Important correction.   I meant of course to say "putting the cart before the horse", and not the horse before the cart. 

@ Flemish American

As stated, I only saw 5 minutes of that program and do not want to judge its total content.  And, it is true that in those 5 minutes the program SUPERFICIALLY was "hardly apologetic to the muslims IN QUESTION".  The 1 muslim I saw being interviewed by Amanpour in those 5 minutes was indeed a total nutcase, and not even CNN would want to be seen as sympathetic to such an individual pathetic case. 

But....in her analysis, Amanpour put 'the cart before the horse', in blaming the 'war on terror' for islamic terrorism, i.e.  for the misguided actions of (supposedly only) some muslims.  It was a subtle misrepresentation of recent history and also a misrepresentation of current sociological reality in the muslim world.   While the program was not so foolish as to try to whitewash ridiculous islamist behavior, it nevertheless fed western selfhatred.  Amanpour ESSENTIALLY blamed western actions for the misguided bad behavior of some muslims.  

Of course, there is a lot of "good information" to be appreciated on CNN.  But, adult people should be able to make their overall judgement, based on many observations, about the particular philosophical and political biases of a media enterprise.  And honest people should be willing to make observations, no matter how unpleasant they may be.   It suffices to listen to some of the perverse selfhatred contained in numerous public statements by CNN's founder, Ted Turner, to realise that a lot of time - and new personnel - is going to be needed before 'his' (old) enterprise will be able to free itself from its strong 'liberal' bias.

I am not an advocate for CNN, nor do I have anything to add or argue about your opinions regarding that network.  I merely commented on their Special Report which was hardly apologetic for the Muslims in question and even hit topics like how women Muslims in the U.K. were being kept out of the mosques and so forth.

You should avoid letting your own bias against a network keep you from appreciating some of the good information it might provide.  You reacted to the source rather than scrutinizing the content.  That makes you no better than the Muslim reaction to the words of the Pope.  Shame on you.

Lord, grant me the strength to change the things I can;

the serenity to deal with the things I cannot change;

and the wisdom to know the difference.

The following article, a partial snippet from a book that was in progress, contains an explanation of Amanpour's success as a media star.  A couple of quotes from the article:

"In 2000, Christiane Amanpour described her life to her television audience (seven pages on the Internet). (12) She skips her life in Iran and her escape from the Iranian Revolution, and begins with how she came to CNN with a suitcase, her bicycle, and about $100, to rise to superstardom in "television journalism," which she criticizes severely.

The secret of her own dizzying success is simple. Before and after Sept. 11, 2001, she was telling fairy tales at the level of a picture book for pre-school children about Islam and the Islamic world, and these fairy tales corresponded to each day's "political correctness," leading the West into yet another mortal danger, apart from the Chinese Superweapon No. 3." 

and,

"

Before and after Sept. 11, 2001, the most prominent television anchor, journalist and authority on Islam and the Islamic world was CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour, who was born and grew up in an Islamic country, Iran.

Thus, as a native of an Islamic country and assisted by Moslem professors of Islam and Islamic clerics she hosted, she explained that the very word "Islam" means "Peace" in Arabic, and this is what the Koran is all about."

The older article contains interesting discussion and is @:

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/1/7/03952.shtml

She is referenced in this Wiki write up:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiane_Amanpour

As Marc Frans points out CNN is characterized by it's leftist view and globalist promotion.  It is a natural haven for leftist anti-American style journalism.  It is a corroboration of anti-American viewpoints for leftist programming in Europe and in my view is more obviously anti-American and more shrill in the promotion of that viewpoint.

I agree that there has been a great deal of putting the horse before the cart these days in Western media, and it is an attempt to frame the debate.

F.e. Western media (fortunately, not in Australia, where common sense reigns and White nationalism remains in effect) reported that the riots at Cornulla Beach in Australia were spontaneous acts of racial hatred and violence, ultra nationalism, and xenophobia committed by White Australians. These same media spent little time on the causes for the riots, namely the harassment of Australian girls by Lebanese Muslims, including verbal insults e.g. "b*tch," and "wh*re." Nor did these same Lebanese seek shelter with the local police and attempt 'cultural dialogue' with these vicious Aussies; rather they gathered into gangs and organised reprisals. How are they better than the Aussies?

This harassment of women is a common theme in Western-Islamic relations as is Muslim gangs; Westerners either seek refuge in ineffective law enforcement systems or are forced to organise into gangs themselves - Balkanisation at its finest.

@ Flemish American

You forgot to mention that Amanpur got it wrong again!   I heard her claim that many muslims see the 'war on terror' as a war against islam and against all muslims, and that IN REACTION some muslims choose 'violence'.  In short, she put the horse before the cart.  The 'war on terror' was being presented as 'coming out of the blue' and that some muslims reacted badly.  What nonsense.  

