Christiane Amanpour Exclusive and Surreal Interview with #Libya's Saif Gaddafi

Remember her exclusive interview with Hosni Mubarak on February 3rd, to give the viewers around the world the Mubarak's side of the story? Well, Mubarak was gone in a week.

Here's the well-connected Amanpour, who was one of the select journalists to get invited by the Gaddafi regime to the sanitized Tripoli, interviewing a mad son of the madman Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam (a hard-partying playboy who has been fawned on by the West as Libya's new "reform" leader, until recently...). The whole point of the exercise? Probably the same as in Mubarak's case - to present the Gaddafi side of the story, to give a humane face, so to speak:

About "President Barack Obama's call for Moammar Gadhafi to step down and the U.N. Security Council's unanimous vote to impose an arms embargo on Libya and urge nations to freeze Libyan assets":

"Listen, nobody is leaving this country. We live here, we die here," he insisted. "This is our country. The Libyans are our people. And for myself, I believe I am doing the right thing."

"It's not an American business, that's number one," said Gadhafi, who was dressed casually as he spoke with Amanpour. "Second, do they think this is a solution? Of course not."

[That I have to agree. It's not an American business, not from this particular president who orders killer drones over innocent people in Pakistan and Afghanistan.]

About deadly attacks on Libyans:

"Show me a single attack, show me a single bomb," he told her. "The Libyan air force destroyed just the ammunition sites. That's it."

"There's a big, big gap between reality and media reports."

About UN sanctions to freeze their assets:

"First of all, we don't have money outside. We are a very modest family and everybody knows that. And we are laughing when they say you have money in Europe or Switzerland or something. C'mon, it's a joke."

[Britain just froze the Gaddafi family assets amid rumors that the Gaddafis transferred 3 billion pounds ($4.83 billion) to Britain last week, and impounded 900 million pounds ($1.45 billion) worth of uncirculated Libyan currency.]

[And I'm wondering who those American bankers are who manage the Gaddafi fortune. I also wonder if the Libyan Sovereign Fund was a buyer of the recent Illinois pension fund bond offers..]

About Libyan diplomats who resigned and calling for his father to step down:

"C'mon, they are employees working for the government. It's not their business."

She also interviewed another Gaddafi son, Saadi (the one who plays soccer).

About what would happen if his father were to step down:

"If he were to leave today, there would be war," he said. "Civil war in Libya."

[Uhhh, it's already a civil war, in case you haven't notice..]

About the massive protests spreading throughout Libya:

"It's fever. It's going to spread everywhere. No one can stop it. That is my personal opinion, and the chaos will be everywhere. ... They think it's about freedom. I love freedom. You love freedom, but it's powerful, this earthquake. No one can control it."

[That I agree, except for the "chaos will be everywhere" part - from what I've seen, the cities and towns that freed themselves of the Gaddafis quickly self-organize, just like in Egypt. Food distribution, newspapers, radio station, blogs, police, cleanup crew. A civil order is emerging, not chaos.

[But his comment that no one can control freedom once it's unleashed, I think that's true. And that's why the government leaders - East, West, anywhere - do not want their citizens to experience; control is their raison d'etre. This soccer playing Gaddafi seems to know that.]

Tweet

Ultimate Chutzpah: ABC Rejects Ad Ciritical of Obama Health Care "Reform" as "Partisan"

More on the mainstream media coverage on the administration's health care "reform" and on-going debate among citizenry.

ABC (who aired the special program on health care from within the White House) and NBC (the CEO of the parent company, GE, is an economic advisor to President Obama, who also happens to be a director at New York Federal Reserve Bank) refuse to air an ad critical of Obama Administration's health care "reform".

ABC, NBC Won't Air Ad Critical of Obama's Health Care Plan
(8/27/09 Fox News) [emphasis is mine]

"The refusal by ABC and NBC to run a national ad critical of President Obama's health care reform plan is raising questions from the group behind the spot -- particularly in light of ABC's health care special aired in prime time last June and hosted at the White House.
The 33-second ad by the League of American Voters, which features a neurosurgeon who warns that a government-run health care system will lead to the rationing of procedures and medicine, began airing two weeks ago on local affiliates of ABC, NBC, FOX and CBS. On a national level, however, ABC and NBC have refused to run the spot in its present form."

The ad was created by the League of American Voters (according to Fox article, a national nonprofit group with 15,000 members who advocate individual liberty and government accountability).

"[Bob] Adams [executive director of the League of American Voters] said the advertisement is running on local network affiliates in states like Louisiana, Arkansas, Maine and Pennsylvania. But although CBS has approved the ad for national distribution and talks are ongoing with FOX, NBC has questioned some of the ad's facts while ABC has labeled it "partisan.""

""The ABC Television Network has a long-standing policy that we do not sell time for advertising that presents a partisan position on a controversial public issue," spokeswoman Susan Sewell said in a written statement. "Just to be clear, this is a policy for the entire network, not just ABC News."

"NBC, meanwhile, said it has not turned down the ad and will reconsider it with some revisions."

No one, not even Obama, seems to know exactly what's in the House bill H.R. 3200, what's in the Senate version, what's in the versions that different committees in the House and the Senate have been discussing. However, NBC apparently knows all the "facts" to dispute the ad (I wonder it's a "fact sheet" provided by the White House/Democratic Party, instead of "facts"), and ABC labels it "partisan", totally oblivious to the fact that by rejecting the "partisan" ad the network itself is taking a "partisan" position.

As the article cites Dick Morris (a FOX News political analyst and the League of American Voters' chief strategist, who was a onetime advisor to former President Bill Clinton):

""It's the ultimate act of chutzpah because ABC is the network that turned itself over completely to Obama for a daylong propaganda fest about health care reform," he said. "For them to be pious and say they will not accept advertising on health care shuts their viewers out from any possible understanding of both sides of this issue.""

Speaking of being partisan, ABC is clearly excited about the return of "Harry and Louise" ad, this time promoting their dear leader's health care "reform". The ad, as I wrote in my posts, was created by a pharmaceutical industry lobby PhRMA who reportedly has had a secret deal on health care with the White House and whose slogan on their website says "Disease is our enemy. Working to save lives is our job."

And here I was, thinking the days of militarizing everything was over and done with, with the previous administration. By the way, as I mentioned in my post also, the health care bill H.R. 3200 is full of "corps" and "force" for the "positive" "change".

Tweet