass imprisonment of millions and the systematic murder of an entire generation of people is anybody's guess. Well, unless the whole point of Amanpour's piece is merely an excuse to attack Bush, that is.
Look at that last line quoted above. Amanpour says "half a world away" as if the 1970s genocide and the "debate over waterboarding" in 2008 were directly connected. Hell, they aren't even in the same century, much less connected!
Amanpour gives us her faux shock and horror as ex-inmate Van Nath gives her a tour of his one time prison.
Take water torture, for instance. Van Nath remembers it as if it were yesterday. I gasped as I entered a room filled with his vivid depictions.
Amanpour describes artist Van Nath's paintings that depicts the water tortures he and his fellow prisoners experienced.
One of his paintings shows a prisoner blindfolded and hoisted onto a makeshift scaffold by two guards. He is then lowered head first into a massive barrel of water.
And...
As he talked and showed me around, my mind raced to the debate in the United States over this same tactic used on its prisoners nearly 40 years later. I stared blankly at another of Van Nath's paintings. This time a prisoner is submerged in a life-size box full of water, handcuffed to the side so he cannot escape or raise his head to breathe. His interrogators, arrayed around him, are demanding information.
Yes, she "gasped" as if she were shocked. But, obviously she wasn't impressed enough to let the man just tell his story without trying to cajole him into making political statements about modern events in a country not his own.
I asked Van Nath whether he had heard this was once used on America's terrorist suspects. He nodded his head. "It's not right," he said.
But I pressed him: Is it torture? "Yes," he said quietly, "it is severe torture. We could try it and see how we would react if we are choking under water for just two minutes. It is very serious."
Someone needs to inform Christiane Amanpour that "waterboarding" does not include totally submerging someone into "barrels" of water and then having them fastened in so that they can drown.
In fact, Amanpour's entire effort to equate the use of waterboarding on a very select few terrorists to the torture of millions of people on such a massive scale is disgusting. Unlike Pol Pot's mad regime, as a policy, America doesn't pull out fingernails, doesn't kill children, doesn't drown prisoners, doesn't "mutilate women's genitals" or rip off their nipples "with pliers." No Ms. Amanpour, what happened to the Cambodian people -- millions brutally murdered by a psychotic tyrant -- is not like George Bush's waterboarding in the slightest. Not even a tiny bit.
It's a shame that Amanpour so belittles the heartwrenching experiences of the millions of Cambodians that lost their lives, that she so spits upon the history of an entire people so badly brutalized by a despot so that she can make her cheap political shots at a president she hates in a time 30 years separated from the lives of the people she is supposed to be documenting.
In fact, it is more than a shame. It is almost criminal to so mistreat these Cambodian people who were kind enough to lend their assistance to Christiane Amanpour in hopes that she might get the story of their great suffering out to the wider world.
Ah, but when cheap political shots are the actual goal, damn the history. To hell with what these dirty people suffered. Who cares why they were so mistreated? If we can't use their agony 30 years hence to batter about our current president, well, what good are they? No one cares about their story, anyway. What we really care about is Christiane Amanpour's opinion on politics today!
It is lamentable that the Cambodian people are going to be raped all over again, this time by a CNN that will use their decades old horror as an excuse to score political points today. Its just one more disgusting historical hatchet job by a self-absorbed Christiane Amanpour and CNN.
(h/t NewsBuster Dave Finley)
(Photo Credit: CNN.com)
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
And now...
April 7, 2008 - 20:24 ET by Warner Todd HustonLet the three stooges of leftist trolling commence their stalking of me...
3,2,1...
Awww c'mon Warner, your not
April 7, 2008 - 20:39 ET by BlazerAwww c'mon Warner, your not that damn important, there goes that ego again. : )
"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious. "
- Ben Kenobi on Liberals, and the MSM.
" The Cake is a lie."
LOL
April 7, 2008 - 20:40 ET by Warner Todd HustonYeah, I know.
What about Abu Grabe?
April 7, 2008 - 20:41 ET by general companyWhat about Abu Grabe? That was way worst then the concentration camps!
is not like George Bush's weatherboarding in the slightest. Not even a tiny bit.
Sure it is, well sort of.,,,, I mean within a million people, how many has Bush killed?
{Sarc way off}
"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg
how many has Bush
April 7, 2008 - 20:53 ET by Conservative in the Artshow many has Bush killed?
