KATU to air false 9/11 claims; mislead viewers
guest column
By Michelle Neumann of Portland, Oregon. Michelle is an attorney and a political activist.
On September 10 and 11, ABC affiliates (KATU here in Portland) are planning to air a movie called "The Path to 9/11", which is a "fictionalized" version of the events leading up to September 11, 2001. Fictionalized in that the movie's avowedly conservative writer, Rush Limbaugh's buddy Cyrus Nowrasteh, took it upon himself to include entirely fabricated scenes that just so happen to portray the Clinton Administration as grossly incompetent and responsible for 9/11.
When I contacted KATU to ask that they not air the movie, I was flatly told that KATU will "definitely" air it. I subsequently received a canned e-mail response, noting that a disclaimer may be run during the movie. What, exactly, will this disclaimer say? "Keep in mind the movie you are watching is an intentional lie about one of the worst tragedies in American history, which we are exploiting for the purpose distributing political propaganda to help those who were truly negligent evade blame and get re-elected. Enjoy the show!"?
KATU, what are you thinking? A disclaimer is not a magic wand that absolves ABC, or KATU, of any responsibility for this deceptive and admittedly false portrayal that will certainly dupe tens of millions of uninformed voters eight weeks before mid-term elections. As far as I know, KATU is not providing equal time, much less even a brief opportunity, for rebuttal.
Further, KATU seems to be unwilling to acknowledge the firestorm of controversy surrounding this movie, or to conduct even the most basic research into its accuracy or lack thereof. (psst - KATU - you are a news organization - and this is what they call "news".) For example, among the extensive reporting on this issue at ThinkProgress
there is a statement from Richard Clarke, former counterterrorism czar for both Bush Administrations and the Clinton Administration (and now counterterrorism adviser to ABC), slamming the movie:
1. Contrary to the movie, no US military or CIA personnel were on the ground in Afghanistan and saw bin Laden. 2. Contrary to the movie, the head of the Northern Alliance, Masood, was no where near the alleged bin Laden camp and did not see UBL. 3. Contrary to the movie, the CIA Director actually said that he could not recommend a strike on the camp because the information was single sourced and we would have no way to know if bin Laden was in the target area by the time a cruise missile hit it.
Congressional Quarterly reports that Richard Ben-Veniste, a member of the Sept. 11 commission, stood up at the recent National Press Club screening of the movie and "denounced the veracity of a key scene involving Clinton national security adviser Samuel R. Berger", stating that the scene was not consistent with the research the commissioners conducted. “There was no incident like that in the film that we came across. I am disturbed by that aspect of it." (emphasis added) In this scene , Berger:
...freezes in dithering apprehension when a manly and virtuous CIA agent played by Donnie Wahlberg radios in from the wilds of Afghanistan to say that he and his noble band of local tribesmen have Osama bin Laden within sight and begs for the green light to terminate him with extreme prejudice. In the film, the line goes dead before Berger offers any reply.
CQ goes on to quote Thomas H. Kean, the 9/11 commission’s GOP chairman and an official adviser to the movie, as saying that the incident described above was a fictionalized composite. It was “representative of a series of events compacted into one”. CQ notes that neither Berger nor Ben-Veniste were consulted on the film.
As if airing the movie to millions of viewers isn't enough, ABC has announced that it will distribute copies of The Path to 9/11 for free on iTunes, and further, ABC is sending a letter from Thomas Kean to 100,000 high school educators informing them of the various ways to obtain the movie for free. ABC and Scholastic have agreed to produce an online study guide.
A study guide for a fictionalized, partisan mini-series? Who runs Scholastic - Mr. Garrison? Is it ABC's goal to indoctrinate students with its faulty version of history?
Let's put pressure on KATU and let them know that viewers in the community are paying attention and don't appreciate their participation in this stunt.
Please be polite when you call - let's take the high road, even if others want to take the low road
