Posted on 09/10/2006 9:36:29 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
NEW YORK - ABC aired its miniseries "The Path to 9/11" on Sunday but made editing changes after former Clinton administration officials complained it contained fabricated scenes about their actions prior to the terrorist attacks.
ABC's editing of the five-hour movie, airing on two successive nights starting Sunday, was evident from the very beginning. Twice, the network de-emphasized the role of the 9/11 commission's final report as source material for the film.
The version that aired Sunday also changed a scene that, in a copy of the movie given to television critics a few weeks ago, indicated President Clinton's preoccupation with his potential impeachment may have affected an effort to go after Osama bin Laden.
In the original scene, an actor portraying White House terrorism czar Richard Clarke shares a limousine ride with FBI agent John O'Neill and tells him: "The Republicans are going all-out for impeachment. I just don't see in that climate the president's going to take chances" and give the order to kill bin Laden.
But in the film aired Sunday, Clarke says to O'Neill: "The president has assured me this ... won't affect his decision-making."
O'Neill replies: "So it's OK if somebody kills bin Laden, as long as he didn't give the order. It's pathetic."
The critics' version contained a note in the opening scenes that the film is "based on the 9/11 commission report." That was omitted from the film aired Sunday. A disclaimer aired three times emphasized it was not a documentary.
"For dramatic and narrative purposes the movie contains fictionalized scenes, composite and representative characters and dialogue, as well as time compression," the note that ran before the movie said.
The note said the material is "drawn from a variety of sources including the 9/11 commission report and other published materials and from personal interviews." That differs from a note in the critics' version that said the dramatization "is based on the 9/11 commission report and other published sources and personal interviews."
Critics, such as historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr., said it was "disingenuous and dangerous" not to include accurate historical accounts in the movie.
A scene in the movie depicting a team of CIA operatives poised in darkness outside of bin Laden's fortess in Afghanistan, ready to attack, was substantially cut down from the original. Pictures of the waiting Afghanistan operatives are interspersed with those of officials in Washington, who had to approve the mission.
The original version depicted national security adviser Samuel R. Berger hanging up on CIA chief George Tenet as Tenet sought permission to attack bin Laden. The movie aired Sunday did not include Berger hanging up.
The affect of the changes is to deflect specific blame. It ends with actor Donnie Wahlberg, head of the CIA team in Afghanistan, saying, "Are there no men in Washington?"
Another scene in the critics' cut pictured O'Neill asking Clarke on the telephone: "What's Clinton going to do (about bin Laden)?"
Clarke replies, "I don't know. The Lewinsky thing is a noose around his neck."
This was cut entirely from the film that aired Sunday.
Editors left intact a scene that had angered former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, portraying her as being behind a move to inform the Pakistani government in advance of a U.S. missile strike against bin Laden. The movie indicated that was a key factor in bin Laden getting away.
The movie, scheduled to air from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m., finished at 10:40 p.m. ET.
ABC has said little about the controversy, and said Sunday it would not comment.
Thomas Kean, head of the commission that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks and a backer of the film, said on ABC's "This Week" Sunday that he hadn't seen the final cut of the movie but urged Americans to watch it.
"If people blame Bill Clinton after seeing this, then the miniseries has failed," said Kean, the former Republican New Jersey governor. "That's wrong and it shouldn't happen."
John Lehman, another Republican commission members, said on the ABC News show that he's told the film is equally harsh on the administrations of President Bush and his father, former President George H.W. Bush.
"And if you don't like the hits to the Clinton administration, well, welcome to the club," Lehman said. "The Republicans have lived with Michael Moore and Oliver Stone and most of Hollywood as a fact of life."
___
AP Television Writer Frazier Moore contributed to this report.
It was dumb of Clinton to even make a stinker about this film in the first place .. even if the clips were kept in
And it was even dumber to have Harry Reid and the other box of rocks Senators threaten ABC like they did
Most folks most likely wouldn't have watch this film on ABC tonight and would have watched something else
What the Clinton's and the Democrats did was to remind us all why they should never ever be allowed to take control of our country again
If they can pull off this kind of blackmail while they're out of power, imagine what they must have gotten away with when they were in power (above and beyond all of the crimes that we do know about)...
Promise?
I think ABC execs really resented the pressure and demands the clinton goons put on them. Saying to themselves, ok you want edits? We'll show you some edits.
I saw the shortened version of NIGHTLINE immediately after the 9-11 show.
It was an attempt to counter ABC's OWN MOVIE !
They trotted out Richard Clarke to say that nothing was Clinton's fault
that it was ALL Tenet's fault for refusing to give the final okay for the missions that CLINTON HAD APPROVED.
I wonder what Tenet will have to say about that.
They also had Terry Moron on---direct from Pakistan
to say that the US is doing terribly in fighting the terrorists.
People have to be wondering what the fuss was all about...lol.
Yep. The fact that elected officials threatened ABC & Disney is chilling, yet the ACLU and the media don't seem to notice or care.
Me too
Yeah they try to make people think it happened only a few months before Bush was Prez.
I never would have.
Me neither, but I didn't need the history lesson. I hope fence sitters watched it.
Yea .. I'm trying to figure why he screw himself so badly
Either there is something else .. or he is the dumbest person on the planet
Either one is possible when it comes to Clinton
He's such a damn narcissist --- the smallest of slights or innuendo sends him into a maniacal rage.
It's all about his legacy, baby. Nothing must tarnish his legacy. After all he started planning his "legacy" with the first year of his second term.
BUMP!
Frankly, I'm a little surprised that ABC ended up having the guts to show the general truth about the Scumbag Administration's incompetence and how that incompetence led to the 9/11 attacks.
Kudos to ABC.
I can't promise it, but judging by the preview scenes they showed, they go back to 2000 to pick up the timeline. Why would they leave out the 18 months prior to 9-11?
you're right ..
I'm banking on it --- it would be tragic to ignore that murderous attack. Unfair to their families as well.
The DUmmies are going nuts over this. Trying to figure out how to stop the show tomorrow, pull ABC's license, etc. Guess the truth about Clinton hurts.
Let me give a perfect example of Muslim love and acceptance. I was in Egypt about the same time Mohamed Atta was growing up there. Cairo was a complete shit hole back in 77-80 and I witnessed it. Angry Muslims were everywhere. They beheaded dogs and goats on the street just for fun. I wandered the streets with my mates among fanatics who hid their faces and carried knives. I never thought they would behead me but I noticed the hate in their eyes. I was an American soldier and they knew that. The hate they have for us is something you cannot understand. These people actually believe we are spawns of Satan and the hatred is beyond understanding. We either deal with it or leave it alone.
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