Blog Posts by Dan Rather

  • Hospitals, the new Bahraini battleground

    By Dan Rather | Yahoo! News – Tue, Oct 9, 2012

    (Warning: Video contains graphic images)

    It seems hard to imagine that the situation in Bahrain, a small island country off the coast of Saudi Arabia, could be any more tense than it was when we were there in late March.  The Shia majority have been pushing for more rights, and the Sunni-backed rulers have been resisting with brutal efficiency.

    We walked down streets littered with empty tear gas canisters and past buildings covered with anti-government graffiti.  We talked to protestors who had had their homes raided, their children teargassed, their loved ones detained or killed.  We observed a peaceful funeral procession descend into chaos as police tried to break down the barricades that marchers had set up.

    But it has gotten much, much worse over there.  The fighting is now an almost nightly occurrence, and we are told "there are entire villages that are turning radical."  A Bahraini source smuggled out this video to us, telling us that "people have to see what is

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  • Report: Chavez's cancer has 'entered the end stage'

    A special report from Dan Rather, anchor and managing editor of HDNet's Dan Rather Report

    By Dan Rather | HDNet – Wed, May 30, 2012

    This reporter has been told that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez  has metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma, an aggressive cancer that has "entered the end stage".  The information and the quote come from a highly respected source close to Chavez and who is in a position to know his medical condition and history. This source says the prognosis is dire and that Chavez  is now not expected to live "more than a couple of months at most."  Chavez is running for re-elec tion in Venezuela but several sources--including the one who revealed  the exact kind of cancer-- have told me that they believe it is doubtful the dictator will live to see the results.

    Voting is scheduled for October 7th. Chavez has been treated three times in Cuba but the exact kind of cancer has been a closely guarded state secret. 

    Reporter's note: There is only one source for identifying the cancer and for the prognosis quoted in the first part of the above story.  This is a person whom your reporter has very good reason to

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  • Abducted generations?

    On Tuesday, May 1, 2012 at 8 ET, Dan Rather Reports on HDNet investigates the disturbing accounts of forced adoptions. Here, Dan Rather gives an exclusive preview.

    By Dan Rather | Yahoo! News – Mon, Apr 30, 2012

    In the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s, being an unwed mother carried a significant stigma in America. It’s now called the “baby scoop” era and during this time young women -- usually in their teens -- were either hidden at home, sent to live with distant relatives or quietly dispatched to maternity homes to give birth.

    Estimates are as many as 1.5 million young mothers who say they were forced -- some just minutes after delivery -- to hand over their babies for adoption during this period.  It was a decision that they seldom made on their own. Mostly, it was preordained by the young woman’s church or her parents.  Often too, it was a decision that was dictated by the social customs of the time because having a baby out of wedlock was seen as a disgrace to a family.

    [Related: Adopted or abducted?]

    Since last October, Dan Rather Reports has interviewed nearly one hundred women from around the world who shared a common experience: They say during this time they were lied to, denied

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