Gannett Editor: Rather, Moyers, Amanpour in Morrow Mold of Greatness

If Davie Rossie's ramblings were simply those of one more angry liberal pundit, they'd hardly be worth a comment. But what makes his utterances noteworthy is that when Rossie isn't churning out his once-a-week column, he is editing the news for the Gannett chain. Rossie is Associate Editor of Gannett's Binghamton paper, the Press & Sun Bulletin.

In today's column, 'Once There Were Giants in Television News', Rossie laments that they aren't making TV newsmen like Edgar R. Murrow any more. With what might be condemned as sexism, nay, misogyny, had it been suggested by a conservative critic, Rossie grumps that "it's mostly ex-fashion models and Playboy Playmates pretending to understand the news they read to us on cable TV."

But Rossie does discern a few points of light in the gathering gloom, and they are - ready? - Dan Rather, Bill Moyers and Christiane Amanpour.

"Dan Rather tried from time to time before he self-destructed on the Bush National Guard story, as did Bill Moyers, another newsman in the Murrow mold, before the Nervous Nellies at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting pushed him offstage. The only 'newsman' keeping the Murrow tradition alive today is a newswoman, Christiane Amanpour."

Remember, Rossie is a guy who, the other five days a week, is deciding what news his readers will see.

I think it's a joke for Christianne Amanpour to be called a reporter. She's an analyst, an apologist, an opinionated observer, but she is NOT a reporter. I tracked some of her long-winded rants, which if you listen to them live, you can't possibly follow, point by point. She is seldom, if ever interrupted for questioning, CNN lets her vamp on and on. She doesn't speak in sentences, she speaks in what sounds like free flowing ramblings, with no periods. I guess so as not to disrupt her train of thought, but when she finally stops to take a breath, even Anderson Cooper can't come up with a question. Here's a few examples:
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"""""CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INT'L CORRESPONDENT: Well they are saying it's sophisticated. They're saying that it was impressive. And as you know the homeland security chief has also said that this was the result of a lot of careful planning and of course it was about to come, if it had, perhaps in a couple days. And this is at the height of the tourist season, sort of maximum impact, maximum destruction, and a huge, huge blow, not to mention many, many potential deaths. What they're saying also is and what other analysts are saying, is look back more than 10 years ago, 1994, al Qaeda, Ramzi Yousef, Khalid bin Shaikh Mohammed had this potential plot, of course was thwarted to blow up...

(AUDIO GAP)

AMANPOUR: ... liquid explosive device. And these are much more sophisticated and difficult to detect than what we have seen for instance in other suicide...
AMANPOUR: Well what we know for sure is what the British police have said and that is where they're from because we know where the raids were and where the houses were, in a place called High Wycombe, which is known as the Thames Valley area not far from London, Birmingham, Waltham (ph), so those areas. Some of those have high Muslim populations. The police in England are not saying at all what their religion or ethnic mix is. They're very, very clear about not wanting...

(AUDIO GAP)
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CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INT'L CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And if this resolution is voted on and does indeed pass and does start the end of this war, it will be interesting to note the date. Exactly three weeks ago from northern Israel, having spoken to diplomatic sources who are involved and knew a lot about the diplomatic negotiations, they had predicted then and we reported then that within three weeks it was estimated that there would be a cease- fire resolution.

We were told even then despite negotiations that were going on in the early days and weeks of this war that nobody, quote, "expected a cease-fire tomorrow." We know very well and many people believe around the world and indeed many U.S. officials, present and former, that the United States essentially gave a green light to Israel's war and that it was deemed a way to try to disarm and defying Hezbollah. So this is one of the issues, according to diplomats, that it was very difficult to get an early cease-fire, despite the fact that the Lebanese government wanted it and called for it many, many times.

So now it seems that they have certainly been spurred by the intervening weeks, the last several weeks of high casualties on the Lebanese side, the Katyusha rockets still raining down on the Israeli side, and now they are presumably going to be talking also about the makeup and the mandate and the mission of a future international force. We were told also as I look back in my notes by the Israeli military commanders early on that their aim was number one to stop the shooting into Israel, but, number two, to disarm and to, quote, "separate Hezbollah from its ammunition and its weaponry."