Well, according to liberals the number of dead in Iraq is around 1,000 a day, so we've been there 5 years.....1,825,000
plus throw in a couple of million bugs that died in the bombings, and the number of trees that were ripped from the arms of mother earth, and all the dead old people that chose to buy groceries over pills, umm......that puts it around.....dang, he's killed nearly half the population of the earth! and if we don't all turn off all our lights the other half will die!
I forgot about those
April 7, 2008 - 21:01 ET by general companyYou are right though, thank goodness there is night and day. Could you imagine how warm we would get with all of the lights on?
Sarc mercifully off,,,
"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg
General: Other
April 8, 2008 - 09:40 ET by BDGeneral:
Other tortures that Amanpour thinks about in conjunction with the Cambodian Genocide...
Yep, the pretty much draws equivocation to the Communist Kmher Rouge from Christine...
I hear tell
April 8, 2008 - 10:32 ET by cvgbuckeyeI hear tell that, during a somewhat recent war, there was an interogation technique that had a 100% compliance record. I will tell you a limited version of the technique while not telling several things like the branch of the service; etc.
When suspected captured enemies were thought to have information about impending attacks on our forces, enemy locations or underground tunnels:
1. The detainees (at least 2) were given a helicopter ride to an altitude of 800 feet. This altitude, for some reason, is the most terrifying of any, no more or less.
2. The first detainee is asked THE question most relevant to the desired information. If he refuses to answer, he is promptly thrown out the door of the helicopter. For the benefit of the 2nd detainee, the 1st is allowed to struggle a little before he is ejected from the door.
3. The 2nd detainee is then asked for the same information, which he generally spits out (with very big eyes) before the question is fully posed to him. He also always had a strange odor of excrement and urine about him.
4. The information was immediately relayed to the boots on the ground for verification. If the information was false, the giver was dragged to the door of the helicopter but usually fessed up about halfway there.
OH I FORGOT TO MENTION. One reason for allowing the 1st detainee to struggle before being ejected was to allow for attaching a 20 foot lifeline to him out of the sight of the 2nd detainee. Although, I suspect that the lifeline part was ocassionally omitted.
I'm sure that many American lives were saved with this technique. Was it immoral, was it torture, was it un-American?
It was war.
I think the other point
April 7, 2008 - 20:37 ET by BlazerI think the other point Amanpour missed by a country mile was Pol Pot's regime commited thier horrendous atrocities against thier own innocent countrymen, the American military was waterboarding heinous murderer's, torturer's, and sworn enemies of the American people, whereas the Cambodian govt. was the enemy of the people.
Now with that said it's my understanding we haven't waterboarded anyone in a couple of year's now, so what's the point? Why keep bringing it up?
"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious. "
- Ben Kenobi on Liberals, and the MSM.
" The Cake is a lie."
Silly Blazer
April 7, 2008 - 21:16 ET by BlondeBush lied, people died.
What don't you get about this story?
Wake up and smell the coffee. Sheesh!
David Gregory, do you know which damn network you lie for? ~ Uncle Jimbo, @Blackfive
Yep Blonde, and make sure
April 7, 2008 - 21:33 ET by BlazerYep Blonde, and make sure "waterboarding" stay's alive long enough to add to list for thier wet dream that's never gonna' happen war crimes trial's.
"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious. "
- Ben Kenobi on Liberals, and the MSM.
" The Cake is a lie."
Quite, Blazer
April 7, 2008 - 21:40 ET by BlondeThe left's never-ending love affair with regimes like Pol Pot's Cambodian horror show, Fidel's fifty year supression of Cuba, Chavez's current rape of the populace of Venezuela, just never ceases to amaze me.
Oh, and all of the care an angst over the so-called rights of terrorists....here comes the ACLU on a big fat white horse. Wasn't it Syrius or some other lefty nut who was advocating for the right to a speedy trial for the freakin' terrs earlier? Like they were citizens and entitled to any rights at all?
It is maddening. I have to question who are the sane people on this planet. It's nuts. Totally, totally nuts.
David Gregory, do you know which damn network you lie for? ~ Uncle Jimbo, @Blackfive
Amanpour
April 7, 2008 - 20:43 ET by drillanwrThere's a chair with her name on it waiting on "The View" ...
