Senate Dems: Cancel ABC 9/11 Movie

Urging him to cancel the grossly inaccurate upcoming miniseries "The Path to 9/11," the Senate Democratic Leadership on Thursday sent the following letter to Disney President and CEO Robert Iger. Disney’s subsidiary ABC erroneously claims the misleading miniseries is based on 9/11 Commission report and is planning to air it on Sept. 10 and 11. Shockingly, the network is also planning to use the program as a teaching tool through Scholastic, potentially misinforming thousands of children about the most important event in recent American history.

The text of the letter, signed by Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, Assistant Democratic Leader Dick Durbin, and Senators Debbie Stabenow, Charles Schumer, and Byron Dorgan, is below.


September 7, 2006

Mr. Robert A. Iger

President and CEO

The Walt Disney Company

500 South Buena Vista Street

Burbank CA 91521

Dear Mr. Iger,

We write with serious concerns about the planned upcoming broadcast of The Path to 9/11 mini-series on September 10 and 11. Countless reports from experts on 9/11 who have viewed the program indicate numerous and serious inaccuracies that will undoubtedly serve to misinform the American people about the tragic events surrounding the terrible attacks of that day. Furthermore, the manner in which this program has been developed, funded, and advertised suggests a partisan bent unbecoming of a major company like Disney and a major and well respected news organization like ABC. We therefore urge you to cancel this broadcast to cease Disney’s plans to use it as a teaching tool in schools across America through Scholastic. Presenting such deeply flawed and factually inaccurate misinformation to the American public and to children would be a gross miscarriage of your corporate and civic responsibility to the law, to your shareholders, and to the nation.

The Communications Act of 1934 provides your network with a free broadcast license predicated on the fundamental understanding of your principle obligation to act as a trustee of the public airwaves in serving the public interest. Nowhere is this public interest obligation more apparent than in the duty of broadcasters to serve the civic needs of a democracy by promoting an open and accurate discussion of political ideas and events.

Disney and ABC claim this program to be based on the 9/11 Commission Report and are using that assertion as part of the promotional campaign for it. The 9/11 Commission is the most respected American authority on the 9/11 attacks, and association with it carries a special responsibility. Indeed, the very events themselves on 9/11, so tragic as they were, demand extreme care by any who attempt to use those events as part of an entertainment or educational program. To quote Steve McPhereson, president of ABC Entertainment, "When you take on the responsibility of telling the story behind such an important event, it is absolutely critical that you get it right.”

Unfortunately, it appears Disney and ABC got it totally wrong.

Despite claims by your network’s representatives that The Path to 9/11 is based on the report of the 9/11 Commission, 9/11 Commissioners themselves, as well as other experts on the issues, disagree.

Richard Ben-Veniste, speaking for himself and fellow 9/11 Commissioners who recently viewed the program, said, "As we were watching, we were trying to think how they could have misinterpreted the 9/11 Commission’s findings the way that they had.” ["9/11 Miniseries Is Criticized as Inaccurate and Biased,” New York Times, September 6, 2006]

Richard Clarke, the former counter-terrorism czar, and a national security advisor to ABC has described the program as "deeply flawed” and said of the program’s depiction of a Clinton official hanging up on an intelligence agent, "It’s 180 degrees from what happened.” ["9/11 Miniseries Is Criticized as Inaccurate and Biased,” New York Times, September 6, 2006]

Reports suggest that an FBI agent who worked on 9/11 and served as a consultant to ABC on this program quit halfway through because, "he thought they were making things up.” [MSNBC, September 7, 2006]

Even Thomas Kean, who serves as a paid consultant to the miniseries, has admitted that scenes in the film are fictionalized. ["9/11 Miniseries Is Criticized as Inaccurate and Biased,” New York Times, September 6, 2006]

That Disney would seek to broadcast an admittedly and proven false recounting of the events of 9/11 raises serious questions about the motivations of its creators and those who approved the deeply flawed program. Finally, that Disney plans to air commercial-free a program that reportedly cost it $40 million to produce serves to add fuel to these concerns.

These concerns are made all the more pressing by the political leaning of and the public statements made by the writer/producer of this miniseries, Mr. Cyrus Nowrasteh, in promoting this miniseries across conservative blogs and talk shows.

