The turmoil from this TV show is a good thing. We need to have this discussion once and for all on a national stage. To what extent is the Clinton administration responsible for 9/11?
The Path To 9/11″ is astonishing.
It is an amazing achievement on many levels. It is flat-out one of the best made-for-televison movies seen in decades. The only thing that would keep this movie from theatrical distribution is its nearly 5-hour running time (split over two days in this instance). Forget CNN’s “replay” broadcast from 9/11 – Trust me and mark your calendars to watch ABC these nights.
Of course, Clinton himself doesn’t think so:
A furious Bill Clinton is warning ABC that its mini-series “The Path to 9/11” grossly misrepresents his pursuit of Osama bin Laden – and he is demanding the network “pull the drama” if changes aren’t made.
Clinton pointedly refuted several fictionalized scenes that he claims insinuate he was too distracted by the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal to care about bin Laden and that a top adviser pulled the plug on CIA operatives who were just moments away from bagging the terror master, according to a letter to ABC boss Bob Iger obtained by The Post.
As a result of this and other pressure, the show has been changed:
ABC’s upcoming five-hour docudrama “The Path to 9/11” is quickly becoming a political cause célèbre.
The network has in recent days made changes to the film, set to air Sunday and Monday, after leading political figures, many of them Democrats, complained about bias and alleged inaccuracies. Meanwhile, a left-wing organization has launched a letter-writing campaign urging the network to “correct” or dump the miniseries, while conservative blogs have launched a vigorous defense.
Do you think Clinton is responsible for what happened?
And neither side probably cares what a sad state we are in that they are still salivating (five years later) to exploit tragedy to play their pathetic game of political smear the queer.
I doubt many administrations were that concerned over terrorism prior to 9/11 that includes both Dems and Republicans. Do I think Clinton was preoccupied with the Monica Lewinski affair, you bet ya. An impeachment would have put a black mark on his legacy as president, and with most politicians their ego and place in history often over rides all other concerns.
I can’t help but to agree with Mike on this.
I like blaming Bush for many things, mostly because he is to blame for many things. But Bush didn’t orchestrate the 9/11 attacks and claims that he did make me mad. Clinton didn’t stand idly by and let Al Quida grow, nor did he pave the way for this attack and those claims anger me too.
Many things are to blame for 9/11. Poor intelligence, the State Department’s inept meddling in the Middle East, our cozy relationship with Isreal, lax security standards at the borders and at airports are just a few of the many things one could claim is to blame…
But the single greatest thing that caused these attacks were 18 Saudi and Afgani nationals who under the leadership of Bin Laden and his terrorist organization hijacked four planes and attacked the WTC, the Pentagon, and ultimately, an emply field in Pennsylvania, which caused the tragic death of over 3000 Americans.
To be critical of how the government is responding or has responded is fair, but to place blame anywhere other than with the terrorist organization responsible is absurd.
This is a very depressing statement about the polarization of the U.S. It appears to be a distraction about what is really important to the citizens of the U.S. We are being manipulated again folks. If the “liberal” media has manipulated us in the past, this certainly looks like the “right wing” media is working on doing it to us, too. I don’t think that we really want a government administration that wants us to be divided on non issues so that “they” can get us to vote the way “they” want us to. I will not watch this show because it reflects the worst of the of what a very great creative country should put it’s collective attention on.
In post #3 I wrote “Many things are to blame for 9/11” and I should have said “Many things have been blamed for…” or something to that effect.
#2 – If Clinton was distracted by anything, it wasn’t the relaxing oral sex delivered by Monica’s gifted mouth… It was most likely the 8 year long meritless Republican lead witch hunt that ultimately turned up absolutely nothing and wasted millions of taxpayer dollars.
The thing that gets him happens 6 years after the witch hunt begins and only happens because of the relentless witch hunt. I only wish every president were as good as Bill Clinton. The man was state of the art. Badgered at every turn, attacked repeatedly by every right wing nut job with an axe to grind including the amazingly powerful hypocrit Newt Gingrich and his Contract On America, charged with perjury for a line of questioning that was miles outside the scope of the investigation and never should have been asked in the first place, impeached, censured, and still the guy manages to maintain record popularity in the polls and preside over the greatest economic peacetime expansion in history.
I’d give anything for 10 more presidents just like him.
