Cyrus Nowrasteh, who wrote the screenplay based on “The 9/11 Commission Report”, and books, “The Cell”, by John Miller, and “The Relentless Pursuit”, by Samuel Katz, was quoted in a Sept. 5, 2007 article from the Los Angeles Times, saying he was told by a top ABC executive that the reason for the DVD’s absence, is out of fear it might hurt Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton’s chances for president.
If true, I have a feeling that may not be the “only” reason.
The mini-series ignited a political firestorm weeks before its debuted-on Sept. 10, 2006, in what could be described as a successful right-wing hatchet job to former President Clinton and his administration. Nowrasteh’s script laid much of the blame on the Clinton Administration (1992-2000) who had eight years to capture or kill al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and failed versus the eight months President Bush’s administration had prior to 9/11.
Among the supposed inaccuracies former President Clinton had with the film, which he outlined in a letter from his attorneys that he sent to ABC on Sept. 7, 2006 according to an online article on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Path_to_9/11, was the assertion that while in office, he was too busy worrying about the Monica Lewinsky scandal to fully concentrate on going after bin Laden.
Another scene in question according to the same article was the film’s notion that his Secretary of State Madeline Albright tipped off Pakistani officials that a military strike to wipe out the al-Qaeda leader was coming, that in turn gave bin Laden and his people a chance to escape.
"The content of this drama is factually and incontrovertibly inaccurate and ABC has the duty to fully correct all errors or pull the drama entirely," the four-page letter said.
Actor Harvey Keitel, who played FBI agent John O’Neill, on whom the screenplay was largely based, also had issues with the film in a Sept. 10, 2006 transcript interview with CNN.
“When I received the script it said ABC history project, I took it to be exactly what they presented to me – history and that facts were correct,” Keitel said. “It turned out that not all the facts were correct, and ABC set about trying to heal that problem – in some instances it was too late because we had begun.”
The trouble in reading the transcript is not once did Keitel cite any examples as to what scenes he had issues with. When asked by CNN if he felt anything should be changed, the actor’s answer seemed cryptic.
“This is a tough issue because we do not want to throw the baby out with the bath water. There are also quality issues raised in the film that our citizens should see and should be discussing amongst themselves. If we are putting together certain facts and umm an untruth evolves from that then that is wrong. You can compile certain things if the truth remains the truth. You can’t put things together, compress them and then distort the reality.”
In the Sept. 5, 2007 article from the Los Angeles Times, Nowrasteh who describes himself in the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Path_to_9/11 article as “probably more of a libertarian than a strict conservative” was told by Disney the film’s expected DVD release date was set for Jan., then April, then summer, and then ironically moved to Sept. 11, 2007 before being pulled from the release slate entirely.
"Whatever anyone may think about me or this movie, this is a bad precedent, a dangerous precedent, to allow a movie to be buried," Nowrasteh said in the LA Times article. "Because the next time they'll go after another movie. The Bush administration may go after a movie. The next administration may go after a movie. No matter who it is, they may go after a movie. This town needs to stand up."
Even director Oliver Stone (“World Trade Center”-2006) is unhappy with the decision.
"This is a shame; it's censorship in the most blatant way," Stone was quoted saying in the same article. "I'm not vouching for its accuracy -- it's a dramatization -- but it's an important work and needs to be seen."
Conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh had more damning comments about Clinton’s criticisms of the film saying the news coverage “has been treated more as The Path to the Clinton Legacy” in a transcript found on http://journalsmith.blogspot.com/2006/09/rush-limbaugh-comments-on-path-to-911.html.
“...if there were no other cherry picked scenes that brought on the wrath of Clinton and the rage of the left, you still would have seen actual footage of the real Bill Clinton as a leader ill-equipped to lead,” Limbaugh said on the transcript. “What we saw in this movie was the real Bill Clinton: awkward, hesitating, unsure, faking resolve, and that, folks, is the real story behind the story. The image, the years of a crafted image has been laid bare for all who watched The Path to 9/11 to see.”
The film dramatizes O’Neill’s years in law enforcement beginning with the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and his attempts to stop another terrorist attack from happening only to be met with roadblocks from his own agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and President Clinton’s administration when it came to getting the chance to either kill or capture the al-Qaeda leader. His story alone could stand as a case of tragic irony. Upon his leaving the FBI Aug. 23, 2001, O’Neill took over as head of security for the World Trade Center and perished along with close to 3,000 others in the collapse of the twin towers, which included those lost aboard the four hijacked planes, the Pentagon and the 19 hijackers.
Controversy or not, “The Path to 9/11” effectively portrays how this nation’s government and law enforcement agencies failed the American people.
“Despite all the red flags, no one is taking terrorism seriously,” Keitel’s O’Neill says upon his retirement in the film. “Political correctness rules the day. I have given my life to the bureau – everything else came second. For me and my country to be in danger, I have spilled blood to help try and keep it safe. We’re not safe yet and no one seems to care.”
The thought that Disney will treat this film in the same manner the way they have refused to release their other controversial animated title, “Song of the South” (1946), because of that film’s evoking stereotypes of African Americans, on DVD churns my stomach.
“The Path to 9/11” has not been seen on network television or cable since 2006. I got more respect for the studio executives at Universal Pictures who had the balls to weather the pointless firestorm of protests from religious fanatics when they stood behind director Martin Scorsese for making “The Last Temptation of Christ” (1988) than I do for the folks at Touchstone’s Mickey Mouse corporation Disney.
“The Path to 9/11”, like so many other historical subjects Hollywood has taken creative liberties with since the days of the silent film era, is only a movie and a dramatization, not a factual one.
Controversy sells as demonstrated by the 25 million viewers who tuned to watch the mini-series on both nights.
For now, the only place you will ever see this film, until the Clintons and high-level ranking members of the socialist Democratic Party get it pulled from the Internet completely, is on YouTube where if you are lucky, some patriotic user will have the mini-series available on their channel for upload.
©1/20/08
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