‘You’re a very intelligent man. Do you believe that six million Jews were annihilated by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis? Do you believe that as a fact?’
‘You pose a question and are willing to only hear what you want me to say.’
‘It’s a simple answer, isn’t it?’
‘Do you want my answer or the answer that you want me to give?’
‘You either believe it or you don’t.’
‘Your answers and your thoughts seem to be quite clear on this. Why do you wish to impose your opinion on me?’ he said.
‘I believe it is an inarguable fact that six million Jews were killed in the war by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. I’m merely asking you, as the president of Iran, do you believe that six million Jews were killed by the Nazis, or do you think that it’s not true?’
‘So in other words, I must accept the premise of your question in order to give you the answer? That’s a dictatorship.’
The sheer ludicrous irony of this statement was almost beyond parody.
‘No, you either believe six million Jews were killed or you don’t.’
‘You asked me a question.’
‘Yes or no. Yes, I believe it, or no, I don’t.’
‘So, you see, what you’re doing is you’re seeking a response based on my thoughts. Why do you even care the origin, what the origin of my thoughts are?’
‘The reason I care is because part of the damage to your reputation among Americans is because they believe that you question the validity of the Holocaust. So I’m simply asking you to state very clearly and simply whether you believe over six million Jews were killed by the Nazis in the war or not. And the answer is either yes or no. It’s not a difficult question.’
‘I thank you for caring so much about me. And I do believe that it is commonplace for an interviewer to pose a question and wait for the proper response to be completed. If you keep wanting to interrupt me, it’s not an issue, it’s your show, here you are, and there’s the camera.’
He was smirking at me, challenging me to continue pressing him. It was both threatening and mocking, and undeniably intimidating. My heart began beating a little faster, and I could feel sweat building on my neck. It’s not often you find yourself in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation with one of the world’s most feared men.
But this was no time to blink first.
‘Forgive me for my impertinence. I will allow you to answer in any way you see fit.’
‘I pass no judgement about historic events. I say researchers and scholars must be free to conduct research and analysis about any historical events, and have contrary opinion, pro and con. Why should a researcher be put in jail, one question? Question number two. Let’s assume your parameter is right, your question is right. Your assumption is that this event took place. Where did it take place? Who were the individuals responsible for this event? What does this have to do with the occupation of Palestine? What role did the people of Palestine play in this event? These are very clear and transparent questions, sir. The third question I have, if a historical event has indeed taken place, why so much sensitivity surrounding it by politicians?’
At no stage in this lengthy exchange did Ahmadinejad ever say he thought the Holocaust happened.
His evasiveness gave me, and the viewer at home, the only answer we needed.
Things got even more heated over gay rights.
He ranted about how homosexuality was ‘very ugly behaviour’, that would ‘cease procreation’ and insisted people became, and were not born, gay.
‘Do you really believe someone is born homosexual?’ he mocked.
‘Yes, I absolutely believe that,’ I replied. And I found myself staring down the ‘most dangerous man in the world’ for several long, slightly unsettling seconds.
I asked how he’d feel if one of his children was gay.
‘Proper education must be given! The political system must be revamped. If a group recognises an ugly behaviour or ugly deed as legitimate, you must not expect other countries or other groups to give it the same recognition. This is an imposition of your will, sir!’
‘How would you feel if one of your children dated a Jew?’
‘I would have to see who that Jewish man or woman would be. I see love among people as completely acceptable. There are many Jews living in Iran with whom we are very close. There are some Muslims that marry into Jewish families or marry Christians. We have no such problems.’
I was astonished by this answer, and told him so.
He feigned surprise at my surprise.
‘We believe that colour, religion, native tongue, ethnic background shouldn’t create differences or distances between people,’ he continued. ‘Nor should it be the sole reason to bring people closer together.’
‘Mr President,’ I concluded, ‘how many times have you been properly in love?’
He smirked. ‘I’m in love with all of humanity!’
Unless they’re gay or a member of the Israeli government, presumably.
‘God bless you,’ he said, as we parted company. ‘I wish you success.’
And with that, we were done.
MONDAY, 24 SEPTEMBER 2012
Woke to an email from Juliana, containing the following quote from William Gibson: ‘Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes.’
TUESDAY, 25 SEPTEMBER 2012
I’ve met Bill Clinton once, for precisely eleven seconds, in a hotel foyer in Blackpool in 1998 as he headed out to speak at the Labour Party Conference.
I was so overexcited, I shouted: ‘Thank you, Mr President!’
‘For what?’ he replied.
‘EVERYTHING!’
It summed up how much Brits loved him at the time.
Today, I finally got to interview him, in return for me agreeing to moderate a panel at his Clinton Global Initiative Conference.
He bounded into the room and up onto the small stage where I’d later be hosting the panel, looked out to a sea of 150 empty chairs, and burst out laughing. ‘Wow. I always feared the day would come when I’d end up speaking to an empty room!’
‘We tried to sell the seats to people out on the street, Mr President,’ I responded, ‘but you’re just not the draw you used to be … sorry.’