Frankly, that ABC and Disney would consider airing a program that could be construed as right-wing political propaganda on such a grave and important event involving the security of our nation is a discredit both to the Disney brand and to the legacy of honesty built at ABC by honorable individuals from David Brinkley to Peter Jennings. Furthermore, that Disney would seek to use Scholastic to promote this misguided programming to American children as a substitute for factual information is a disgrace.

As 9/11 Commission member Jamie Gorelick said, "It is critically important to the safety of our nation that our citizens, and particularly our school children, understand what actually happened and why – so that we can proceed from a common understanding of what went wrong and act with unity to make our country safer.”

Should Disney allow this programming to proceed as planned, the factual record, millions of viewers, countless schoolchildren, and the reputation of Disney as a corporation worthy of the trust of the American people and the United States Congress will be deeply damaged. We urge you, after full consideration of the facts, to uphold your responsibilities as a respected member of American society and as a beneficiary of the free use of the public airwaves to cancel this factually inaccurate and deeply misguided program. We look forward to hearing back from you soon.

Sincerely,

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid

Assistant Democratic Leader Dick Durbin

Senator Debbie Stabenow

Senator Charles Schumer

Senator Byron Dorgan

Dick Morris: Clinton Attack 'Outrageous'

The attack by Bill Clinton and his allies on the upcoming ABC miniseries "The Path to 9/11" is "outrageous," charges former Clinton aide Dick Morris.

As NewsMax has reported, Clinton through his surrogates have demanded that ABC "correct all errors" in the docudrama or pull it from the air, charging that it is a "fictitious rewriting of history" regarding Clinton's handling of the terrorist threat.

But Morris claims that Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger, and the president himself "were both responsible for failing to catch or kill Osama bin Laden on several different occasions."

Morris served Clinton as an adviser for 20 years and notably as Clinton's senior campaign strategist during his 1996 re-election.

Morris states that the evidence for this failure is documented in the 9/11 Commission's report and summarized in "Because He Could," the book about Clinton that Morris co-authored with his wife Eileen McGann.

The commission's report, released in the summer of 2004, "highlighted the weak, incompetent, hesitant, and inconsistent attempts of the Clinton administration to kill or capture Osama bin Laden," according to the book, which devotes an entire chapter to Clinton's mishandling of the threat.

"The report's account shows the president and his advisers at their worst."

One time, the United States "canceled an attempt to kidnap bin Laden out of concern that we might injure or kill him and be accused of using assassination as a policy tool," Morris told NewsMax.

"The president had yet to make a finding that it was OK to kill bin Laden. The reason he had not is that he did not yet know bin Laden's connection to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The reason he did not know that is that he did not fast-track the investigation.

"A second time, we did fire missiles but alerted the Pakistani military to our plans and they tipped off bin Laden, and he escaped."

According to the commission's report, the United States alerted Pakistan because the missiles targeting bin Laden, who was in Afghanistan, had to cross Pakistan, and U.S. officials did not want Pakistan to think the missiles came from India.

"A third time, our plans to attack by missile were canceled, partially out of chagrin over having missed him before and partially because we had just bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade by mistake and were worried about being called trigger happy," said Morris.

"The president was also concerned about civilian deaths in any such attack.

"The underlying theme of the ABC coverage, that he was distracted by impeachment, is of course true. But more so, he was gun-shy" because he was afraid conservatives would say he had launched a failed attack "in an effort to 'wag the dog' and distract people from the Monica Lewinsky affair."

Morris concluded: "His fear of such attacks on him inhibited him from acting."

Clinton Demands ABC Fix 9/11 Movie or Pull It

An angry Bill Clinton is demanding that ABC "correct all errors” in its upcoming miniseries "The Path to 9/11” — or pull it from the air.

In a letter to ABC boss Bob Iger, Clinton refuted several of the miniseries’ assertions, including that he was too preoccupied with the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal to care about Osama bin Laden.

"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,” reads the letter, written by Bruce Lindsey, head of the Clinton Foundation, and Douglas Bond, a top lawyer in Clinton’s office.

The letter — obtained by the New York Post — also charges that the miniseries is a "fictitious rewriting of history.”

Clinton aides have seen only a trailer from the six-hour miniseries, which airs on Sept. 10 and 11, the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. They have also received reports from political allies who have seen it.

Clinton’s office requested a copy of the docudrama, but the request was denied, Clinton spokesman Jay Carson told the Web site TPMCafe.com.