This is actually very ironic, since the most well known Pol Pot survivor who could "debate" Ms. Amanpour on her obtuse moral equivalence died less than a week ago:
‘Killing Fields’ survivor Dith Pran dies
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23867336/
When you men get home and face an anti-war protestor, look him in the eyes and shake his hand. Then, wink at his girlfriend because she knows she’s dating a pussy… ~ Attributed to General Tommy Franks
...more like convenient that
April 7, 2008 - 20:45 ET by Warner Todd Huston...more like convenient that one who could expose Amanpour for the poseur she is has passed away and can no longer do so.
As he talked and showed me
April 7, 2008 - 20:46 ET by Conservative in the ArtsAs he talked and showed me around, my mind raced to the debate in the United States......
Meaning.....you were not listening to a thing he said, some journalist.
This is a problem with all liberals: doesn't matter what you say, they hear only what they want to hear.
Aw, not true! I heard what
April 7, 2008 - 20:49 ET by balboaAw, not true! I heard what you said about Jimmy Carter being wicked awesome.
HELP !!!
April 7, 2008 - 20:46 ET by LionKingSince when is this true:
WATERBOARDING <==> GENOCIDE
You doubting what she
April 7, 2008 - 20:56 ET by general companyYou doubting what she said?
Good for you : ]
"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg
I think it was Mary Meehan
April 7, 2008 - 21:06 ET by GrannyGrump42Maybe it was Mary Meehan, but it was in "Human Life Review", that an author noted the Left's total lack of any sense of proportion. The context was abortion, the way there's no "crisis" the pregnant woman faces that's too trivial to justify abortion, but no harm visited on the unborn that's grievous enough to give pause.
But it's everywhere. There's no crime so heinous that it justifies the death penalty, but likewise no prisoner complaint too trivial to lament as "cruel and unusual punishment".
I agree with Amanpour and
April 7, 2008 - 21:07 ET by BlazerI agree with Amanpour and most lib's when it comes to waterboarding, morally we shouldn't do it, it's wrong.
They should be tried, convicted and executed on the battlefield, water is surely a more precious commodity in the desert, than bullet's.
"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious. "
- Ben Kenobi on Liberals, and the MSM.
" The Cake is a lie."
You know what is so interesting ...
April 7, 2008 - 21:14 ET by PrairieSkyabout Christiane Amanpour is why she is such an unabashed America hater. Her background, in part, would suggest otherwise. She is half Iranian and half British. Her father is a Muslim, but she was raised Roman Catholic. She was born in London, but moved to Tehran when she was very small, and lived there till she was 11, when she returned to England to attend a Catholic school. Her family apparently lived quite well while in Tehran, under the Shah of Iran's government, but fled Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and returned to England. She did not have an underpriviledged upbringing, and given the fact that the US was an ally of the Shah's government and an enemy of the radical Islamic movement that chased her family out of Iran, I find it very interesting why she has always seemed to have such a problem with America. She came to the US to attend college, and has been working for American media companies ever since, and she has an American husband, James Rubin, who served in the Clinton administration. Her reporting has always had a decidedly anti-American tilt to it as far back as I can remember, and I have been watching her since she began with CNN in the early '80's. It is interesting...
It's actually not very
April 7, 2008 - 21:27 ET by BlazerIt's actually not very surprising Prarie, she's a liberal and that transcend's all logic, because along with anti-American, she's been known to be anti-Christian, not to mention she was hired by Ted Turner.
"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious. "
- Ben Kenobi on Liberals, and the MSM.
" The Cake is a lie."
But given her background...
April 7, 2008 - 21:42 ET by PrairieSkyI just would not have expected her to be so liberal. I wonder where that came from...Also, she is on record as considering herself to be a Christian, although given her apparent anti-Christian leanings that one can see in her reporting over the years, her definition of what it means to be Christian is open to interpretation.
"I wonder where that came
April 8, 2008 - 09:50 ET by Hunter12"I wonder where that came from" ... Guilt.
She'll report on the horrors the US inflicts overseas ad nauseum, but it's interesting to note she and Jamie are moving back to the States. Must not be too horrible a place to raise a family. Probably wants to get away from all the Muslims bombing subways and airports in London. That good old waterboarding technique and those illegal wiretaps have kept the US free of domestic attacks since 9/11.
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." - Sir Winston Churchill
You answered
April 7, 2008 - 22:26 ET by doug1950your own question. She was educated in an American university. Our institutes of higher learning are full of anti American professors and in order to do well in their classes one must drink their Kool Aid.
What do you base that on?