It is not clear that that is going to be achieved. Potentially according to the resolution they're going to move them back a certain buffer zone, but it's not clear at all whether Hezbollah will in fact be disarmed, but if there is a move by the Lebanese government, by the army and other international forces into what amounts to a buffer zone that will be considered major progress -- Wolf.
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We'll start with Christiane, why is Britain such a fertile ground for terror schemes?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well is it? I mean it seems to have been in the last year with 7/7 and with what's happened and what's been thwarted now. But it's all over really the world and it's all over Europe. It's all over places with large and apparently disaffected Muslim communities and all over parts of the Islamic world.

The real question is what turns a moderately aggrieved person into an extremist who is willing to go out and die and kill? And there are many, many things that analysts and experts who we've talked to point to, people who have been -- feel that they have real grievances or imagined grievances.

It's foreign policy that is really the main issue for these people, people who -- Muslims who have been basically looking at events such at Chechnya, Bosnia, the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, the war in Iraq, et cetera, et cetera, the latest war between Israel and Hezbollah.

And these are the kinds of things that experts say can turn ordinary people or people with ordinary grievances some of them into those who will do something as extreme and irrational it seems as go and commit suicide and blow other people up.

It's about who they hang out with, what they talk about, where they do it, gyms, clubs. People who we're told get onto the Internet and are incredibly active on the Internet. And in those kinds of sort of chat rooms. People who look at the kinds of videos that are played over and over again in that corner of Islamic grievance. For instance, we're told, that big and dramatic event when that young boy was killed at the beginning of the intifadah. Do you remember Mohammed al-Durra?

KING: Sure.

AMANPOUR: That is still circulating. And things like that pushing people over the edge.
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KING: Christiane, do Muslims in Britain tend to define themselves by their religion?

AMANPOUR: Yes, they do. But you know, we always have to say it, and we always do, because the majority of them live here in a peaceful and law-abiding way. But we spoke, for instance, to the head of one of the largest Muslim organizations here, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, who is a moderate, who leads a fairly moderate organization. And he says that we cannot underestimate the impact that foreign policy is having on some of these, as I say, that small portion, who are, you know, so affected and so ticked by some of these foreign policy things.

And he makes a distinct sort of important point. He says in the West, our leaders, let's say President Bush, Prime Minister Blair, are constantly telling people that it's our freedoms and our way of life that is what's alienating and causing these people to want to come and kill us. He says, this Muslim community leader, that it's actually not democracies, but policies that are throwing these people over the edge. And whether it's an extremist or a moderate, some of these policies are a source of grievance.

But again, the question is, not the whole Muslim community but those few who are the deadly ones, who just are tipped over the edge and are vulnerable to being these kinds of extremists, and who, as Peter had said, flock to the al Qaeda ideology. And look, any expert that you talk to has said over and over again that the recent events, let's say Iraq, these things become the latest recruiting tools.
KING: Christiane, do Muslims in Britain tend to define themselves by their religion?

AMANPOUR: Yes, they do. But you know, we always have to say it, and we always do, because the majority of them live here in a peaceful and law-abiding way. But we spoke, for instance, to the head of one of the largest Muslim organizations here, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, who is a moderate, who leads a fairly moderate organization. And he says that we cannot underestimate the impact that foreign policy is having on some of these, as I say, that small portion, who are, you know, so affected and so ticked by some of these foreign policy things.

And he makes a distinct sort of important point. He says in the West, our leaders, let's say President Bush, Prime Minister Blair, are constantly telling people that it's our freedoms and our way of life that is what's alienating and causing these people to want to come and kill us. He says, this Muslim community leader, that it's actually not democracies, but policies that are throwing these people over the edge. And whether it's an extremist or a moderate, some of these policies are a source of grievance.

But again, the question is, not the whole Muslim community but those few who are the deadly ones, who just are tipped over the edge and are vulnerable to being these kinds of extremists, and who, as Peter had said, flock to the al Qaeda ideology. And look, any expert that you talk to has said over and over again that the recent events, let's say Iraq, these things become the latest recruiting tools.
KING: Christiane, do Muslims in Britain tend to define themselves by their religion?