If we’re talking about indirect blame for this (the direct blame should be directed at the Al-Qaeda), then I would point my finger at every administration after WW2. The foreign policy – especially in the mideast – that these administrations have caused, inherited and supported gave growth to these fanatics. The only viable solution to decrease the risk of terrorism is a change of policy. If not… then you better learn to live with the threat.
No one person caused 9/11 however it is our own fault that it happend. 9/11 was a backlash at whats going on in the middle east. Its the fault of our own corparations who see profit to be made there and trying to change the culture there to that of what we have here, consumerism.
I BLAME BUSH 1, CLINTON, & BUSH 2 FOR THIS MESS
I for one have never blamed Busch for 9-11.
On the other hand:
I think our body count in Iraq has now equaled our loses of September 11, 2001. I do blame him and his friends for the war in Iraq.
It seems that this is just poppin’ fresh (Rove) in action trying to keep a “republican rule” in the election year.
No one is to blame for 9-11 other than the religious nuts who plan it and flew the planes. I certainly don’t blame Bush or Clinton. I do blame Bush for the horrible response to it. Our rights are being shredded, our economy raped, and the middle east is an even more unstable breading ground for terrorist. That I blkame on Bush.
Clinton was actively working on the terrorism issue (even though Republicans were blocking his efforts at the time. Bush II did all of jack and shit about it for the first 9 months of his Presidency.
But personally, I blame Reagan more than anyone else.
An excellent book on the subject is Richard A. Clarke’s “Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror”. Clarke was a national security advisor for Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II.
In a nutshell, he feels that US intelligence agencies (CIA, FBI), in general, and Bush II administration, in particular, really dropped the ball on threats from Al-Qaeda.
But I agree with most comments here, that there’s no use in playing the blame game, especially for purposes of political sniping.
Every president as far back as Truman has to hold some of the responsibility. But Clinton, Bush Sr. and Reagan are the three who in my opinion, are most directly negligent in letting things get to that point.
I only have one thing to say,
I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.
I feel your pain,
Bill
This issue only proves two points:
1. No one person was at fault: 9/11 was allowed to happen due to systemic issues that developed in non-political roles in the federal government. Rolls that don’t turn over from administration to administration.
2. Not only has the left lost the ability to “give it”, they haven’t retained the ability to “take it” either.
The single, most responsible President for the mess we have in the Middle East is Carter. He forced the Shah out of Iran and set the stage for rule by religious fanatics. Had the Shah remained in power, Iraq never would have been tempted to invade Iran or Kuwait. Without Kuwait, Bin Laden’s hate for the US would not have bloomed — no ’93 WTT attack, no ’98 attack on the USS Cole, no 9/11.
As for this movie: I have no intention of watching it. I don’t judge the actions of Presidents by stories from Holywood. Not Bush. Not Clinton.
I liked Clinton as a President, and still like him. The time span is such that he could not have known about the 9/11 attacks. As mentioned in post #10, Bush was told that an attack was coming.
This is pure and simple republican damage control through mud slinging – trying to kill two birds with a stone. But unless U.S. incursions and death toll change, there really is no hope changing this tide. Did you expect them yanks to be gullible forever, huh?
So Clinton was so consumed by the Monica soiree that he pulled the whole Federal Government off the tracks? Don’t make me sick. I know, ABC should follow this piece of wishful thinking up with another docu-drama about how the Republican’s have screwed up everything they’ve touched since coming to power and schedule it to run in prime-time the week before election week. One problem. There aren’t enough hours in whole week of programming to fit it all in! Go prop 89!
I’m throwing a real twist into this “let’s not blame anyone” crap. I totally disagree.
The blame starts with Nixon (and Kissinger) and his attitude towards the Middle East. Check out who was in the Nixon White House and the same players return in the Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II White Houses. Check out whose foreign policies shaped the Middle East. (also remember that it was Carter and Clinton brought the Israelis and the Arabs and Palestinians into peace talks)
It was the Reagan White House who gave the chemical weapons to Iraq. It was the Reagan White House that encouraged Iraq to invade Iran. It was the Bush I White House that allowed Hussein to remain in power. It was a Republican Congress that removed money for human surveillance in favor of electronic intelligence. It was the Republican Congress that called Clinton’s attempts to get Al Quaeda a “political” decision. Then it was Bush II that ignored the Daily Briefing warning of the impending attack. And last, but still significant, it was the Bush II White House that shut down the CIA unit searching for bin Laden.