In one scene from the miniseries, an FBI agent and a CIA operative complain about red tape frustrating their attempts to pursue terrorists, according to a front-page story in the Post that refers to Clinton as "Bungle Bubba.”

The movie then cuts to a close-up of Clinton maintaining that he did "not have sex with that woman” — Monica Lewinsky — insinuating that the Lewinsky scandal was distracting him from the bin Laden threat.

Clinton’s letter notes that the 9/11 Commission’s report concluded that he was "deeply concerned” about bin Laden. In another scene, then-National Security Adviser Sandy Berger — played by Kevin Dunn — denies authorization to CIA agents about to capture bin Laden in Afghanistan.

Clinton claimed in his letter that "no such episode ever occurred,” and the 9/11 Commission’s report stated that Berger approved the capture of bin Laden, but then-CIA boss George Tenet pulled the plug on it.

In fact, "The Path to 9/11” is based in part on the 9/11 Commission’s report, and Commission co-Chairman Thomas H. Kean served as a consultant for the miniseries.

NewsMax reported on Tuesday that certain former members of the Clinton administration were "in a panic” over the upcoming docudrama, which ABC bills as "an epic miniseries event.”

World Trade Center Designs Revealed

Architects unveiled the designs for three office towers at the World Trade Center site Thursday, including a skyscraper topped by four shining diamonds that would light up lower Manhattan at night.

The buildings, designed by architects Norman Foster, Richard Rogers and Fumihiko Maki, will join the 1,776-foot Freedom Tower around a transit hub and facing a memorial to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The three will be smaller than the Freedom Tower and descend in height in a semicircle around the memorial. Inside, they will have floors specifically for financial trading, plus offices and shops to replace the former trade center.

"Each design is timeless in its feel and reflects the individual genius of each architect," said developer Larry Silverstein, who commissioned the plans. "At the same time, the towers relate perfectly to each other visually and, together, will enliven the surrounding area with a dynamic, retail-oriented streetscape."

The concept designs for the three towers are still subject to alteration, but they aren't expected to be significantly overhauled as initial designs for the Freedom Tower were due after officials raised security concerns.

The Freedom Tower, memorial and transit hub are already under construction. Construction on the three new towers is to begin in 2007 or 2008 and wrap up in 2012.

The largest of the three is a 78-story tower with a roof sliced into four diamond shapes. It was designed by Foster, who used the diamond pattern in the new Hearst Tower in New York. The diamonds would be lit at night, casting light onto the planned memorial pools.

Rogers proposed a slender, 71-story tower with crisscrossing beams down the sides and topped with 100-foot spires at each corner.

Maki's 61-story tower, sporting two different elevations, would be clad in a perforated aluminum that would make it the lightest-colored of the three. It also would have a restaurant and bar with panoramic views of the memorial.

The towers would return more than 6 million of the 10 million square feet destroyed on Sept. 11.

In addition to the towers, a performing arts center is planned, although there is no construction schedule, budget or released design for it. The city agreed Thursday to take over planning for the center, saying it would help ensure it gets built.

N.Y. Times Praises 'Path to 9/11'

Bill Clinton may not be happy about the upcoming ABC miniseries "The Path to 9/11," claiming that it distorts his handling of the terrorist threat, but it won critical support from an unexpected source – the New York Times.

The paper’s TV critic Alessandra Stanley acknowledged that the two-part miniseries is "fictionalized," but she nevertheless found it evenhanded.

"Dramatic license was certainly taken, but blame is spread pretty evenly across the board," Stanley writes in her review.

"It's not the inaccuracies of 'The Path to 9/11' that make ABC's miniseries so upsetting. It's the situation on the ground in Afghanistan now."

Former Clinton aide Dick Morris told NewsMax on Thursday that the attack by Clinton and his allies on the miniseries is "outrageous," insisting that Clinton and his national security adviser, Sandy Berger, "were both responsible for failing to catch or kill Osama bin Laden on several different occasions."

Stanley apparently would agree.

"The first bombing of the World Trade Center happened on Bill Clinton's watch," she writes in her review, portions of which were quoted by Editor & Publisher.

"So did the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania and the 2000 attack on the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen. ...

"There is no dispute that in 2000, the destroyer Cole was attacked, Washington dithered and Mr. bin Laden's men kept burrowing deeper and deeper into their plot to attack America on its own soil."

Not all reviewers gave the September 10-11 miniseries high marks. Chicago Sun-Times critic Doug Elfman called the film "amateurish" and a "bore." New York Post critic John Podhoretz called it "stiff."