Clinton roared again.
‘I know, right? This is the end of the road!’
The interview itself was compelling. He hammered Ahmadinejad and Iran: ‘So what they’re really saying is in spite of the fact that we deny the Holocaust, that we threaten Israel and we demonise the United States, we want you to trust us.’
‘Do you trust him?’ I asked.
‘Not on this, I don’t.’
And then the chilling warning: ‘Their country, their civilisation, their whole history would be destroyed if they ever dropped a bomb on someone, because the retaliation would be incomprehensible.’
As I listened to Clinton easing his way through all manner of complex world issues, I bemoaned once again America’s Twenty-second Amendment to the Constitution that prohibits any president serving more than two terms.
He remains, comfortably, the smartest, most eloquent and popular politician in the world today.
But perhaps all is not lost.
I suggested he become British prime minister instead, if I managed to force through a rule change, and his eyes lit up.
‘There are only two countries I’m eligible to still run for the leadership position – Ireland, because of my Irish heritage. And because I was born in Arkansas, which is part of the Louisiana Purchase, any person anywhere in the world that was born in a place that ever was part of the French empire, if you live in France for six months and speak French, you can run for president.’
He chuckled.
‘I once polled very well in a French presidential race. And I said, you know, this is great, but that’s the best I’d ever do because once they heard my broken French with a
southern accent, I would drop into single digits within a week and I’d be toast!’
MONDAY, 1 OCTOBER 2012
Arnold Schwarzenegger has published his autobiography, addressing in painful detail his housekeeper baby scandal and subsequent breakdown of his marriage.
Today, we taped an interview for my show.
I went to see Arnold in the green room, and although friendly, he seemed oddly detached. The same demeanour continued when the interview started. Gone was all the old Schwarzenegger bravado, replaced by a sombre, reflective and astonishingly self-critical version.
‘What has it been like to be you in the last year?’
‘Everything was perfect,’ he said with a sigh, ‘and so, all of a sudden, from one day to the next, the personal life totally crashed and I wiped out everything I had, and that thing I cherished most was my personal life, my marriage, my family.’
He stared at me, deep sadness etched in his eyes.
‘I love Maria, she’s been truly the only love I’ve ever had. And that’s what’s so pitiful about it. She was the most perfect wife, extraordinary. And I ruined it by doing just about the stupidest thing any human being can do.’
‘If Maria’s watching this,’ I said, ‘what would you say to her?’
‘I would just say sorry for what I’ve done. I want to win her back, and I hope she can really forgive.’
I looked at this still huge (he told me he still does five hundred sit-ups, an hour’s bike ride and two-hundred-pound weight-training every day) yet undeniably diminished man and felt a pang of genuine sympathy.
WEDNESDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2012
The phrase ‘political earthquake’ is often overused.
But tonight saw a real one.
Mitt Romney won the first of three presidential debates, and won it easily.
Where he was confident, Obama seemed oddly flat and unconvincing.
Romney’s also been calming down his Tea Party-appeasing rhetoric on issues, now that they’re fading as a political force – and reverted to his old moderate positions once again. To widespread mockery, he said this week that he wouldn’t seek any anti-abortion legislation if he became president, a direct contradiction of what he said at the start of the year.
‘There’s old moderate Mitt!’ chortled Bill Clinton. ‘Where you been, boy? He shows up with a sunny face and says, “I didn’t say all those things I’ve been saying the last few years”.’
But how much does Romney’s flip-flopping actually matter to the result of the election? Especially as all the polls say the main concern for Americans right now is the economy.
After all, when I asked Bill Clinton during our recent interview if he felt Romney was a ‘principled man’ he smiled and said: ‘That’s not the issue to me.’
And I suspect it’s not for most voters either. They just want to know which man, Romney or Obama, is going to revive the economy faster.
I don’t sense that Americans hate Obama, which is why he may still scrape home despite this shocking night.
But there’s definitely a distinct disillusionment about his general performance.
The great messianic tidal wave of optimism that Obama swept in on has been replaced by harsh reality. He promised Americans tremendous ‘hope’ and ‘change’ and, frankly, they don’t feel he’s given them much hope, or changed very much.
Obama does deserve plaudits for improving the reputation of America abroad after the war-ridden years of George W. Bush, not least by ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, for saving the US car industry with a successful federal bailout, for bringing thirty million more poor Americans into health care insurance, for killing Osama bin Laden and for pushing down the barriers of homophobia by publicly supporting gay marriage.
But – and it’s a big but – unemployment is still running at a frighteningly high 7.9 per cent, meaning twenty-three million Americans are out of work. Meanwhile, the country’s national debt has risen to a staggering $16 trillion, up $5 trillion from when he took over. Add a still severely deflated housing market, and gas prices double where they were in 2008, and it all adds up to a pretty miserable economic picture.
That’s where Romney can win. His track record as a businessman is better than almost any presidential candidate ever. He also almost single-handedly turned around the fortunes of the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002, after the International Olympic Committee chiefs turned to him desperately for help. He sees America as a struggling company and himself as therefore the perfect person to rescue it.
