This Sunday and Monday, the ABC Television Network will air a two-part mini-series titled "The Path to 9/11." Described as "a dramatization of the events detailed in The 9/11 Commission Report and other sources," the mini-series will be presented by ABC with limited commercial interruption.
It will also highlight the failures of the Clinton Administration in preventing the the terrorist attacks. Remember, the name of the mini-series is "The Path to 9/11," Not "The Aftermath of..." If they are going to talk about the failures of American policy leading up to that fateful day, they must also include the failings of then President Bill Clinton in addition to the current failings of President George W. Bush.
The überLibs are all up in arms because "The Path to 9/11" dares to dramatize events that may or may not have happened during the Clinton Adminstration. They're not only claiming that it's filled with lies, they're also saying that ABC/Disney is nothing but GOP-TV. The production team of the film says it's not true, though.
Responding on the film's official blog, writer/producer Cyrus Nowrasteh said the following:
This movie is well-supported and well-documented. But everyone should be aware, and we say so upfront in a long legend -- "The following dramatization...has composite and representative characters and incidents, and time compressions have been used for dramatic purposes."
We cover the failures and mistakes of two administrations -- as well as the successes i.e the capture of Ramzi Yousef, thwarting of the Millenium plot (both under the Clinton administration) etc. People need to watch both nights of the miniseries before drawing conclusions.
Nowrasteh is right. People are denouncing this movie and they haven't even seen it yet!
That doesn't stop Slick Willie, though. Not only is he whining that he hasn't been allowed to see an advance copy, but he's also apparently psychic because he says that the movie "The content of this drama is factually and incontrovertibly inaccurate and ABC has the duty to fully correct all errors or pull the drama entirely."
Good trick, huh?
Still others on the left are complaining that are complaining that some of us on the Right have a double standard going. They compare their furor over this to what happened with CBS's depiction of "The Reagans" back in 2003. While that may seem like a fair comparision at face value, the difference is that "The Path to 9/11" looks at policy failings of two administrations while "The Reagans" was an outright character assassination. Reagan was portrayed as a doddering old man while Nancy was the "Lady MacBeth" in the White House, consulting astrologers at every turn. "The Reagans" preyed upon every liberal stereotype of the Reagan years and didn't focus on his successes anywhere near as much as it tried to discredit him
The überLibs do a great job of pointing the finger, but when the scrutiny falls up on them they immediately try to shift the blame as well as the responsibility. The Left lives by a double standard: they allowed to criticize and castigate all they want to, but don't expect to be able to do the same to them.
Oh, don't dare pick on Saint Bubba or scrutinize his failures and shortcomings! As far as they're concerned, Bill Clinton could do no wrong and everything he did was in the best interests of the United States and history started on 9/11/01.
After all, I didn't hear any complaints from the Left when "The Reagans" came out...or "Fahrenheit 9/11"...or "An Inconvenient Truth"...or even "Death of a President," which dramatizes the assassination of George W. Bush. Each of those deals with the "big bad GOP," so that makes those projects alright despite the fact they're filled with half-truths or, in some cases, outright lies.
We must always learn from history and we must always learn from the facts, regardless of whether they fit our ideology or not. The path to 9/11 and the rise of al Qaeda didn't just start on January 20, 2001. The fact is that they had years to build and grow their organization. The fact is that they made many attacks on US interests before George W. Bush ever took the oath of office. The fact is that Bill Clinton didn't do anything substantive to bring Osama to justice when he had clear opportunities.
The fact is that there is plenty of blame to spread around--and the producers of "The Path to 9/11" say they've done that.
I have not seen the film yet. I'll watch it on ABC this coming weekend like plenty of other people. While I'm watching it, though, I'll remember that it's a movie. It's a dramatization. It's a Hollywood take on what may have occurred.
Do something that the überLibs can't do: watch it, and then make up your own mind.
William Smith
ConservativeBlogger.com
