Whitfield repeatedly called the attack on Rantisi "retaliation", and Mr. Meir repeatedly corrected her. She was persistent in her questioning in trying to get Mr. Meir to say something that fit her "cycle of violence" or "tit for tat" or "continual retaliation" story line. Her every attempt was shot down. Just by listening to her questioning I wanted to scream. Her anti-Israel slant was blatantly obvious and although it was just as obvious that the facts didn't fit her story, it didn't matter.

Meir did a nice job, but it was useless... He denied the attack was retaliation of any sort. He painstakingly explained that it was simply a part of the long, long war being waged against them. He spoke of a previous attempt on Rantisi of which this was just the latest move. Nothing he said even remotely could be interpreted the way that Whitfield wanted it to.

She asked about killing innocents... he answered that they had waited until the intelligence ensured that collateral damage would be minimized (the facts prove that true) She brought up the unsubstantiated rumor that his young child was said to have been killed... Where the hell did THAT come from?

She tried to say that Bush had given Sharon the "Green Light" for the attack while he was in Washington.. he answered that it was false, that they had targeted Rantisi before, that, as a Sovereign nation, Israel made its own choices... Again Whitfield would hear none of it.

After her obligatory gracious farewell to him, she began to sum up their conversation by saying, "As you heard, this retaliation from Israel....." I could watch no more. I yelled at hte TV, clicked it off, and had to walk outside. Was she stupid or lying?

I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and conclude that she was/is just stupid. Maybe the producers were talking to her in her earpiece, distracting her, passing her the questions and telling her what was coming up. Maybe some one was just feeding her the questions and she didn't even listen to the answers.... she couldn't have, her report, her questions simply did not fit the facts nor what her subject was saying... and it didnt' matter.

What is up with CNN? Why is the truth so foreign to them? The bright side of the problem is that their audience is pitifully small. It's a sad state when Fox is the only 24 hr TV News alternative.... What would we do without the Internet???