April 7, 2008 - 22:29 ET by balboaWhat do you base that on?
re:balboa...Unfortunately,
April 7, 2008 - 22:59 ET by PrairieSkydoug1950 is correct. I have a daughter in college and believe me, she has been witness to some of this anti-American thinking coming out of some of the professors (and sadly, many of the students). There is a subtle intimidation toward those who disagree with these opinions, and the message is received quickly that one speaks out against these ideas at one's possible peril...i.e. grades etc. My daughter has learned which professors she can challenge, and which ones with whom it is better to just let it go. She won't under any circumstances compromise her views and principles, but she has learned and is smart enough to know when it is just not worth it to pursue any further. It is a shame.
That's hardly enough
April 8, 2008 - 09:15 ET by balboaThat's hardly enough evidence to declare it rampant across America.
Bal, Just because you had
April 8, 2008 - 09:56 ET by Hunter12Bal, Just because you had relatives in higher education who may have been fair-mided and open to debate, don't think that is a common state. The liberal tendencies of college professors is well documented and horror stories about suppressing conservative free-thinking abound. [Yes, I can find evidence to back that up. How many will you require?]
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." - Sir Winston Churchill
I don't deny the liberal
April 8, 2008 - 10:24 ET by balboaI don't deny the liberal nature of many, many professors. But I don't buy into them all being "anti-American," and guilty of trying to "indoctrinate" their students.
It's probably that the
April 8, 2008 - 10:32 ET by Hunter12It's probably that the incidents where intolerance to differing views are most manifested are such horror stories, it boggles the mind. I'm paying for a college to educate my children, not indoctrinate them. Those professors that have to intimidate, don't have the intelligence to convince.
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." - Sir Winston Churchill
Hey Balboa, still around?
April 8, 2008 - 13:40 ET by exLibThere's a book and a movie coming out about all this.
The book is called "indoctrinate-U" and it's written by a former student and has tons of stories from students all across the country.
The movie is produced by Ben Stein (the tv show guy and real conservative). I think it's called "expelled" or something close to that. It's about professors who can't get tenured or even hired, because they won't hide their conservative leanings.
re:balboa
April 8, 2008 - 13:51 ET by PrairieSkyI didn't say that all professors are anti-American and are trying to indoctrinate their students. But let me give you my daughter's situation as an example...She is a senior-Of all the professors that she has had over her university career, she has had roughly 30 different professors. Of those 30, about 70% made their political feelings known at some point during the class term. Of that 70%, 70% were very clearly liberal in their thinking, and most displayed an open disdain for any thinking that deviated from theirs. Of the remaining 30%, the professors either didn't disclose their political leanings at all, or in just one case, appeared to lean right.
So, there you are. It also is important to note...We live in a town of about 35,000 people in North Dakota, which is conservative state, especially socially. If this type of thinking is this widespread here, it is everywhere. We are former military, and we have friends all over the country, and most have children in college, and they have all reported similar, usually worse, stories that their kids have encountered in their universities. So as to the question of whether anti-American, liberal thinking is prevailing in US college campuses? I would say, absolutely.
It was really doug1950's
April 8, 2008 - 13:55 ET by balboaIt was really doug1950's post that I was reacting to.
re:balboa
April 8, 2008 - 14:06 ET by PrairieSkyWell, regardless of who's post you were reacting to, I think the point that we were both making is the same.
I guess your daughter's
April 8, 2008 - 14:26 ET by balboaI guess your daughter's experiences are different from the majority of the ones I have seen/heard/etc. I have RARELY if ever seen or heard about a prof trying to push their personal beliefs on their students.
Apparently so...
April 8, 2008 - 14:34 ET by PrairieSkyI just wish everyone standing in front of a classroom, college, high school, or wherever, would keep their political ideas (regardless of which side they are on) to themselves unless asked, or unless it is pertinent to the discussion. Oh well...
Here's some for your list
April 8, 2008 - 15:01 ET by HumblepieUSF, USC,UNLV, UH (Univeristy of Hawaii), University of Maryland. And these's are just from the ones I attended.
Anyone else?
Well, that settles it then.
April 8, 2008 - 19:12 ET by balboaWell, that settles it then.
Bal your right but if there
April 8, 2008 - 10:22 ET by AgnosticBal your right but if there is a conservative professor in my university they are keeping their mouths shut. The last history class I took actually skipped over Reagan’s entire presidency with the notation that nothing of real importance happened. I thought maybe he was trying to save time because we were behind but then I got a lesson with loosely connected historical events on why America was doomed to failure in the Middle East and how we could never win.
