Inside "Inside 9/11" (documentary on August 21)

NationalReview Online ^ | August 15, 2005 | Catherine Seipp

[bobsunshine]

Whenever liberals remind us that not all Muslims are terrorists or anti-American rioters, I always think that not everyone in the pre-civil-rights south was a church bomber or member of the Ku Klux Klan.

...Which brings me to Inside 9/11, a new four-hour documentary that premieres Aug. 21 on the National Geographic Channel. The producers have been promoting this two-night special, which the cable network considers so important that it's making the show available for free in areas that don't carry NGC, as strictly reportorial rather than political. And as far as possible, this is true: The documentary, which features over 60 original interviews and is partly based on newly declassified documents, is not only compelling but admirably meticulous and almost free of overt opinion. The first half examines the background of al Qaeda back to the '80s; the second is a chilling timeline of that terrible day — "two sticks, a dash, a cake with a stick hanging down," to quote some of the strange pre-hijacking "chatter" described in the film: 9/11, if read right-to-left, as in Arabic (or with the day before the month, as in Europe.)

Yet how can any examination of such an enormous and terrible political act be completely free of political overtones? I doubt, for instance, that Osama bin Laden's friends will be happy to see Inside 9/11's brief interview with an American Muslim World Trade Center survivor, who'd tripped on a street in lower Manhattan while running from the smoke and was surprised to find himself helped up by an orthodox Jew in sidelocks and yarmulke, who briskly said, "Hey, brother, let's get out of here." There are plenty of people in the world who will find that scene quite politically incorrect.

[Prime Choice]

I doubt, for instance, that Osama bin Laden's friends will be happy to see Inside 9/11's brief interview with an American Muslim World Trade Center survivor, who'd tripped on a street in lower Manhattan while running from the smoke and was surprised to find himself helped up by an orthodox Jew in sidelocks and yarmulke, who briskly said, "Hey, brother, let's get out of here." There are plenty of people in the world who will find that scene quite politically incorrect.

The whackjobs will undoubtedly take that as a "sign" that the Jews were behind 9/11. Frickin' nutbars.

[Mia T]

Listen to this and ask yourself if America Ever Had the Remotest Chance Under a clinton to Avoid 9/11
(To paraphrase Einstein: "The unleashed power of terrorism has changed everything save our modes of thinking, and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophes.")

[bitt]

fairly good article - I spent two hours watching "Inside 9-11" and thought it was pretty good - the first night was the background (from 1980 and on) ((I would have chosen the massacre at Munich)).

Tomorrow, at 9 p.m. the second 2 hours will be about the actual events on 9/11 - I will be interested to see if the apologists are evident in that segment.

[WoodstockCat]

I agree, it was fairly even-handed in the presentation, pretty much just with the facts.
The PDB on August 6th, 2001 was given a little too much hype but other than that it was pretty good.