Christiane Amanpour: International Goddess



(image via NYTCO)

The Corsair has always privately wondered, after seeing investigative news goddess Christiane Amanpour covering the deadliest troublespots on the planet -- Sudan in mid-genocide, war torn Iraq, disintegrating Yugoslavia, Haiti in meltdown -- whether or not she worries about her immediate future and what effect that might have on her young son. Of course she does, according to Rush and Molloy:

"Top CNN international correspondent Christiane Amanpour probably has one of the riskiest jobs in the world. It weighs on her, she told us recently, more out of concern for her 5-year-old son, Darius, than for herself.

"'I find it increasingly difficult,' Amanpour said during a recent visit to New York. 'Because the kind of work I do is rather dangerous. And it takes you away for prolonged periods of time.'

"With the death of an Associated Press cameraman over the weekend, 63 journalists have been killed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. Amanpour, 47, covered the Iraqi elections for the all-news network for much of January. She'd been in Afghanistan in October, the Middle East in November and in Sri Lanka after the tsunami.

"After Darius was born, Amanpour and her husband, PBS 'Wide Angle' host and former State Department spokesman James Rubin, pledged that they'd wouldn't be away from home more than two weeks at a time. But during the elections, Amanpour, who was raised in Iran, had to stay longer."

Incidentally, had Kerry beat Bush, Rubin would have been the UN Ambassador.

"'I feel increasingly afraid, not just for my life, but for what it will mean for my son,' the courageous journalist told us. 'So it's increasingly difficult emotionally for me. But I'm still committed, because I think covering international news is getting more important, not less. And there are fewer people, not more, doing it.'"

The Corsair totally worships Christiane Amanpour. In fact, The Corsair remembers the moment when she became an actual goddess in our eyes. It was during a riot in Haiti at the beginning of the Clinton Administration. Aristide had been ousted. Colin Powell was doing behind-the-scenes diplomacy. Amanpour was reporting on the looting of a grocery store, which was in the process of taking place, maybe 30 feet behind her. The Corsair thought, "Gee, that lawless riot site may not be a good place for a CNN correspondent to be standing."

And then we thought, "but the fact that she is ..."

The fact that Christiane Amanpour "is"