Christiane Amanpour: 'Axis of Evil' Comment Angered Iranians

CNN's Christiane Amanpour appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night and discussed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Watch it here:

Read a Huffington Post Q&A with Ms. Amanpour.

Comments

[lrubemp]

Let's see. The US has USED atomic weapons, slaughtered millions in Korea and Vietnam, hundreds of thousands more in Iraq and Afghanistan (which surround Iran), torn up the Nonproliferation Treaty by building new nuclear missile systems, and threatened Iran with military attack, but it's the Iranian regime that is "evil", not reasonable, and what's wrong with them, why don't they behave? Twisted, imperialist logic, and Amanpour is just another mouthpiece.

[PazPraSempre]

I'm sure he meant well, but I cringed when Jay Leno said that out of all the peoples in the Middle East, the Iranians seem to be the ones "most like us."
--they go to restaurants, like dancing -- I'm pretty sure others from the Middle East do that too...
--who's "us" ?

--Maybe he meant that they are the most Westernized, or maybe the least fundamentalist??

[raker]

I think the Iranians' taking American hostages in 1979 was as deep a psychic wound as Pearl Harbor or the Saudi Arabian attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, though less tragic in terms of human suffering. While we loath Bush and his fatuous comments, we don't give a crap about Iran's hurt feelings. I think Americans would take great joy in seeing Iran disappear.

[VictorLudorum]

iran wants to distract it public with war ?,it shouldnt be isreal!

[VictorLudorum]

There has been an accident inside the khomoieni revolution that iran announced itself 'islamic republic' that has made them bigger dictators than the shah to iranians but because the shah wanted/supported absolute modernism the pinch doesnt feel abroad where already the question of protectionisms and regime support and personal freedom from federal watches is taking serious proportion . irani angels or ahmed nijad are not aware that the islami republic again becomes the pahalvi /bhutto/gaddafi uno employement and high rolling ..... the morsl quation still remains that 'mumineen shites have rights to morality as much as any other family.......but the bhuttos and pahalvis are not with us today .you can say the kohinoor they commanded is gone ,but the peacock is still the uno jobs they enlisted and the high rollers allover..... the bureacracies of islamic conference are equally simple..last year amr musa directly quoted usa while in such modern information communication a big rich organisation like the oic should atleast who is pinching muslims or islamic countries from washington.
iran wants to distract it public with war ,it shouldnt be isreal.

[yesyesyes]

Axis Of Evil comment was and still is cringeworthy.

[LKV]

I would like to thank Christiane for the wonderful reporting that she does all around the world. She is thoughtful, smart and really gets down to what is important for the world to know. She risks her life to get to the truth behind the story that she is covering and I have the utmost respect for her and her work.

[wideawakenow]

Fussygorilla. It is obvious that because you are most probably Iranian yourself, you have a bias against Ms Amanpour. She is not looking at situations with "Iranian born" eyes but with the eyes of a journalist. She has lived all over the world. she knows much more than most people about the affairs of the world. Just because her ways of seeing things don't line up with yours does not mean she doesn't have integrity. I have always found her to be a thoughtful, intelligent journalist. I also wouldn't characterize Americans as "stab others in the back to get ahead". Your post says more about you than it does about Ms. Amanpour I'm afraid.

[butkusrules]

Fussygorilla
Why would you think anyone would take anything you said seriously after you start off with
"the American way of stab others on the back to get ahead"? Hiding in ignorance is not going to help you and the causes you believe in.

[fussygorilla]

Amanpour may be Iranian "born" but she has been raised here and sold out her soul to the American way of stab others on the back to get ahead. She was allowed to Iran several times with total access to every person and traveled all over the country but in her reports she only reported whatever negative she could find because that is what SELLS in the market place here. She is a tool of the American ziionists (married to one also). She has no integrity.

[desertdweller]

Gotzbadeh? When you have no women at night....(Johnny Carson)

[DeepBlueJr]

I would say her slight British accent suggests otherwise

[realtalkingnow]

As far as I can tell Amanpour has always tried to make sure to make the public know that Iranians are NOT war mongerers, like Amadinajad, and that in fact many Iranians like America. She has tried to show the good in Iran, and in fact when she speaks I am apt to believe what she says because she simply speaks the truth, she does not sugar coat it, and she does not promote Amadainajad's propaganda. In fact Amanpour simply tends to just tell us what she sees with her own eyes, and hears with er own ears, and the one messages I have heard from her is that MOST people in Iran like America, they are NOT all like Amadainajad, and they DO NOT all think the same as Amadinajad.

[raechel]

She is brilliant, thoughtful, articulate, and an effective advocate for Middle Eastern / Arab / Muslim people. For example, in this segment she points out the damage done to Iran and to what Americans would like to see in Iran by the ill-conceived "axis of evil" speech our President made. Not sure who you think she's stabbing in the back. Maybe you didn't understand her point. Or maybe it just bothers you that she's smart and authoritative WOMAN.

And yes, Leno was embarassing. Sorry, world, for our bubbas.