AMANPOUR: Yes, they do. But you know, we always have to say it, and we always do, because the majority of them live here in a peaceful and law-abiding way. But we spoke, for instance, to the head of one of the largest Muslim organizations here, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, who is a moderate, who leads a fairly moderate organization. And he says that we cannot underestimate the impact that foreign policy is having on some of these, as I say, that small portion, who are, you know, so affected and so ticked by some of these foreign policy things.

And he makes a distinct sort of important point. He says in the West, our leaders, let's say President Bush, Prime Minister Blair, are constantly telling people that it's our freedoms and our way of life that is what's alienating and causing these people to want to come and kill us. He says, this Muslim community leader, that it's actually not democracies, but policies that are throwing these people over the edge. And whether it's an extremist or a moderate, some of these policies are a source of grievance.

But again, the question is, not the whole Muslim community but those few who are the deadly ones, who just are tipped over the edge and are vulnerable to being these kinds of extremists, and who, as Peter had said, flock to the al Qaeda ideology. And look, any expert that you talk to has said over and over again that the recent events, let's say Iraq, these things become the latest recruiting tools.
KING: Christiane, do Muslims in Britain tend to define themselves by their religion?

AMANPOUR: Yes, they do. But you know, we always have to say it, and we always do, because the majority of them live here in a peaceful and law-abiding way. But we spoke, for instance, to the head of one of the largest Muslim organizations here, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, who is a moderate, who leads a fairly moderate organization. And he says that we cannot underestimate the impact that foreign policy is having on some of these, as I say, that small portion, who are, you know, so affected and so ticked by some of these foreign policy things.

And he makes a distinct sort of important point. He says in the West, our leaders, let's say President Bush, Prime Minister Blair, are constantly telling people that it's our freedoms and our way of life that is what's alienating and causing these people to want to come and kill us. He says, this Muslim community leader, that it's actually not democracies, but policies that are throwing these people over the edge. And whether it's an extremist or a moderate, some of these policies are a source of grievance.

But again, the question is, not the whole Muslim community but those few who are the deadly ones, who just are tipped over the edge and are vulnerable to being these kinds of extremists, and who, as Peter had said, flock to the al Qaeda ideology. And look, any expert that you talk to has said over and over again that the recent events, let's say Iraq, these things become the latest recruiting tools.
KING: Christiane, do Muslims in Britain tend to define themselves by their religion?

AMANPOUR: Yes, they do. But you know, we always have to say it, and we always do, because the majority of them live here in a peaceful and law-abiding way. But we spoke, for instance, to the head of one of the largest Muslim organizations here, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, who is a moderate, who leads a fairly moderate organization. And he says that we cannot underestimate the impact that foreign policy is having on some of these, as I say, that small portion, who are, you know, so affected and so ticked by some of these foreign policy things.

And he makes a distinct sort of important point. He says in the West, our leaders, let's say President Bush, Prime Minister Blair, are constantly telling people that it's our freedoms and our way of life that is what's alienating and causing these people to want to come and kill us. He says, this Muslim community leader, that it's actually not democracies, but policies that are throwing these people over the edge. And whether it's an extremist or a moderate, some of these policies are a source of grievance.

But again, the question is, not the whole Muslim community but those few who are the deadly ones, who just are tipped over the edge and are vulnerable to being these kinds of extremists, and who, as Peter had said, flock to the al Qaeda ideology. And look, any expert that you talk to has said over and over again that the recent events, let's say Iraq, these things become the latest recruiting tools.
KING: Christiane, do Muslims in Britain tend to define themselves by their religion?

AMANPOUR: Yes, they do. But you know, we always have to say it, and we always do, because the majority of them live here in a peaceful and law-abiding way. But we spoke, for instance, to the head of one of the largest Muslim organizations here, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, who is a moderate, who leads a fairly moderate organization. And he says that we cannot underestimate the impact that foreign policy is having on some of these, as I say, that small portion, who are, you know, so affected and so ticked by some of these foreign policy things.

And he makes a distinct sort of important point. He says in the West, our leaders, let's say President Bush, Prime Minister Blair, are constantly telling people that it's our freedoms and our way of life that is what's alienating and causing these people to want to come and kill us. He says, this Muslim community leader, that it's actually not democracies, but policies that are throwing these people over the edge. And whether it's an extremist or a moderate, some of these policies are a source of grievance.

