The Path To 9/11: Thank You, ABC

War to Mobilize Democracy ^ | 9/12/06 | Andrew L. Jaffee

[forty_years]

Despite attempts by Democrats to stifle free and open discourse, "The Path To 9/11" aired last night, and again last night. Instead of succumbing to threats from Democratic senators and President Clinton, ABC allowed Americans to make up their own minds about 9/11. Some Democrats feel that the mini-series unfairly blamed the Clinton administration for allowing Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda to fester unchecked. But the shrill tone of Democratic objections to the docudrama belies Freudian under-currents of very real fear that Americans might know the truth: The Clinton administration was too distracted to take action against al-Qaeda -- too worried about the Monica Lewinsky scandal, too preoccupied with political minutiae, and too busy forcing Israel into an untenable peace accord with Yasir Arafat to secure Bill's place in history. Would anyone dispute the fact the Clinton officials were keeping close tabs on Osama? Clinton had 8 years to deal with Islamism; Bush had 8 months. That being said, there's plenty of non-partisan blame to spread around.

Both Republican and Democratic politicians have failed their constituencies when fighting Islamic terrorists (we are not at war with terrorism, a tactic, but with a group of people). Perhaps most Americans were too distracted -- 20/20 hindsight is easy, but not worth a dime.

ABC has been hosting discussions of its own mini-series today in the spirit of free exchange of ideas. Here's a lucid statement:

[John Lehman, a Republican 9/11 commissioner] says there's a larger truth to keep in mind.

"The Bush administration and the Clinton administration made big mistakes," Lehman said. "The Bush administration did not take Osama bin Laden or the overall terrorist threat nearly as seriously as they should have, and the Clinton administration pulled back from it because of legal concerns and diplomatic concerns."

And let us remember that previous administrations didn't exactly meet Islamism head-on. Jimmy Carter presided over the beginning of the Islamist rein in Iran, and a botched rescue attempt that failed to save American hostages in Tehran. Ronald Reagan presided over the Iran-Contra affair, which saw a U.S. administration selling arms to Iranian Islamists to fund the anti-communist Contras in Nicaragua. Reagan also retreated from Lebanon after Hezbollah killed 241 marines in a homicide bombing. Republicans tied up our Congress for years, raging about Bill and Monica's Oval Office trysts -- not exactly what I would term a "focus" on terrorism. Some track record.

While I doubt we'll ever be able to assign blame for the 911 attacks, permitting the Clinton administration a free pass while lambasting Bush every single day is not exactly what I'd call fair coverage by the "mainstream" media.

ABC: Thank you for standing up for free expression. And... Thank you Democrats: Your attempt at censorship backfired, focusing more attention on the 5th anniversary of 911 and how Clinton did not tackle terrorism; just what we needed.

http://netwmd.com/blog/2006/09/11/944

[MNJohnnie]

And there is the really sad fact. Democrats are more worried about fixing blame then fixing the problems

[baltodog]

All it would have taken is one person to say, "Do it."

...and we wouldn't even be having this discussion.

[redstates4ever]

The West Point class of '07 crest.