Sure, maybe the Clinton White House could have done more. In hindsight one can usually see where they could have improved. Where they negligent? I don’t think anyone except the Republican die hards would even think they were. Did the Republicans make a lot of mistakes? Yes, then for effect, they repeated them.
#1 is right. Everything between now and November, every bit of “progress” and bashing is nothing but campaign fodder. I guarantee you the white house and pentagon will declare that the war in Iraq is going wonderfully by the time the elections role around. They will have no statistical backing for this claim. Just as the reason Clinton can’t afford to look weak on terrorism now is because it reflects badly on the democrats.
Bill shoud have told the Republican Congressmen the truth about Monica–that it was none of their business.
#3,
I need to point out 1 important thing about Liberal media…
It draws questions, it finds facts, it LOOKS under beds and in closets.
It DONT feed us BULL, Dont hide things under the RUG.
#17, Smith is trolling again. Carter inherited the Iran mess from Nixon. Carter didn’t force the Shah to step down. He left Iran to seek medical attention for cancer. Once he was out of the country, the revolution overthrew the brutal secret police and palace guards. Carter asked the Shah to leave the US. He went first to Panama and then to Egypt, where he died. The religious fanatics had been in exile and returned to Iran after the overthrow.
It was the current Republican White House that gave Iraq chemical weapons and encouraged the invasion of Iran.
As an aside, I went to school with an expatriot Iranian girl in the ’70s. Her family had escaped Iran after her grandfather and uncle were arrested by the Iranian police for running a newspaper. She never saw either of them again. One day I discussed with her a long newspaper article about the Shah, the Peacock Throne, and the good he was doing for Iran. That is where I got my lesson about life under the Shah, and it wasn’t a pretty lesson either.
You have to love that Jimmy Carter. He did so many progressive things. Remember when he gave the Panama Canal back to the Panamanians. This was especially hart warming. I do suppose the Panamanians had little to do with building it, but very hart warming. Sure they probably supplied labor and I’ll bet they were paid for it. Oh, and now the Chinese control it, but it is still heart warming.
I don’t know if the Iran thing can be laid at Jimmy’s feet or not, but there can be a case made. Just on general principal I am going to personally blame him. It just makes me feel better.
Yeah let’s just take Clinton’s word for it. This documentary is not right-wing spin, which whould be obvious since it’s made by ABC and Disney. Clarke is one of the main advisors, so I think he gets off scot free, while Bush and Rice come under attack too. I wonder if this is what Sandy Berger was carrying out of the archives. Probably not since the 9-11 report says basically the same thing about his not wanting to get Bin Laden.
I wonder if they talked to Mansoor Ijaz, who negotiated for the arrest of Bin Laden, but was turned down by superiors?
After all this talk about fascism and even a post about monitoring of the press by the Bush Administration, it’s te Democrats who wrote a letter threatening to take away ABCs broadcast license if they don’t change their reporting.
I would go back further than past presidents or AlQaeda. I blame the sons of Abraham, whose descendants still quarrel with each other to this day. I blame the idiots who have been trying to drag us into the conflict; idiots on all sides. It’s time to dissociate, to stop feeding money into the Middle East, and let the sons of Esau do what they do best – keep each other occupied. The rest of us have a world to clean up and move into the 21st century.
As for 9/11, we were attacked through our own inefficiencies. Clean these up, mourn the dead, and move forward. I for one am tired of the backpedaling and the distractions. Other parts of the world are moving ahead while we bleed away our advantages; our skills, our infrastructure and our freedoms. Eyes on the prize, not on the wounds.
If Bill Clinton was distracted by the whole sex scandel thing, it’s the fault of those who put the scandel in the spotlight. Nevertheless, I think that Clinton would have given his left nut to be able to use Bin Laden to distact the media from the very same sex scandel. In fact, I seem to remember that he tried a few times. Nevertheless, whenever Clinton tried to focus the attention on Bin Laden, the Reps cried foul. I suppose it’s all part of the ongoing tragedy of Bill’s inability to keep the needs of the nation the needs of his penis and certain lawmaker’s inability to look past the same. That tragedy continues today. The whole culture of blame and finger pointing is pretty useless. I’m sure this docu-whatever will get ABC lots of ratings but it probably solves nothing. The only questions worth answering in regards to 9-11, Hurricaine Katrina or the Iraq war are not about who did the wrong thing that time, but are about will YOU do the right thing next time.
Personally, I think it’s pretty unforgivable for the Bush administration to tear open this wound every time their approval rating slumps.