It may be rampant but it is prevalent.
Personal experience
April 8, 2008 - 20:22 ET by doug1950as well as numerous people whom I have talked with on the subject. I have three grown nieces, all of whom went to different colleges spread across the country. Two are now teachers in private schools, one in Maryland and the other in Florida. The oldest also worked at another major University while attending taking Pre Law courses. All three tell me the general population of college professors, teachers, lectures are overwhelmingly liberal and make no secret of it, as well as take great delight in using their positons to intimidate students with a difference of opinion. Two of them are now teachers at private schools and tell me that facilty is predominately liberals but because it is private schools and money is the bottom line they tend to keep their opinions to themselves more. Sorry I am just now responding but I do have a business and a life outside NB. Keep in mind too that this reporter did not graduate from college in this century but was a product of a different era when the colleges were pumping out the current crop of pointy headed numbskulls we have filling the MSM ranks now. That is after all who we are talking about. Today, I believe the pedulum may be swinging the other way ever so slightly due to the internet. Young people are finding out that college professors are just people and not gods as my generation used to believe. They can find out for themselves and have 1000 times more infomation available to them than we did. While I was on active duty, I took college courses and found regardless of where I was stationed, the course instructors were almost always lefties. For decades, the only place you could find a real communist was in Russia, Cuba and the American college facilty. Those were mine and others observations over a 30 year span, your mileage may vary.
Fair enough. In my
April 8, 2008 - 20:29 ET by balboaFair enough. In my experience, sure there are a lot of profs that are liberal, but I've never seen or heard of the intimidation or anti-American sentiment.
Well, as far as personal
April 8, 2008 - 20:39 ET by JerWell, as far as personal experience, admittedly mine spanned the mid-to-late 60's through the early 70's and two universities.
There were two openly conservative professors, another with conservative leanings, one openly liberal professor, and the rest I couldn't tell--[although I wouldn't be surprised if the majority in the latter category were liberal].
Jer
re:doug1950-Good point, but...
April 7, 2008 - 23:06 ET by PrairieSkyNot everyone graduating from an American university emerges a lefty lunatic (thank God). But you're right, US universities are awash in that kind of thinking.
I became a conservative my freshman year
April 8, 2008 - 09:42 ET by sam.i.amof college. I remember this was right after I pulled the lever for George H-Dub. My roommate and I saw that the liberal media had hit pieces on America almost nightly. At that time, I remember how it was all about how the Japanese were going to take over, recession/DEPRESSION (sound familiar), homeless everywhere, "institutional" racism, etc. Now I can't remember all the details (I was in college, dude), but we distilled it down to the essence of the point the liberal media was trying to get across: AMERICA SUCKS! It became a running joke to us; the fact that people would try to portray America as anything less than great was laughable! Since we both knew that America was great, we affirmed our love for this country--individual liberties, protection of life, pursuit of happiness, meritocratic, capatalist, free--and I never looked back, or trusted a liberal, from that point forward. . .
sam.i.am...
April 8, 2008 - 16:55 ET by PrairieSkyI know what you mean...George H-Dub...so we're talking about 1988 or 1992? It is sad to see that nothing has really changed much since then, huh? I was in college during Reagan's first term (I'm dating myself here), when it was actually cool to be proud of our country. As that decade came to a close, that seemed to go out of vogue, more or less, and really went out the window when Clinton was elected, and it's been downhill since then (with the exception of the brief period of time following 9/11, when the country and most of the press, seemed united). Unfortunately, I don't see an end in sight to this groupthink, either.
This idiot should try
April 7, 2008 - 21:45 ET by Clear thinkerThis idiot should try talking to a mother that had her husband and 5 of her 6 children killed by Pol Pot. I can introduce Ms. Amanpour to a woman that was forced to watch as Pol Pots animals took all the babies in her village and piled them up in the center of the village. They doused the babies with gasoline and set them on fire while forcing the villagers to watch. Her husband could not take the babies screaming as they burned so he ran towards the fire with a machete. He wanted to end their misery but never got close enough as he was shot multiple times as he ran towards the fire. He was then thrown on top of the pile and more gas was added.
Please tell me Ms. Amanpour, when did President Bush ever allow something like this to happen???
BTW... The woman who's story I just related lost her other children within 3 months of her husband and baby. The oldest boy was taken by Pol Pots animals, only to be found 2 days later along the side of the road that went east from her village. Only his head was ever located. The other 3 were all shot one night when their village was raided for the last time. She never got to bury them because her and one of her sons had run into the jungle and hid for a week. After an incredible journey she made her way to the USA with her son.