But the trade publication Hollywood Reporter praised the miniseries.

In a review carried by Reuters under the headline "Controversial 'Path to 9/11' a riveting thriller," Ray Richmond writes, "That [the miniseries] also happens to be powerfully acted, artfully produced and shot like a truly riveting page-turner is sure to be overshadowed by the controversy it is generating. ...

"ABC's 'Path to 9/11' lays much of the blame at the feet of a priority-challenged President Clinton and CIA director George Tenet for not taking out Osama bin Laden when given the chance. ...

"Politics aside, what 'Path to 9/11' does well is supply a chilling distillation of opportunities lost and warnings ignored. The essence of its dramatic instincts is sound and delivered powerfully, building at its conclusion to a horrific crescendo with footage of the planes slamming into the towers and the subsequent devastating carnage."

Pope's Exorcist: Harry Potter Satanic

The Vatican's chief exorcist is no fan of Harry Potter.

Father Gabriele Amorth, who is Pope Benedict XVI's "caster out of demons," told Vatican Radio: "Behind Harry Potter hides the signature of the king of the darkness, the devil."

According to the Daily Mail newspaper, he said that author J.K. Rowling's books contain innumerable positive references to magic, "the satanic art" and added the books attempt to make a false distinction between black and white magic, when in fact, the distinction "does not exist, because magic is always a turn to the devil."

Amorth, who is president of the International Association of Exorcists, also said Adolf Hitler and Russian leader Joseph Stalin were possessed by the devil, and that Pope Pius XII once tried to perform a long distance exorcism on Hitler.

"I am convinced that the Nazis were all possessed. All you have to do is think about what Hitler — and Stalin did. Almost certainly they were possessed by the devil.

"You can tell by their behavior and their actions, from the horrors they committed and the atrocities that were committed on their orders. That's why we need to defend society from demons."

According to secret Vatican documents recently released wartime pontiff Pope Pius XII attempted a "long distance" exorcism of Hitler, which failed to have any effect, the Daily Mail reported.

Amorth said: "It's very rare that praying and attempting to carry out an exorcism from distance works.

"Of course you can pray for someone from a distance but in this case it would not have any effect.

"One of the key requirements for an exorcism is to be present in front of the possessed person and that person also has to be consenting and willing.

"Therefore trying to carry out an exorcism on someone who is not present, or consenting and willing would prove very difficult.

"However I have no doubt that Hitler was possessed and so it does not surprise me that Pope Pius XII tried a long distance exorcism."

Father Amorth is said to have carried out more than 30,000 exorcisms in his career and his favorite film is, according to Italian newspapers The Exorcist.

Bush Assassination Film to Debut at Toronto Film Festival

It’s the political equivalent of a snuff film.

At best irresponsible, at worst morally reprehensible, a British filmmaker has created a docudrama that begins with a realistic looking depiction of an assassination of President George W. Bush.

The movie presents images of Bush being shot to death in Chicago, Ill., in the year 2007. The plot then focuses on the investigation of the assassination.

In a world where militant extremists have already expressed the desire to extinguish our leader and annihilate the rest of us, it is beyond the pale to create and exhibit such a piece of cinema.

Worse yet is the fact that filmmaker Gabriel Range uses computer generated imagery and special effects to conjure up an aura of stark realism.

Range might feel a bit differently if the docudrama being aired at the Toronto Film Festival was one that depicted his own demise at the whimsy of a fellow filmmaker.

Over the past several years Bush has been called a liar, tyrant, dictator, and criminal, among other slurs. This film is the pathological end result of the raw Bush hatred we have been witnessing.

You may recall that in 2004 a book titled “Checkpoint” featured a primary character that wanted to assassinate President Bush.

In another Bush-hating instance, about John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald and John Hinckley Jr. a columnist for the Guardian wrote, “Where are you now that we need you?”

In 2005 an art exhibit called “Patriot Act" displayed a postage stamp with a picture of Bush on it. Upon closer examination one couldn’t help but notice that the president had a pistol pointed at his head.

And in 2006 the far-left group, Code Pink, carried a sign that called for a Bush assassination.

“Death of a President” is scheduled to be shown at the Toronto Film Festival on Sept. 10 and is set to air on BBC television in October.

The Left Coast Report expects that Range & Co. will get the film distributed in Tehran and Damascus.