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Christiane Amanpour gets a sample of honesty:



From a telephone interview with Arafat....



Arafat: Palestinians are 'facing this challenge'



AMANPOUR: Secretary of State Colin Powell has spoken to you, I understand. He has also spoken publicly. He called on you to rein in the violence. What do you make of that statement, and can you and will you rein in that violence?



ARAFAT: Are you asking me while I am under complete siege? You are a wonderful journalist. You have to respect your profession.



AMANPOUR: Mr. Arafat, I'm simply asking you a question. Are you able to rein in the violence?



ARAFAT: You have to be accurate when you are speaking with General Yasser Arafat. Be quiet! You are covering, with such questions, the terrorist activities of the Israeli occupation and the Israeli crimes. Be fair. Why do you make these certain mistakes?



Thank you. Bye, bye.
Please note he not only refused to answer the question, he went on the offensive after first trying to distract with a bit of praise. I heard this on TV and he said "Be quiet!" so loud I first assumed he was talking to someone in the room with him. The rest of his "remarks" made it clear he was talking with Amanpour, who is generally sympathetic to Palestinians, terrorists or not.



As the Wall Street Journal is fond of pointing out, Yasser Arafat won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.



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