But again, the question is, not the whole Muslim community but those few who are the deadly ones, who just are tipped over the edge and are vulnerable to being these kinds of extremists, and who, as Peter had said, flock to the al Qaeda ideology. And look, any expert that you talk to has said over and over again that the recent events, let's say Iraq, these things become the latest recruiting tools.
KING: Christiane, do Muslims in Britain tend to define themselves by their religion?

AMANPOUR: Yes, they do. But you know, we always have to say it, and we always do, because the majority of them live here in a peaceful and law-abiding way. But we spoke, for instance, to the head of one of the largest Muslim organizations here, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, who is a moderate, who leads a fairly moderate organization. And he says that we cannot underestimate the impact that foreign policy is having on some of these, as I say, that small portion, who are, you know, so affected and so ticked by some of these foreign policy things.

And he makes a distinct sort of important point. He says in the West, our leaders, let's say President Bush, Prime Minister Blair, are constantly telling people that it's our freedoms and our way of life that is what's alienating and causing these people to want to come and kill us. He says, this Muslim community leader, that it's actually not democracies, but policies that are throwing these people over the edge. And whether it's an extremist or a moderate, some of these policies are a source of grievance.

But again, the question is, not the whole Muslim community but those few who are the deadly ones, who just are tipped over the edge and are vulnerable to being these kinds of extremists, and who, as Peter had said, flock to the al Qaeda ideology. And look, any expert that you talk to has said over and over again that the recent events, let's say Iraq, these things become the latest recruiting tools.
KING: Christiane, do Muslims in Britain tend to define themselves by their religion?

AMANPOUR: Yes, they do. But you know, we always have to say it, and we always do, because the majority of them live here in a peaceful and law-abiding way. But we spoke, for instance, to the head of one of the largest Muslim organizations here, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, who is a moderate, who leads a fairly moderate organization. And he says that we cannot underestimate the impact that foreign policy is having on some of these, as I say, that small portion, who are, you know, so affected and so ticked by some of these foreign policy things.

And he makes a distinct sort of important point. He says in the West, our leaders, let's say President Bush, Prime Minister Blair, are constantly telling people that it's our freedoms and our way of life that is what's alienating and causing these people to want to come and kill us. He says, this Muslim community leader, that it's actually not democracies, but policies that are throwing these people over the edge. And whether it's an extremist or a moderate, some of these policies are a source of grievance.

But again, the question is, not the whole Muslim community but those few who are the deadly ones, who just are tipped over the edge and are vulnerable to being these kinds of extremists, and who, as Peter had said, flock to the al Qaeda ideology. And look, any expert that you talk to has said over and over again that the recent events, let's say Iraq, these things become the latest recruiting tools.
KING: Christiane, do Muslims in Britain tend to define themselves by their religion?

AMANPOUR: Yes, they do. But you know, we always have to say it, and we always do, because the majority of them live here in a peaceful and law-abiding way. But we spoke, for instance, to the head of one of the largest Muslim organizations here, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, who is a moderate, who leads a fairly moderate organization. And he says that we cannot underestimate the impact that foreign policy is having on some of these, as I say, that small portion, who are, you know, so affected and so ticked by some of these foreign policy things.

And he makes a distinct sort of important point. He says in the West, our leaders, let's say President Bush, Prime Minister Blair, are constantly telling people that it's our freedoms and our way of life that is what's alienating and causing these people to want to come and kill us. He says, this Muslim community leader, that it's actually not democracies, but policies that are throwing these people over the edge. And whether it's an extremist or a moderate, some of these policies are a source of grievance.

But again, the question is, not the whole Muslim community but those few who are the deadly ones, who just are tipped over the edge and are vulnerable to being these kinds of extremists, and who, as Peter had said, flock to the al Qaeda ideology. And look, any expert that you talk to has said over and over again that the recent events, let's say Iraq, these things become the latest recruiting tools.
KING: And what does your research show, Christiane? Would you bet that al Qaeda's here?

AMANPOUR: Oh, you know, that's just too hard a thing to bet on. I mean, I think that Peter and John King have laid it out pretty well. I think also, to go back to some of these causes, it's not a question of justifying it. It's a question of understanding that some of these people have, quote, real or imagined, and that's important to understand. Real or imagined grievances. """"""

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