New Jersey governor Chris Christie told me during the party’s recent convention: ‘Mitt’s not the kind of guy you’d go for a beer with, mainly because he doesn’t drink beer. But he’s the kind of guy who gets stuff done.’
There was great excitement around the world when America elected its first black president in 2008.
The possible election of America’s first Mormon president will bring with it far lower expectations.
But that may not be such a bad thing for him, for America or for the world. Especially if he actually gets things done.
TUESDAY, 9 OCTOBER 2012
One of the more amusing aspects of my CNN job is the sheer variety of guests I interview on a nightly basis.
Never was this better illustrated than this week, when I spent 95 per cent of the time grilling politicians about the American election. And the other 5 per cent of the time interrogating a collection of vicious, snarling wild animals.
Jack Hanna is one of the world’s most famous zookeepers and animal experts. Nicknamed ‘Jungle Jack’, he’s an extraordinary character famed for his khaki safari outfits, deep perma-tan and strong southern accent.
But it wasn’t him that I was worried about.
Jack brought over thirty of his animals into my New York studio – ranging from cuddly little owls, beavers and possums to not-so-cuddly snow leopards, alligators, boa constrictors and vultures.
Nothing has ever quite prepared me for the tension of sitting in a chair three feet away from a giant cheetah, standing free outside of its cage, with raw hunger in its eyes.
It was massive, snarling and straining on what looked to me like a rather skimpy leash being held by two smiling female animal trainers.
Jack gave me some cheery advice.
‘Now, don’t touch him. And remember, he’s very quick on his feet – cheetahs can accelerate from zero to 70 m.p.h. in three seconds …’
‘Yes, I’m aware of that …’
‘Nothing should go wrong, but you never know with cheetahs, so be on your guard and if he does attack you, just remember that cheetahs go straight for the neck. He’ll bite you on the underside of your throat until he suffocates you, or punctures the vital artery in your neck. If he does kill you, then he’ll try and devour your flesh as soon as possible before any of the other predators we brought here today can join in. They’re quite selfish like that.’
Suddenly, the cheetah roared and flew at one of my cameramen. And I mean flew.
The trainers both pulled hard on the leash, and somehow managed to stop this giant, seething cat from reaching its lunch – as the cameraman dived for cover.
Jack laughed.
‘I think the lights are cranking him up a bit.’
Jonathan, hiding in the safety of the control room, laughed: ‘If this goes wrong, can I have your office?’
FRIDAY, 12 OCTOBER 2012
Interviewed Oscar Pistorius tonight, the brilliant South African Paralympian sprinter with the nickname ‘Blade Runner’.
He was soft-spoken, incredibly polite and very charming.
But I remembered watching him lose the two-hundred-metre final in London this summer, and exploding with rage by the side of the track afterwards because he thought the Brazilian winner had sought an unfair advantage with longer blades.
It was such a shocking outburst, that I tweeted after watching it: ‘Wow, way to destroy your brand, Oscar Pistorius.’
I asked him about it tonight, a
nd he admitted: ‘I saw your tweet, that’s OK. It was one of those days, hopefully I won’t have another one of those. It’s definitely a debate that needed to be brought up, it wasn’t the right time to take it up. We all make mistakes. I’m still learning and I’m certainly going to learn a lot more lessons throughout my life.’
I asked him how he was dealing with all the female fans he now attracts.
He smiled. ‘I haven’t had much time to think about that. I’m seeing somebody in South Africa, she’s a great girl.’
After the interview, I asked if he could sign some photos for the boys.
‘They’re all huge fans,’ I said. ‘In fact, my middle son, Stanley, is writing a whole school thesis about how inspiring you are.’
‘He is? Wow, that’s amazing. Please thank him for me.’
I sent Stanley a text afterwards passing on the message.
‘That’s so cool, Dad!’ he replied. ‘I love Oscar!’
TUESDAY, 16 OCTOBER 2012
Woke to a touching email from Juliana: ‘Today is the national day to honour your boss. Thanks so much for being the worst boss ever!’
MONDAY, 29 OCTOBER 2012
Weather forecasts for a monster storm dubbed Hurricane Sandy have grown progressively worse for the New York area over the last few days, and some meteorologists were sounding positively apocalyptic this morning.
‘How bad will this be?’ I asked Jonathan, self-proclaimed New York weather obsessive.
‘Bad,’ he replied. ‘They’re saying this will be the worst storm ever to hit the city.’
The rain started around midday, and the clouds darkened rapidly. I took a cab to CNN around 2 p.m.
An hour after I arrived, an enormous noise, which sounded like a thunderclap, boomed out.
I ran to the window of my office and saw that a giant crane on top of a skyscraper five hundred yards away (a building called One57, which will be New York’s tallest residential tower at ninety storeys) had buckled, and the top of it was now dangling precariously over the densely populated streets below.
In that moment, it was clear that Sandy was going to be on a different scale from any weather-related episode I’d ever been through before.
Shooting Straight: Guns, Gays, God, and George Clooney Page 25
