Carole Coleman:...."But, Mr President, you didn't find any weapons," I
interjected.
Frankie's comments: Carole really blew it.She is just not a good re****ter.
As a re****ter,one must be fair,seen to be fair.How on Earth that Saddam's
people who protested that they had no WMDs,The Dems use that as a fight in
Elections,and they lost,and the Middle East crooks,airing day and
night,hitting Bush with this silly logic....
how could she behaves like a kook?
"Calife" <user@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:434aaede$0$457$7a628cd7@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 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
>
> By Carole Coleman, The Sunday Times (London)
>
> 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
rap****t.
>
> "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 Wa****ngton 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. Re****ters 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, Wa****ngton 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 relation****p 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 op****tunity.
>
> "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
> op****tunity 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 fa****on.
> 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 relation****p with God is a very
> personal relation****p. 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
> relation****p."
>
> 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 Air****t for the
> trans****t of soldiers and weapons to the Gulf.
>
> "You are going to meet Bertie Ahern when you arrive at Shannon Air****t
> tomorrow. I guess he went out on a limb for you, presumably because of
> the great friend****p 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 pu****ng 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 im****tant 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 op****tunity,
> 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 op****tunity 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 op****tunity 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
> Wa****ngton -- in other words, an official complaint from Wa****ngton to
> Dublin.
>
> "I don't know how we are going to repair this relation****p, 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 Wa****ngton. 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 re****tedly 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 Wa****ngton,
> 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 re****ter 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 re****ter 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 re****ters 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?"
>
> (c) Carole Coleman 2005
>
> 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
> O14.95.
>
> Copyright 2005 Times Newspapers Ltd.
>
> Reprinted from The Sunday Times (London):
> http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2766-1817008,00.html
|
