Documenting the Lies in the ABC Propaganda Film The Path to 9/11

Posted on September 10, 2006

A New Zealand blogger who has already seen the nauseating propaganda film being shown on ABC tonight in the U.S. called The Path to 9/11 and has documented the most egregious falshoods in the film. He has videoclips of each scene that distorts the truth and then explains what is false about the scene. In one scene, our forces have bin Laden in their sights. Sandy Berger, the National Security Advisor, refuses to give the order to fire because he's scared he'll be blamed if it all goes wrong. According to the 9/11 commission and Sandy Berger, this event never happened; it is a fantasy by the film makers.

Madeleine Albright (whose name isn't even spelled correctly in the film) is libeled in the film and reportedly is furious over her portrayal. The film incorrectly blames her character for warning the Pakastanis that we were firing missiles into Pakistan to get Osama bin Laden. The Pakistanis then informed bin Laden and he got away. This scene is inaccurate. Everyone agreed that we had to warn Pakistan that missiles were coming into the country; otherwise they would think it was a first strike by India and it might have led to nuclear war. The Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs was responsible for the notification (not Madeleine Albright) and he did not inform Pakistan until after the missiles were in the air.

It has now come out that the lies in this film upset a number of the actors in the film who are speaking out. Harvey Keitel had the 9/11 Commission Report on the set and disputed the facts in the script, mostly to no avail. According to the New York Post there were no experts on the set of the film whatsoever. The only consultant was an ex-CIA employee who looked at the graphics to make sure they looked right. That was it.

After watching all the video clips, I was struck by how ridiculous a lot of the dialogue is. It has quite a hysterical tone to it. But that's not surprising, considering the writer/director is a leader in an extreme right wing evangelical network. The financing for the film also came from extremist sources which want a theocracy in the United States. Basically, they're Swift Boat-ing Bill Clinton and his cabinet.

A film that covers such a serious historical event must be factually accurate. For ABC to run such a film m (which it intends to send to public schools across the United States) is outrageous and morally reprehensible. The film claims to be based on the 9/11 Commission Report, which it is not. In fact, the 9/11 Report totally contradicts many of the facts, assumptions and assertions in the film. Former President Bill Clinton had his attorneys send a letter to the president of ABC demanding that the the film not be shown unless the blatant inaccuracies are first corrected, saying "Do the right thing for the country and pull this despicable work of fiction from the air.... Airing something that is incontrovertibly incorrect at a time like this is inexcusable."

I couldn't agree more.