I happened to see that CNN Special Report for only 5 minutes or so, and switched the channel.  Maybe the rest of the program was more 'balanced' and 'accurate', but I doubt it.  Someone here on the TBJ has characterised CNN as "leftist globalism", and that is certainly the case in most of the reporting by Christiane Amanpour.

The CNN Special Report from this weekend, "The War Within", hosted by Christiane Amanpour was an eye-opener at how bad things are getting in the United Kingdom.  There was footage of a radical Muslim group actually standing outside of a church chanting against the Pope and other phrases about Muslims taking over all of Britain.  There was discussion about their desire to see Shira Law in Western countries and they were very serious.

It is disturbing at best to think of what the leaders of these organizations have in mind for our futures.  It is downright frightening if you let yourself dwell on it more than 10 seconds.  I only wish our governments would stop mortgaging our countries in the name of political correctness at the expense of our cultural heritage. 

Lord, grant me the strength to change the things I can;

the serenity to deal with the things I cannot change;

and the wisdom to know the difference.

Islam seems to have no prohibitions against touching Western benefits or money.  I wonder how many benefits have touched those hands and how many hands of working people provided those benefits and pay?  Hands are being defiled, but they aren't muslim.

"Scotland Yard said yesterday that a Muslim woman police who refused to shake hands with the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police at her passing-out ceremony would be dismissed if she did not 'engage' with people as other officers do." (1/22/07)

It will be interesting to see if they stand by their words.

@Taurus689

You're absolutely right. While most people can get quite well along with having other customs/beliefs than the majority, muslims obviously can't. Harassing nonmuslims with their weird ideology seems to  become more and more popular with muslims living in the west. Instead of restricting their belief to their private lifes they try to invade any possible space with it. That's what jihad is about, after all..
They start with wearing provocatively the hijab, asking for gender seperation, removal of pork dishes,removal of anything resembling a cross, refusal to desinfectate hands etc.etc. Convert, submit or die is the simple message of islam many of its followers have spread throughout the centuries.

 I wonder if Muslims who keep so much to their religion should be allowed into any state office at all. Last not least, taqqiya (lying to infidels) is a common practice recommended by the prophet himself to his followers.
One should seriously consider that when she pledged to serve the infidel state as a police officer she might have put her religion which is at odds with much of our legal system above all as well and simply lied.

Why would she arrest Muslim gang-rapers? All they're doing is encouraging Western women to wear the hijab, and besides, the victims always bring in on themselves by acting like prostitutes. Why would she interfere in God's good work?

I guess here also she will refuse to arrest muslim rapers who just put their hands on "free meat", to use the words of imams on western women...

Doesn't the Koran dictate that you wipe your ass with your right hand?  Probably a good thing not to shake hands I think and probably should not be encouraged.

At least this is being reported in the MSM outside the Sun and the Daily Mail. They are slowly starting to twig about things...even Channel 4 (who have/used to a show called ShariaTV) are waking up to the fact that not all is well.

How absurd...what will happen when a male suspect is arrested? Will she use prayer as a means of restraint? The solution is simple--anyone who is not willing to do their job should be fired. Let's reinstitute the concept of common sense, shall we!

"...the woman confirmed that she'll put her duty as a policewoman before her religion..."

Surely police officers have duties that are both regular and ceremonial, and in that context, shaking hands with Sir Ian Blair is as important as physically apprehending a male suspect or helping to resuscitate an injured or dying man. This is yet another instance of Muslims deliberately opposing even the most basic aspects of Western culture.

Expression of religious belief is not unlike expression of individuality. Some people need to commit petty crimes, cover their bodies in tattoos, pierce their skin, and wear make-up and ragged clothes in order to demonstrate their individuality; others have no need to overtly proclaim their uniqueness, they are confident individuals no matter their appearance. As far as religions are concerned, Muslims are invariably part of the former group. However, strength is often silent, and if Muslims need to aggressively interfere with anything that is not a part of Islam, than this demonstrates their weakness and the inability of Islam to exist on its own, without conquering other belief systems.

More proof that these people have neither the ability nor the will to assimilate into a Western society.

Hassidic  Jews do not have tactile contact with members of the opposite sex who are not related to them but the difference is that Hassidim are not queing up to join the police forces either.

See this article from Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper of 21 January 2007

Omar Bakri Mohammed the Islamic extremist says that "When you start to ask Muslims to join your Army and your police you are making a grave mistake." Apparently, this fifth column will one day "revolt against the system" and "crush it from within."

Yet another case of radical Islam making its intentions perfectly clear. Is anybody here in Britain taking any notice though? I think not.