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ABC shows 9/11 'docudrama' despite Clinton protests
2006-09-12
US network ABC aired 'docudrama' "The Path to 9/11" late Sunday, despite angry claims by aides to former president Bill Clinton that it unfairly tarred his record on hunting terrorists. Clinton's camp complained the movie, the first part of which was shown on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, contained fabricated scenes and misrepresented the Democrat president as slow to chase down Osama bin Laden. Ex-Clinton aides based criticisms on early previews of the movie, which they said inaccurately potrayed actions of senior figures like former secretary of state Madeleine Albright and former national security advisor Sandy Berger. Despite going ahead with the movie, ABC included a disclaimer before the opening scenes, which reaapeared after the first 90 minutes, which said noted the presence of "fictionalized" scenes. "The movie is not a documentary," the disclaimer read, adding that its action was drawn from a number of sources, including the independent report into the September 11 attacks, personal interviews and other published materials. However the movie did contain scenes critical of the Clinton administration. In one, Berger was seen as unwilling to give the go-ahead on an operation to arrest bin Laden. Berger said in response to reports based on previews of the movie that such an incident never took place. In another scene, news footage of Clinton and his infamous statement that he did not have sexual relations with White House intern Monica Lewinsky preceded a conversation between US anti-terror czar Richard Clarke, and a FBI counterterrorism expert played by Harvey Keitel. "The president has assured me this won't affect his decision," said the Clarke character. "So, its okay if somebody kills Bin Laden, as long as he didn't give the order. It's pathetic," the Keitel character replied. It was not clear exactly how or if the scenes differed from preview versions of the movie, but several appeared to include edits of episodes reported in the US press. On Friday, top Clinton aides wrote a letter Friday to Robert Iger, president and chief executive of The Walt Disney Company, ABC's parent, pressing the company not to air the show. Critics say the film blames Clinton, Albright, and other senior aides for not adequately pursuing bin Laden, leaving him free to plan the 2001 attacks in which nearly 3,000 people died. The film has divided members of the 9/11 commission, with Democrats saying it distorts, while the chairman, Thomas Kean, a Republican, served as a consultant to ABC for the docudrama. In an interview broadcast Sunday, Kean defended the film and said it was critical of both Clinton and the current Bush administration for failing to grasp the threat posed by Al-Qaeda. "Both administrations are faulted. And in the end, I think, you're led to our recommendations," Kean said in an interview broadcast Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "You're led, at the end of the film, to why haven't we done more, at this point, to make the world safer and to make the United States safer?" Kean said. But another commission member, Jamie Gorelick, disagreed, saying the film could undermine the commission's work. "We labored for 20 months to get this right. And to have someone come along and rewrite that history, and lead us to conclusions as to what went wrong, will lead us in the wrong direction," Gorelick said on the same program. In their letter, Bruce Lindsey, the chief executive of Clinton's personal foundation, and Clinton's lawyer Douglas Band, charged that the "The Path to 9/11" was "irreparably flawed" and would give viewers a false impression of then events. They called on ABC not to air the film.
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