This is the start of the ABC press release from July (thefutoncritic, Starpulse News) with emphasis added:ABC PRESENTS THE PATH TO 9/11, AN EPIC MINISERIES BASED ON THE 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT
Governor Thomas H. Kean, Chair of the 9/11 Commission, is Senior Consultant
Historic Broadcast Airs on September 10 and 11 with Limited Commercial Interruptions
Cast Includes Harvey Keitel, Shirley Douglas, Patricia Heaton, Penny Johnson Jerald, Dan Lauria, Amy Madigan, Michael Murphy, Stephen Root, William Sadler, Katy Selverstone, Shaun Toub and Donnie Wahlberg
On September 11, 2001 the world stood still as terrorists used four planes as lethal weapons against innocent Americans. The 9/11 Commission was formed to determine how such an attack could happen, and its report documents the trail from the 1993 World Trade Center bombing to the tragedy of that autumn morning. The bipartisan commission effort created a comprehensive record of events and provides valuable insight into what must be done to protect the nation in the future.
ABC will present The Path to 9/11, a dramatization of the events detailed in The 9/11 Commission Report and other sources, in an epic miniseries event. The Path to 9/11 will begin on SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 10 and conclude on MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 (8:00-11:00 p.m., both nights). The miniseries will air with limited commercial interruption.
This film is going to be enormously helpful to those of us who have been working so hard to get the Commissions recommendations implemented, said Governor Thomas H. Kean, Chairman of the 9/11 Commission and senior consultant on the miniseries. More people will see this film than probably anything else on the subject. Telling the whole story of 9/11 will help people better understand the issues involved and what we need to do nationally and locally to prevent another tragedy.
When you take on the responsibility of telling the story behind such an important event, it is absolutely critical that you get it right, said Steve McPherson, president of ABC Entertainment. Having Governor Kean, who chaired the 9/11 Commission, as a key advisor on this movie has not only been an honor, its also been crucial to the project. In short, Kean's endorsement of this movie is central to it. The story is "right," "whole," and "helpful." One would think that this movie is largely based on the 9/11 Commission Report and therefore reflects the facts as uncovered there. Well, one would think that until one discovered that the movie is made by a "close friend" of Rush Limbaugh, and marketed largely to conservative groups. The Path to 9/11 has been extensively covered in the blogosphere.
We have learned some features that point to the miniseries being propaganda. There's an entirely invented scene in which the American hero has bin Laden in his sights, but Sandy Berger fails to approve the killing. There is no such event in Chapter 4 of the 9/11 Commission Report. Secret methods revealed by the conservative Washington Times became the Washington Post.
Now, of course, if you don't worry much about facts, you're free to believe that everything was covered up, and the movie is accurate. In that case, though, the movie is not based on the 9/11 Commission Report and Kean's role in the Commission was either that of a dupe or a liar. Obviously that is not the angle that ABC and Kean have adopted, nor is it one I believe.
No, Kean has willingly associated himself with a pack of falsehoods. And what's pathetic is they're such obvious falsehoods, that already the whole operation is unravelling. The increasingly defensive ABC blogs on the miniseries, trying to the repond to the liberal blogosphere is one piece of evidence. But much more important is that the traditional media may be picking up the story. Tuesday, Kean participated in an ABC telecon, still promoting the miniseries as "BASED ON THE 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT." (Other sources are mentioned less prominently.) Jennifer Nix of Firedoglake participated in this call, and reports: One scene that reporters went back to again and again on the call is the one that depicts a completely fictional account of Sandy Berger supposedly telling CIA operatives on the ground in Afghanistan, with Osama bin Laden practically in their cross-hairs, that they can’t go ahead and take him out. As you all know: Never happened. Jessie McKinley of the New York Times asked Kean, "If it’s not supported by the Commission’s findings, how exactly did it make it into the movie…Did this raise any red flags for you?" Evidently not. Previously CQ Weekly reported:
Kean, however, is an official adviser; he says the incident was a fictionalized composite. It was “representative of a series of events compacted into one,” he replied to Ben-Veniste at the time. In a phone interview a few days later, he added, “It’s reasonably accurate.” And he offered a prediction that the show will “get just as many howls from Republicans.” He's unwilling to admit that the story is inaccurate. Most astounding, he apparently believes that it's okay that it is untrue because Republicans will be unhappy with the portrayal of Bush: He doesn't reveal whether they'll be unhappy with true or false events, but either way, it is no excuse to market a movie as based on a Report that it directly contradicts.
But it's just a movie? No, ABC is actually sending this material as "lesson plans" to teachers, with the hope of getting students to be assigned to watch this. This is not entertainment, this is falsehoods marketed as historical truth.
The people of New Jersey need answers to how and why ABC/Disney and Governor Kean have leant their names to this lie. A good start would be answers to these questions from Tom Kean:
1. What was the Honorable Governor paid for this project?
2. Who decided to promote this as based on the 9/11 Commission Report, and who asked Governor Kean to be involved?
3. Will he appear on television to say that the scenes are false? If not, will he renounce Chapter 4 of his own 9/11 Commission Report?
4. Why does Governor Kean endorse marketing untrue events to school children under the guise of teaching history? |