"Abstain from McCain"
Yes...
April 7, 2008 - 21:48 ET by Warner Todd HustonYes, yes, the forest, the killing of the babies, and all that... got it. Whatever. But the IMPORTANT question is, what does your friend think of Amanpour? I mean doesn't your friend agree that Amanpour is right that George Bush is as bad as the guys that did all that stuff to her babies? Does your fiend think Amanpour is brilliant? Oh, and doesn't your friend think Amanpour is really compassionate and cool? Oh, Oh, and doesn't your friend wish she were just like Amanpour?
(/sarcasm)
Unlike Ms.
April 7, 2008 - 21:51 ET by Clear thinkerUnlike Ms. Amanpour...
This lady friend of mine loves this country!
"Abstain from McCain"
Clear
April 7, 2008 - 21:53 ET by BlondeThat is a horror story beyond description.
I have a really hard time wrapping my mind around it.
That the mainstream media, though, leaves it all lie there like it never happened....and then draws some sort of "moral equivalency" to some nefarious and nonspecific "Pol Pot" regime...as a normal course of business, is more disgusting than I can possibly find words for.
Unbelievable.
David Gregory, do you know which damn network you lie for? ~ Uncle Jimbo, @Blackfive
Hi Blonde... I saw your
April 8, 2008 - 11:11 ET by Clear thinkerHi Blonde...
I saw your post last night but my PC got screwy and would not let me post anything. Time to call the geek squad!
It's probably better that I had a nights sleep before answering because what I was going to write was filled with anger. Not angry at you, angry at people like Ms. Amanpour. Her comparison of Pol Pol to president Bush is beyond absurd!
BTW... I know it may be hard to believe but when I was describing what happened to my Cambodian friend in my original post, I left out a lot of very gory details. Her ordeal was so much worse than I can describe. It's only by the grace of God that she has not gone insane.
"Abstain from McCain"
No sense of proportion
April 8, 2008 - 07:06 ET by GrannyGrump42They'll just say something like, "There were abuses, just like there are abuses at our prisons!"
Lefties truly have no sense of proportion whatsoever. Anything that makes anybody THEY PERSONALLY SYMPATHIZE WITH upset is an atrocity. Period. Paragraph.
Rape & Genocide - Amanpour will discuss Bill Clinon - yea right
April 7, 2008 - 22:01 ET by Gary HallThe CNN Editor's note: Christiane Amanpour is currently in production on a major CNN documentary that focuses on those people who stood up and said, "Listen! We must stop the killing. Stop the genocide."
Wanting to assist her in addressing her concers:
A few years after Bill Clinton turned his back to the Rwandan Genocide (surely Amanpour respects the view of Obama's former advisor, Samantha Power's, Bystanders to Genocide), still President, Bill Clinton traveled to Africa and made that famous lip service offer of "Never Again," to the survivors - and in fact to the world at large.
While he was speaking - it had started again, and just next door to Rwanda. Here's an interesting read that Amanpour probably won't mention, NEWS ON CONGO 014: Stringpuller US tiptoes retreat. I suspect that Hollywood won't be rusing out to make this movie: Genocide in the Congo (Zaire): In the Name of Bill Clinton, and of the Paris Club, and of the Mining Conglomerates, So It Is!.
Hollywood could even do an interview with former US Rep. Cynthia McKinney for the official leftist view. The end result? Amanpour could ask the BBC - "Since the war began in 1998, some 4m people have died, making it the world's most deadly war since 1945, it said."
Or perhaps, she could get a good view of offical human rights violations carried out by the UN, such as violent rape in the civil war/ genocide zone by interviewing former UN Sec. General Koffi Annan. Annan admits UN DR Congo abuses. Amanpour might want to interview some of these victims of UN horror.
Or she could just continue to march to her drumbeat, with CNN's blessings, and draw her comparisons to the 3 official cases of waterboarding conducted on captured terrorists - the last of which was done in 2003. Actually she should interview the serveral journalists who have voluntarially submitted to the proceedure.
