Cry Me a River Mr. ClintonWe don't like to wade to deeply into partisan politics, but we have been amazed by the outcry from Democrats who are upset by ABC's imminent release of the mini-series "The Path to 9/11." Former president Clinton has "demanded" that the network "pull the drama" if changes aren't made.
Changes...why are changes needed?
Well it appears that Clinton, and many who served in his administration, do not like the program's portrayal of the administration's lack of emphasis it placed on terrorism.
Read here, here, and here.
Associated Press' review of the mini-series states:
Then "The Path to 9/11" leaves the viewer with a chilling coda: a recap of the "report card" issued last December by the 9/11 Commission, which accused the government of failing to protect the nation against another attack, and assigned failing grades in five areas, with a dozen Ds and just one A (actually, A-minus).
That might be the more valuable focus of your concern as clashing voices from the blogosphere embrace or decry "The Path to 9/11" as a right-wing portrayal that slams President Clinton more than George W. Bush.
Whatever its flaws may or may not be, "The Path to 9/11" makes clear there's ample blame to go around. But for those who are game to take a break from finger-pointing, it also displays, with awful power, the larger truth that unites nearly everyone - yet still is given short shrift by policy makers.
It appears that no one on the Democrat-side of the isle can accept that they might bear some responsibility for the 9/11 attacks. Well it is a political year and despite the Republicans tone deafness on so many fronts, the Democrats have nothing to offer, except crying to television executives.
posted by Arkansas Razorbaptist at 9/07/2006 11:02:00 PM
11 Comments:
Put yourself in Sandy Berger's place. If you knew there was going to be a movie that showed you making a decision that would result in Osama Bin Laden being able to continue to live and plan the 911 attack resulting in the deaths of thousands of people and you knew that most Americans never read the paper or watch news progams and will accept that movie version as fact and you knew that depiction was wrong and never happened, would you not cry foul as loud as you could. Would you want your children and grandchildren to have their friends blaming you for 911 because it was in a movie.
I also remember when Clinton sent missles into Afganistan to try and kill Bin Laden the Republican leadership complained that he was just doing it to try and take the attention off the Ken Starr investigation.
Of course both sides missed opportunities to stop 911. Did the Bush administration come in with a plan to get Bin Laden and attack global terrorism before 911? Just the opposite. They were more worried about getting tax cuts for their Enron and Haliburton friends.
Why not give us a report on more important things than a movie, like what did Barry Switzer and Ken Hatfield have to say at the LR Touchdown club meetings.
I, for one, am curious to see the actual content of the movie. Hindsight is 20/20. I did not support Clinton at the polls, nor did I agree with the vast majority of things that he did during his terms. But I tend to believe that the fault for 9/11 lies with a certain group of Islamic terrorists, not with any political leaders in the United States.
That's not to say that either the Clinton or the Bush administrations may have missed opportunities that they absolutely should have taken to protect the country. I wish that we had dealt with OBL back when we had the chance to do so, long before 9/11. But, I have no reason to believe that such an action necessarily would have prevented 9/11. It might have provoked it sooner. Who knows?
Such speculation is not entirely inappropriate, but it should not play any role in the assignment of blame for this tragedy. The perpetrators are to blame.
Let anyone who would lay it all at the feet of President Clinton cease and desist. Let anyone who would lay it all at the feet of President Bush cease and desist (oh, wait....one party's entire Fall campaign would come apart at the seams). Let us learn what we can from the details of the situation, remembering that all of those who serve our country are (as we are) imperfect.
By the way, count me as someone without a single share of Enron or Haliburton stock, but who was doggone thankful for the tax cut.
I just hope that they make the estate tax elimination permanent. As the law stands today, estate taxes go to 0% in 2010, but then back into their full pre-Bush force in 2011.
If you're wealthy, old, and on oxygen on December 31, 2010....lock your bedroom door.
The producer of The Path to 9/11 is David Cunningham, the son of Loren Cunningham, the Founder of YWAM. He is an evangelical Christian and has been all over the world. Pray for the Cunninghams during this time.
If President Clinton was so concerned about terrorism, why didn't he even go to NYC after the first World Trade Center bombing?
I think President Bush has done just okay at fighting terrorism. I'm not sure Iraq was the next step in fighting terrorism. But he must be doing something right, since we haven't had another attack in the last 5 years.
BTW, did you send your tax refund back?
This link is relevant to your current discussion.
I'm not a Clinton fan by any means, but who in the world would have thought anyone would do what happened on 9/11? I know there were some concerns but that was more than anyone would have thought.
Remember the Ronald Reagan miniseries anyone?
Conservatives complained. CBS yanked the program and shipped it off to Showtime.
The question begs, should a show that claims to be based on the 9/11 Comission Report have scenes that contradict that same report?
Saw that you were also included in the EthicsDaily article yesterday. Nice.
Bart Barber's link has a good explanation of the lead up to 911. I am not making excuses for the Clinton administration. There was much more they could have done. If we really want to look at the backgound, we have to go back to the Reagan-Bush adminstration. They helped make Bin Laden a force by supporting and funding him when he was helping the taliban fight the Russians in Afghanistan. They also supported and supplied weapons to Sadam Hussain when he was fighting the Iranians. Right before Iraz invaded Kuwait, the first Bush adminstration sent an envoy to Sadam telling him how much we support him. This was long after we knew he was using chemical weapons to kill his own people. Who can forget the Reagan administrtion sending a cake to the Iranian leaders during the Iran-Contra fiasco. Yes, neither dems or repubs have been very bright when it comes to working in the middle east and we are reaping the harvest today.
Bart,
As I understand it the estate tax only effects less the 2% of Americans and then only if the estate is over $1 million dollars. Unless you are pastoring one of the mega Baptist churches you probably have nothing to fear.
I did not return my tax cut because it was too small to be of any significance. The ones that really got a tax cut were the wealthies 10% of Ameicans. In other words the ones who needed it least.
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