CNN
April 7, 2008 - 22:08 ET by jaywlWhen I read or see reporting that is so slanted, so obvious, I wonder if there is really anything that can be done to change future reports. The old pocketbook remedy is the only one that works. Honor, truth, patriotism means nothing to these editors, but the publisher can run out of money. I just sent this comment to CNN:
"Concerning Christiane Amanpour's upcoming special report on Pol Pot Cambodia, if CNN would reign in the anti-American/anti-Bush bias she consistently shows, perhaps CNN's ratings would improve. To compare Pol Pot's physical torture methods with the psychology behind waterboarding is wrong and false on its face. Her earnest desire to lead the victim proves her bias."
It will do no good at all. Her editor agrees with her, that is why she continues to roam the globe finding American evil, interviewing victims of American bombs or chemicals, finding starving children we have not saved, or civil wars we have not ended. Of course, if we do intercede in a civil war and anybody gets killed then she will find the mother of the victim for a heart wrenching story about the harm the USA has done. Amanpour has covered all these types of stories.
Tim-Warner may not run out of money, but they must watch the ratings.
"The Atlanta-based network had
an average number of viewers aged 25-54 for the first quarter of 2008,
taking bragging rights in the category away from Fox News for the first
time since 2001, Neilsen Media Research said Tuesday.
For that age group, CNN averaged 444,000 viewers during the prime-time slot -- 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. -- soaring 87 percent compared with a year earlier.
News Corp.'s Fox News averaged 430,000 viewers, up 10 percent.
Though Fox was still No. 1 in prime time for all ages and other categories, CNN officials said winning the 25-54 demographic is crucial from a business perspective."
If CNN can crow about that, they must be worried. I have read some of the LA Times stories and editorials recently and I believe they have seen the light. Since the new editor started, and added a few voices from the right, I am sure the paper is more balanced and therefore truthful, than before. Readers will follow and reverse the circulation decline (over time).
Am I being to pessimistic about other means to rid the media of such trash? If we were a bunch of crazies like Kos we could riot and so forth, but we are not. Other tactics?
I am sorry this Bitch breaths
April 7, 2008 - 22:35 ET by DelsaI am also glad she lives in France.
Now, if they would just flush!!
She will never walk through the gates of heaven.
To hate America so much? What goes around comes around and she will get hers along with her awful husband.
Why does anyone watch the Communist News Network anyway?
Well that's sensible...
April 7, 2008 - 22:37 ET by balboaWell that's sensible...
Amanpour: "And worst of
April 8, 2008 - 00:54 ET by TEAmanpour: "And worst of all, babies were ripped from their mothers' arms and slaughtered."
Amanpour prefers that the babies be "ripped from their mothers' [wombs] and slaughtered."
Amanpour demonstrates ridiculous lack of journalistic cred
April 8, 2008 - 04:41 ET by daveinbocaShe is no longer taken seriously by anybody except chirping nincompoops like Chris Matthews. She's married to a former Clinton senior aide & it's sad that CNN hasn't a shred of credibility left on foreign policy. Pravda in Hotlanta.
The real comparison is with N. Korea, which starved two million of its citizens while Clinton sent a human bowling ball to visit Pyongyang, or socialist Zimbabwe which has totally destroyed an economy through institutionalized racism, or Cuba which has completely demolished any quality of life for its citizens---socialism on the march toward a workers' paradise. Venezuela is well on its way to destroying its economy under the same mantra.
Amanpour is a vertically-challenged loser whose lifeline to air-time is her dependable socialist viewpoints. CNN is far behind FoxNews in every respect---and now CBS is going to use CNN as its overseas stringer operation!
The only good thing about Amanpour is that nobody watches her anymore.
Here's what she says about herself ...
April 8, 2008 - 07:22 ET by EllisWyatt"There are some situations one simply cannot be neutral about, because when you are neutral you are an accomplice. Objectivity doesn't mean treating all sides equally. It means giving each side a hearing."
If you're not outraged at the media, you haven't been paying attention.
→ Ahmanpour
April 8, 2008 - 07:25 ET by Cool ArrowBut I guess the little Islamic girls don't get their side told.
♣ a seal
I've asked several times,
April 8, 2008 - 14:07 ET by Hunter12I've asked several times, but never heard an answer: What do islamic women get in paradise? Do they get 72 well-endowed paramours or do they get to be one of 72 virgins?
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." - Sir Winston Churchill
They get to be a virgin and
April 8, 2008 - 14:16 ET by bassndudeThey get to be a virgin and recive the parts that were removed here on earth. More fun that way...most of them are chasing the one that recived the 72 virgins. Its not as much fun as they thought it was going to be...72 sex starved virgins...that is a lot to keep up with.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
Enough...
April 8, 2008 - 09:22 ET by unkeeafShe is the absolute worst...
From what I've read, the
April 8, 2008 - 09:23 ET by mattmFrom what I've read, the Cambodians were murdered by the millions - not captured in war by the thousands, and given three hots and a cot - plus worship time...
It amazes me that people of such utter idiocy can get rich putting ignorance in print.
So were the South
April 8, 2008 - 09:34 ET by ahusserSo were the South Vietnamese, thousands died on boats trying to flee the Communists. Thousands were executed and thousands were re-educated and imprisoned. But that's only because the Democratic Congress at the time allowed those people to die. But it is a typical liberal's inability to make rational logical judgements about events. You know Bush=Hitler, A few abused terrorist prisoners=millions of innocent dead.
ahusser, don't you know
April 8, 2008 - 17:07 ET by Carl Kolchakahusser, don't you know Jane Fonda went to N. Vietnam to support the NVA and Ho Chi Minh . Who cares about the fate of the South Vietnamese? The only people who matter are the ones Jane Fonda and the left wing college professors say matter in regards to the Vietnam conflict.
Waterboarding is not torture
April 8, 2008 - 09:53 ET by sam.i.amI knew that Waterboarding was not torture when I heard some pussy journalist on Fox news last fall saying that he voluntarily subjected himself to waterboarding, but "could only endure a few seconds." He may have said thirty seconds.
He was a resident expert on the technique, and he also remarked that Khalid Sheik Mohammed gave up the goods after only a couple of minutes. It works. It saved innocent lives.
I'm sure it is unpleasant, but so is football practice, folks.
It wouldn't be much of an
April 8, 2008 - 10:15 ET by Hunter12It wouldn't be much of an interrogation technique if the subject died before giving up their information would it. We're supposed to equate flushing sinuses with burning babies in piles.
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." - Sir Winston Churchill
Waterboarding
April 8, 2008 - 20:42 ET by doug1950Myself along with thousands of other American servicemen and women have been waterboarded in S.E.R.E. school. It is a part of our training. It isn't pleasant but 2 minutes after it is over and a clean pair of skivvies, everything is back to normal. Ive have worse experiences plenty of times. It mostly messes with your mind and panic sets in. The reason we trained for it was to see how you could overcome the panic, get your emotions under control and press through it. It is very freeing. I won't go into what training our military go through, but waterboarding isn't the worst of it. Water is foreign to the terrorists in many ways. They aren't known for their good hygene habits.
doug... Thank you..for
April 8, 2008 - 20:44 ET by bigtimerdoug...
Thank you..for this valuable info. to me... and your service.
"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Churchill
I believe the word "smug"
April 8, 2008 - 12:42 ET by fitzfongI believe the word "smug" was invented for Christiahhhhhhhn Amanpour. And the funny part about it is that she has absolutely nothing to be smug about. When you try and draw a moral equivalence between the waterboarding of terrorists and the real torture of innocent victims, you just look ignorant. Intelligent people will easily make an accurate distinction between the two. Pseudo-intellectuals like Christiahhhhhn Amanpour, by claiming that they're essentially the same thing, are basically making the lamest of comparisons just to inject left-wing partisan talking points into the drones that watch her embarrassment of a network. She's gambling on the premise that most Americans are too stupid to see through her socialist BS...and, unfortunately, she might be right.
It's "not right" because it's not true
April 8, 2008 - 12:53 ET by CobraMan"One of his paintings shows a prisoner blindfolded and hoisted onto a
makeshift scaffold by two guards. He is then lowered head first into a
massive barrel of water."
"As he talked and showed me around, my mind raced to the debate in the
United States over this same tactic used on its prisoners nearly 40
years later. I stared blankly at another of Van Nath's paintings. This
time a prisoner is submerged in a life-size box full of water,
handcuffed to the side so he cannot escape or raise his head to
breathe. His interrogators, arrayed around him, are demanding
information."
"I asked Van Nath whether he had heard this was once used on America's
terrorist suspects. He nodded his head. "It's not right," he said."
It's not right, I'll agree with that. That’s because it’s not true. At no time were American prisoners lowered headfirst into a tub of water or submerged in a “life-size box of water” as she claimed, that’s a complete fabrication by this woman. Water boarding only simulates the effects of drowning, it don't involve people actually being held underwater, unable to breathe, bound and helpless while they slowly suffocate. At no time is the prisoner in danger of drowning. Not only is her account blatantly biased, it's blatantly false.